how much to tip

[huntinelk]

I will be going on a BC moose trip next year with three friends. My question is how much do you tip the owner/guide and how much do you tip the guide he will be hiring 5%, 10% ??

[deerhunter_98520]

I would say it depends on the quality of service they give you...crappy service gets a crappy tip...great service gets a great tip

[singleshot12]

 

[Kuduman]

Depending on who you talk with the normal gratuity is 10% of the cost of your hunt.

When I went to South Africa a few years ago I did tip my Guide 10% but that was because the service that he provided was EXCEPTIONAL. when I tipped him he said that it was the largest tip he had ever received.  I tipped the trackers and Skinner's but not even close to 10% but even 350 Rand will go far in SA.

Depending on the country you hunt you could  be expected to tip the guide,outfitter, trackers, Skinner and even the service people like maid service and cook staff. My advice is keep it in perspective. The person that most deserves a tip will be your guide. If your pleased with the service they provide that tip appropriately.

I know a guy that spent 5K of a Idaho combo deer/elk  Hunt. he harvested a small 4 point on public land and never saw an elk the best part was the camp cook fed them hot dogs twice a day for 7 days.........what would your tip be.

[deerhunter_98520]

Depending on who you talk with the normal gratuity is 10% of the cost of your hunt.

When I went to South Africa a few years ago I did tip my Guide 10% but that was because the service that he provided was EXCEPTIONAL. when I tipped him he said that it was the largest tip he had ever received.  I tipped the trackers and Skinner's but not even close to 10% but even 350 Rand will go far in SA.

Depending on the country you hunt you could  be expected to tip the guide,outfitter, trackers, Skinner and even the service people like maid service and cook staff. My advice is keep it in perspective. The person that most deserves a tip will be your guide. If your pleased with the service they provide that tip appropriately.

I know a guy that spent 5K of a Idaho combo deer/elk  Hunt. he harvested a small 4 point on public land and never saw an elk the best part was the camp cook fed them hot dogs twice a day for 7 days.........what would your tip be.

A new cook book

[motg9_6]

T.I.P.S.  Too Insure Prompt Service       when i got to a resteraunt i only tip if the service was good or amazing if it was so so, sorry too insure prompt service means what is says. i am completely against manditaory gratiuity unless you roll in with a huge dinner party and they supply you a waiter. people think they deserve tips not matter what are wrong, i only get a bonus if i work hard and get things done on time. theres no difference.

[jaymark6655]

Depending on who you talk with the normal gratuity is 10% of the cost of your hunt.

When I went to South Africa a few years ago I did tip my Guide 10% but that was because the service that he provided was EXCEPTIONAL. when I tipped him he said that it was the largest tip he had ever received.  I tipped the trackers and Skinner's but not even close to 10% but even 350 Rand will go far in SA.

Depending on the country you hunt you could  be expected to tip the guide,outfitter, trackers, Skinner and even the service people like maid service and cook staff. My advice is keep it in perspective. The person that most deserves a tip will be your guide. If your pleased with the service they provide that tip appropriately.

I know a guy that spent 5K of a Idaho combo deer/elk  Hunt. he harvested a small 4 point on public land and never saw an elk the best part was the camp cook fed them hot dogs twice a day for 7 days.........what would your tip be.

A new cook book

LOL, now that is awesome. 

[GoldTip]

I have only been on two guided hunts, one for caribou in Quebec and one for Moose in northern Alberta.  I would probably not tip the owner unless he was actually my guide as well.  He is charging for the hunt what the market will bear and will bring him a profit.  The guide on the other hand is different.  On both hunts the guide worked their butts off to give me a good hunt and was willing to hunt any time I was and in whatever manner I was.  On both hunts I tipped the guide what I could afford, which probably worked out to around 7% of the hunt cost.  My guide from Alberta and I are now very good friends and have hunted together in other places, and he has been honest in that my tip was above average.  Not the best he'd ever recieved, and far from the worst.  My advice would be to tip what you can afford and according to the level of service you recieve.

[runningboard]

Depending on who you talk with the normal gratuity is 10% of the cost of your hunt.

When I went to South Africa a few years ago I did tip my Guide 10% but that was because the service that he provided was EXCEPTIONAL. when I tipped him he said that it was the largest tip he had ever received.  I tipped the trackers and Skinner's but not even close to 10% but even 350 Rand will go far in SA.

Depending on the country you hunt you could  be expected to tip the guide,outfitter, trackers, Skinner and even the service people like maid service and cook staff. My advice is keep it in perspective. The person that most deserves a tip will be your guide. If your pleased with the service they provide that tip appropriately.

I know a guy that spent 5K of a Idaho combo deer/elk  Hunt. he harvested a small 4 point on public land and never saw an elk the best part was the camp cook fed them hot dogs twice a day for 7 days.........what would your tip be.

When I went to south Africa, the "normal" way of doing things was if you were going to tip the service you gave it to the managers and they divided it up between the entire staff, giude, tracker, cook, waiter/waitress, maids, etc. made my guide mad and he said "those people aren't out here hiking the hills chasing animals with us, why do they get the same amount of tip as us?" so I tipped him & my tracker separately before I gave any to management. they may have gotten po'd if they knew but I agreed with him.
might want to check with the outfitter to see what's expected.

[Jingles]

If you're going to give just one person the tip to distribute make sure the outfitters is aware that it is to be distributed. Unlike an outfitter I know the guide never saw any of the tips given for distribution. Personally give the tips to the persons that deserve them

[h20hunter]

Of the two guided trips I've been a part of I've only tipped the guide. The owner of the business will get more referrels based on the positive experience.

[Gutpile]

I went on a guided antelope hunt a few years ago. Being new to antelope I shot one on the first morning of a 3 day hunt and it turned out to be a dinker. I know, stupid but we were supposed to go prairie dog shooting and coyote calling for the rest of the time. The only prairie dog shooting we did was a small colony by the lodge. Maybe 45 minutes of total shooting in 3 days. Never called coyotes. I wanted to hunt a doe with an iron site 45/70. He refused to hunt does. "I dont get more than 10 feet off the road for a doe" said he. So we drove around and I shot one off of the side of the road which just SUCKED!! Some hunt. LoL!! Not to mention the guy was a boob. Anyways, I didn't tip him a dime. I even left early. All of this stuff was agreed upon before I booked, had he put in any effort at all to fulfill his promises I would have definately tipped. I had 15% budgeted for tips but I was so pissed I gave nothing.

[littlemac]

I have done more than my share of guided trips I suppose.

Fishing in Manitoba (8 trips) we were told the tip for guides should be $25-$35 a day for our First Nation guides.   I usually did $50, if we didn't boat 100 plus pike and walleye we thought it was a bad day.  Often we did closer to 200 and our best day was 218, two fishermen one guide per 16 foot boat. $50 would be about 15%.

Duck and goose hunt in Saskatchewan the guide was a unpleasant soul and got around 8% we were sure he only did one good set a day and sent us home off our best set.

On the other hand my second moose hunt in the Yukon I tipped a set of Swarovski EL's I knew the guide would love. I saw over 20 shooter bulls but chose not to take any holding out for a monster and had my all time best hunt. Just didn't want to shoot a bull under the 64" I have hanging already. The Swaro's were probably 18%.

I do an annual elk hunt to New Mexico and get a great deal on it. The guide is a full time employee for the operation, equipment operator. Seven years there and always a fun time and I have taken seven bulls in addition to elk my partners have taken.  I tip in the 25% range here, roughly $1k.  Haven't had a bump in my hunt cost for 5 years so the guide benefits and he's always working hard to scout year around to set me up for good success.

I figure I may have been fortunate to have mostly good to great hunts and if my guides are pleasant to be with and work hard, it isn't their fault if I blank. I have tipped nearly as much on a low success trip as I have on high success ones for the guides,  they probably work harder if we are having bad luck than they have to when we have great success.

It has returned benefits in multiples compared to the few extra bucks a larger than average tip costs IMO.

[sirmissalot]

I went on a guided antelope hunt a few years ago. Being new to antelope I shot one on the first morning of a 3 day hunt and it turned out to be a dinker. I know, stupid but we were supposed to go prairie dog shooting and coyote calling for the rest of the time. The only prairie dog shooting we did was a small colony by the lodge. Maybe 45 minutes of total shooting in 3 days. Never called coyotes. I wanted to hunt a doe with an iron site 45/70. He refused to hunt does. "I dont get more than 10 feet off the road for a doe" said he. So we drove around and I shot one off of the side of the road which just SUCKED!! Some hunt. LoL!! Not to mention the guy was a boob. Anyways, I didn't tip him a dime. I even left early. All of this stuff was agreed upon before I booked, had he put in any effort at all to fulfill his promises I would have definately tipped. I had 15% budgeted for tips but I was so pissed I gave nothing.

That didn't happen to be John Ball was it?

[huntinelk]

Thanks for all the replies now I have an idea of what to expect.