Didn't mean to sound cheap.....I do tip, just not 20%. I think that's over the top for most hunts. If I was on a $10k moose hunt in Alaska for 2 weeks, and the guide worked his tail off for me to bag a huge bull, then I might tip between $1k and $2k.....but if I ride around on a ranch here in Texas and pop a few exotics in a weekend that add up to $10k, don't expect more than maybe $500. I think that's fair.....

I would say TexasLefty would be right because I personally have benifeted from his tips to guides and have been invited on free hunts with him from some of his previos guides and even I was treated like part of the family.
As far as it goes on really expensive trips I agree it could get a bit pricy on tips but it still needs to be a good tip. I also have deer lease so I do not have to tip guides but if I did not have lease that cost $1250 a year plus $400 in corn and $1000 in fuel and who know how much time spent scouting preping stands and ect. You guys know how much work goes into making a good deer lease and if choose not hunt one and use a hunting guide then you dam well tip you're guide because in the long run he probably saved you alot of time and money and let me ask this question. HOW MUCH IS YOU'RE TIME WORTH?

I treat it no different that tipping a resaurant server. if the service is poor it's 10%. ok..but could've been better it's 15%. good service...it's 20%

And on those occasions where you feel the guide/server went above and beyond your expectations...I'll round that 20% up a couple points. Especially if I intend to come back in the future.

I guide hunts on a private ranch for the clients of a large construction company and there are a few things I have learned about being tipped/tipping situation.

1. The guy with the most expensive truck/suv WILL be the worst tipper if he tips at all.

2. People almost always over look the cook!; I'm a dual threat in that rispect as I can both guide and cook. Not as much to the cook but if your getting some good food; especially if there are special needs (food alergies/diabetic)$20-$50 per hunter to the cook/cooks.

3. How much is the guide doing and how good is he at doing it, the hardest part of guiding is not finding deer or other game its meeting the needs of the hunter he is given...Know how you are if you are stuborn, slow, over excited to be on the hunt of a lifetime etc; realise that you are putting extra strain on the guide.

Best advice I can give you is - LET THE GUIDE KNOW WHAT YOU EXPECT!

I spend the better half of the first day just trying to figure out the personality and expectations of my hunter. You have the kind that wear carbon lined clothes and pi$$ in a bottle and hunt sun up to sun down all day.----Then you have the guys that are just out to have fun, wanna sleep in a little, smoke a cigarette, eat breakfast lunch and dinner at the lodge; and you get hunters every where in between. Communicate and you will have a better hunt, and communication is a two way street LISTEN to what the guide has to say before, during and after the hunt.


Tip accordingly, I try to put forth the effort and service to make my hunters happy; On opening weekend when we have big group of hunters that are return clients I will generally have guys looking to tip/bribe me into being their guide because they know im going to do every thing I can to make it happen.

When I have a guy comming in that slides some cash my way man does the effort go up! and for a couple of hunters I have special sight put back that I save all year for them and them only.

only once have I felt like i was under-tipped......worked my [censored] off for the guy, walked 3 miles looking for a deer he wounded, talked to the ranch owner on his behalf and convinced him to let him take a managment 8, walked another 2 miles rattling, and he only tipped me $100 for a 4 day hunt after taking the deer. then i found the deer 3 weeks later, he wanted me to take it to the postal service and mail it to him...which i did, and still didn't even get a thank you.

lowest tip i've ever got was $60, but we shot a deer the first morning out, then spend the rest of the time goofing around. no problem there. largest tip i ever got was $1200, then as I was walking out the door a guy handed me another hundred and a real nice knife.

if someone puts forth the extra effort, tip him what you feel is appropriate......there is not a set percentage

20% mininum for semi or fully guided. Unless, the guide was terrible and then it is what I feel they are worth.

Good point about the Taxidermist, I dont tip cash but if I shoot a managment buck I cape it out and give him the cape.

That way he can turn around and either sell to some one whos cape is torn up or use it for a reproduction mount either way its like handing him $50-100.

When I pull up with 5 deer heads in the back for him to mount(clients deer) and 2 free capes....my stuff get done, done right and done fast.

I get 150. a day from the ranch and and the tip is up to the hunters. I usually get 100 per day. You are up before them and in bed usually late. A day normally starts at 4a.m and ends about 10.pm. Most people don't realize the time put in before you ever got there.(scouting, Feeding, cleaning the blinds and then picking up after your gone, and taking care of you while you are there. It seems like a great job and it is, but you have earn your money if you have done your job. My biggest tip was 750. and I guided 2 guys one took a 203 7/8 and the other took a 175. That was a 3 day hunt Started 2:00pm on thurs and ended at 12:00 noon on Sunday. So I made 1200. dollars plus meals. We ate Leg of Lamb. T-bones and Roast pork for the night meals. Big breakfast Eggs, fruit, French toast, Hashbrowns. Lunch was usually soups and sandwiches, sometime chicken breast. The meals were 130 dollars worth probably. If you ever get a chance, it can be alot of fun, but it could be a bust, if you get a jerk for a hunter. Lucky I have never had one yet. after 4 years. Most of my hunts have been company hunts.