Tipping etiquette

[Fieldturkey]

How bout this.... Tip the cook and if YOU feel like tipping the landowner then tip the landowner. I would say our opinions shouldn't matter in your decision making. It's your money and character here.

[Dr Juice]

You go to a restaurant to get food.  If the restaurant has wait staff, I pay for the food and then tip the staff for their service.  If I go to McDonalds, I pay for the food and since no one served the food, no tips. Access to land is like the food - you pay what is asked.  If no one guides you (Wait staff), no tip.  If the outfitter is setting up lodging, doing pre-season scouting, giving good scouting reports and boots on the ground info, then I think a tip is in order.

X2. Well said.


All The Way!

[Roost 1]

You go to a restaurant to get food.  If the restaurant has wait staff, I pay for the food and then tip the staff for their service.  If I go to McDonalds, I pay for the food and since no one served the food, no tips. Access to land is like the food - you pay what is asked.  If no one guides you (Wait staff), no tip.  If the outfitter is setting up lodging, doing pre-season scouting, giving good scouting reports and boots on the ground info, then I think a tip is in order.

So, what exactly are you paying him for??? If you guys are just looking for land to hunt, any land, I'm your guy and I won't expect a tip or for you to return ever again!!!! If lodging is agreed  upon, pre-season scouting and reports should be a given, hence the reason it's called semi-guided!!!!

[davisd9]

I guess I just have a hard time understanding why anybody wants to pay to hunt something where they are doing nothing but pulling the trigger. 

Great post!



Sent from the Strut Zone

[opster246]

Id say you are paying him for access, tipping is for being a standup guy and sharing information with you.  As I said, if it's just access - pay only.

[davisd9]

Ok. Enough bickering!  Lol!  Bottom line is I'm going on a self guided hunt. Meals and lodging provided. The contract states that the outfitter will show us the property the day before the hunt and then we are on our own. We provide our own transportation. Bird cleaning is on us. Is there really any reason to tip?  Self guided folks!  Quit bringing guides into the question!  There ain't gonna be any!  We are already paying the outfitter for access and lodging. And did I mention, no guides!

I would not tip unless I just felt like throwing in a little extra cause I liked them.

Went to Kansas this year with an outfitter. He said this is where you will be hunting and good luck then it was up to us from there. I did not tip him or pay anything extra and he texted after we left saying he hoped we had plans to come back. This hunt did not include lodging or meals.


Sent from the Strut Zone

[eddie234]

Came across this today
https://www.bowhunting.com/blog/2016/06/08/hunting-guides-dream-client/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hunting-guides-dream-client

[zsully]

Good article.  Thanks for sharing.

[Planner]

I guess I just have a hard time understanding why anybody wants to pay to hunt something where they are doing nothing but pulling the trigger. 

Great post!



Sent from the Strut Zone

The first turkey I shot was called in by a friend of mine. I didn't pay for the hunt, but honestly I did little more than pull the trigger. I still remember it like it was yesterday. It got me hooked. I've called in dozens of birds for "first time" turkey hunters since. I've never judged any of them for "just pulling the trigger". Many of them have gotten hooked on turkey hunting... We all start somewhere, right?


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[davisd9]

I guess I just have a hard time understanding why anybody wants to pay to hunt something where they are doing nothing but pulling the trigger. 

Great post!



Sent from the Strut Zone

The first turkey I shot was called in by a friend of mine. I didn't pay for the hunt, but honestly I did little more than pull the trigger. I still remember it like it was yesterday. It got me hooked. I've called in dozens of birds for "first time" turkey hunters since. I've never judged any of them for "just pulling the trigger". Many of them have gotten hooked on turkey hunting... We all start somewhere, right?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The experiences you are speaking of is quite different than shooting a bird in front of an outfitter guide. Of course we all start somewhere and I am glad someone took the time to take you hunting and called in a bird for you.

You did not pay for this experience or you do not walk around with a spur necklace as your claim to fame when all those Spurs were only collected by you pulling a trigger.

I will admit that I have shot a bird that someone else called in, my buddy deacon. I will also admit there are other guys that I will gladly shoot a bird that comes into their calling. If I will shoot a bird you call in that is my way of showing respect to you as a hunter. I will not do that with everyone. Maybe it is a pride thing but to me it seems more as a respect type thing.

I try to hunt with different people every year and sometimes I call and sometimes we both are calling depending on their level of hunting. Going out with a new Hunter and them shooting a bird you called in is much different than shooting birds over a paid guide, in my opinion. My son's first few birds will most likely be shot from my calling, but he is learning and once I feel he is ready he will have to jump in calling. Once I think he has "it" I will go but he is the one that will have to do the decision making and calling. I hope that I have the privilege to one day squeeze the trigger on a bird he calls in for me.


Sent from the Strut Zone

[ccleroy]

Geez,some are so full of themselves.

[Farmboy27]

Geez,some are so full of themselves.

Lol!  Yup!  Doing nothing but pulling the trigger?  Unless you're in a blind, then even if you didn't do the calling you're doing more than just pulling the trigger. You still have to sit still, move at the right time, pick out the bird, wait for the right shot, and then make the shot. I've killed lots of birds that the calling was the easy part. Getting the shot was the issue! 

[Marc]

Lol!  Yup!  Doing nothing but pulling the trigger?  Unless you're in a blind, then even if you didn't do the calling you're doing more than just pulling the trigger. You still have to sit still, move at the right time, pick out the bird, wait for the right shot, and then make the shot. I've killed lots of birds that the calling was the easy part. Getting the shot was the issue!

I don't know...  Shooting the turkey is probably the easiest part of the game...

I have never been with a turkey hunting guide, but I would hope that most would be understanding of a hunter that wants to do their own calling.

Finding a bird, calling them in, and getting them to a good spot to shoot is the difficult part of turkey hunting...  Actually shooting them is somewhat anti-climatic...  "Don't move" and "shoot" would not be a hunting situation that would float my boat, and I ain't a great turkey hunter.  "Here they are, you figure it out," would be a lot more appealing to me.

[GobbleNut]

Although we are getting far away from the original topic here, It is interesting to see the different perspectives about what each of us is looking for in our turkey hunting.  For me, it has nothing to do with pulling the trigger.  It is about testing my skills against the turkeys,...wherever they might be.  I don't condemn other hunters for having a different perspective on it.  If someone gets satisfaction in their hunts by doing little or nothing in regards to the calling strategies or woods skills needed to get a gobbler into shooting range, and is perfectly content to let someone else do that for them,...then have at it.

That just doesn't work for me, personally.  When I pull the trigger on a bird, I want to feel like I played some part in why he ended up in that condition.  That does not mean I had to do all of the calling myself, or that I had to make all of the "woods decisions" involved.  In fact, when I hunt with other people, I want them to call (except in rare cases where they are completely inept), and I want to get their opinions about what tactics might be needed. 

Where I draw the line, however, is when someone I am hunting with (and this only happens ONE time with me) is so "full of themselves" that they want to make all of the decisions and do all of the calling. 

This is where this discussion comes back to outfitted or guided hunts. When I arrange a hunt, I make it clear up front that I want to "do my own thing",... hunting strategies and calling (by myself or in cooperation with others).  When I do that and then go ahead and pay to hunt somewhere, and then the outfitter/guide ends up wanting to make all of the decisions and do all of the calling,....and I am essentially just pulling the trigger at the right moment,....I will only be hunting with that outfitter/guide one time and will not be back.  I don't care if there is a gobbler behind every bush on his property.

Yes, because of my nature I will give them a tip (grudgingly) at the end of it all,...and with a smile on my face,...but I will not be back,...and I will never recommend that outfitter to anybody I know without a disclaimer that "if you like to call and hunt the way you want to, this guy is probably not for you". 

Again, if someone feels differently about it and is good with being the trigger puller, more power to them,...that just ain't for me.

[dejake]

what I expect from a guide/outfitter is for them to have done the homework that I can't do. To know the bird population, roost areas, where they go after fly down, etc.  Give me that intel, then let me do my thing.