How Much to Tip a Hunting Guide: Percent, Per-Day Cash, and Who Gets It

The short answer

If you want one number to start with, it's 10 percent of the hunt price. Most of the hunting sources we read call that the floor, not the target.

• Outdoor Life (a 2015 piece by Western guide and outfitter Aram von Benedikt) calls "a minimum of ten percent of the actual hunt price" the easy answer, and suggests 12 to 15 percent if you liked your guide and had a great time.
• The Boone and Crockett Club, quoting booking agent Greg Ray of Outdoor Solutions, gives a ladder: 10 percent is the minimum, 12 to 15 percent is average, and 20 percent is for a guide who went well beyond the job.
• Outdoors International, a hunt booking company, says 10 to 20 percent of the total hunt cost is typical.
• In a 2019 Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Q&A, Jim Zumbo says "the general consensus is 10 percent," depending on the service.

The sources don't all agree, and they differ in a few ways:

• American Hunter (NRA, 2014) puts the common range lower, at 5 to 10 percent. It says that some hunters tip $2,000 on a $10,000 hunt, but that's well above the norm.
• Hunt the North, an outfitter, says a good tip starts around 8 to 10 percent.
• For short waterfowl and upland hunts, people often skip the percentage and tip cash per hunter per day or half day. More on that below.

So the honest range is about 10 percent as a floor and 15 to 20 percent for excellent work, with one older source saying 5 to 10 percent is common. A percentage of the hunt price and a per-day cash amount are two different methods. They don't always come out to the same number, and you shouldn't stack them.

Budget the tip alongside the rest of the trip in the hunting trip cost calculator.

Percent of the hunt vs. cash per day

Percent of the hunt price is the usual method for multi-day outfitted big game hunts. You start from the price of the hunt and work out a percentage. Outdoor Life's example: a $5,500 hunt at 10 percent is at least $550.

Cash per day or per half day shows up more for short guided hunts that are booked by the morning or the day. Here's what we found:

• Field Ethos (2021, republished from the blog Red Clay Soul) lists a suggested minimum of $60 per hunter for a half-day duck or waterfowl hunt. For a full day with the same guide, it says to add 70 to 80 percent to that, "at a minimum." It also suggests an extra $20 or $40 for a great day.
• Hunt the North gives much lower numbers: about $25 per day for most waterfowl hunts, and $250 to $350 for a five-day big game hunt.

These two sources are far apart, and Hunt the North's page is undated, so its numbers may be older. We found no shared per-day standard, so treat both as data points, not a rule.

Use one method per hunt. If you tip 10 percent of a five-day hunt, don't also add a daily amount on top unless you mean to tip more.

Who the tip is for: guide, outfitter, and camp staff

On a guided hunt, the money usually goes to three different places. Who works in camp depends on the operation, so this is about what the sources say, not a staff chart for every camp.

The guide. The guide is the person in the field with you, and most of the percentage advice is about them. The Boone and Crockett piece says guides and staff often work for a small daily base rate, and that tips make up about two-thirds of what an experienced Western big game guide earns in a season. In the RMEF piece, Kristy Titus says guides are lucky to get $100 to $150 a day in wages from an outfitter.

The outfitter. This is the business owner who sold you the hunt. American Hunter says the outfitter "is a businessman and generally not in the tip loop." Outdoor Life suggests offering a small tip or token anyway, but says the outfitter "likely won't accept" it. If the outfitter is also your guide, Hunt the North calls it a gray area. Skipping the tip is technically fine, but the author still tips if the hunt was as promised and the guide worked hard.

The cook, wrangler, and other camp hands. These sources give separate amounts for camp staff:

• Outdoor Life: "Many times a 50 or 100 dollar bill is great." It suggests asking the outfitter if you're not sure.
• Boone and Crockett: each hunter usually tips the cook at least $200 a week. At high-end lodges, plan on $30 to $40 a night for house staff.
• Hunt the North: $10 to $15 a day for cooks and other hands as a starting point.

American Hunter warns: don't assume the outfitter will pass a tip on to the staff. In the RMEF piece, Wayne van Zwoll says some outfitters ask that tips be given to them to hand out. His middle ground is to tip your guide directly and trust the outfitter with a separate staff tip.

Duck, deer, and elk: what actually changes

We found no species-specific percentage. The big game sources give one general range, and the only elk-specific page (RMEF) gives the same 10 percent consensus. Here's what changes instead.

Duck and waterfowl

Duck hunts are often booked by the morning or the day, so per-hunter cash is common. Field Ethos's half-day minimum is $60 per hunter. Hunt the North's figure is about $25 per day. If you're comparing a guided duck morning with doing it yourself, see DIY vs. guided duck hunting.

Field Ethos makes one point for split hunts (an afternoon, a night at the lodge, and a morning): tip after the first hunt, because you may not have the same guide the next morning.

Deer

Guided whitetail hunts are usually multi-day packages, so use the general percentage: 10 percent as the floor, 12 to 20 percent for strong work. For what a guided deer hunt costs, see our Iowa guided whitetail hunt post. We haven't repeated its price table here.

Elk

The percentage is the same, but the dollar amounts get bigger because backcountry elk hunts are often longer and cost more. In the RMEF piece, van Zwoll says a hunter "should be able to part painlessly with $500 (or more)" for a guide who worked hard on a $7,000 hunt. He also notes that the 15 percent restaurant standard "can dent your budget" on a fully guided week in the backcountry.

Elk hunts can also involve more physical work. Outdoor Life describes backcountry guides working 18-hour days, handling horses, and packing meat. Boone and Crockett and Outdoor Life both put the highest tips (20 percent, or more for a world-class animal) on unusually hard work. That's the strongest sourced reason to go above the floor on a tough pack-out. If you're new to elk, start with our elk hunting guide.

What changes the number on any hunt

• Length. A percentage grows with the hunt price. A per-day amount grows with the number of days.
• Number of guides. Boone and Crockett asks, without settling it, whether two guides on one hunt should each get 20 percent. Its advice is to use your judgment and, if in doubt, ask the outfitter.
• Staff. More camp hands means more envelopes.

How to work it out on a real invoice

Start from the price of the guided hunt. Leave out the costs that aren't the guide's service: license and tag, travel, meat processing, and taxidermy. These are example math, not required amounts.

• Example: If the hunt is $4,000 and you tip 10 percent, that's $400. At 15 percent, it's $600.
• Example: If two hunters share a guide on a $4,000 hunt and each tips 10 percent of their own share ($2,000), the guide gets $200 from each, or $400 total.
• Example: On a full-day duck hunt using Field Ethos's minimum, $60 plus 70 to 80 percent comes to about $102 to $108 per hunter.

Decide the amount before the hunt so the cash is ready, and log the tip as its own line on the trip, separate from the shared invoice.

Cash, timing, and "tips included" policies

Bring cash. Field Ethos says "ALL CASH." Outdoors International says to bring it with you, since you may not be near an ATM or bank. It also suggests tipping in US dollars on hunts abroad, since banks there charge large fees to exchange checks.

Timing. For multi-day hunts, most sources talk about tipping at the end of the hunt. For split duck or upland hunts, Field Ethos says to tip after each session.

Hand it over directly. American Hunter warns against assuming the outfitter passes tips along. If the outfitter asks to hand out staff tips, van Zwoll's approach (tip the guide yourself, leave the staff tip with the outfitter) is a reasonable middle ground. Outfitter Rod Paschke, quoted by Boone and Crockett, says his camp cook keeps a tip jar on the table and that he stays out of setting amounts.

"Tips included" or "no tips accepted." We didn't find a published outfitter policy that includes gratuity in the price. Don't assume one way or the other. Ask the outfitter before the hunt whether gratuity is included, whether there's a suggested amount, and how staff tips are handled. If an outfitter says the owner doesn't take tips, that matches what American Hunter and Outdoor Life say about owners. It doesn't tell you anything about the guide or cook.

Tipping as a group

You have two practical options.

One envelope from the group. Outdoors International suggests that groups with several guides pick one hunter to collect a tip pool, split it equally among the guides, and hand it out when all the guides are present. This works well when guides rotate between hunters or work as a team.

Each hunter tips their own guide. This fits when each hunter had one guide for the whole hunt and the service was clearly different. It's also what the Boone and Crockett cook figure assumes ("each hunter" tips the cook at least $200 a week).

Either way, agree on the method before the trip. American Hunter also suggests checking with other hunters in camp so you don't over-tip or under-tip.

Splitting the hunt invoice is a different question. For who pays what on the shared bill, see hunting trip expenses: who owes who.

What a tip is not

It doesn't buy an animal. The Boone and Crockett piece is direct: "Don't tip based on making a kill." Hunt the North says bad shooting, weather, or animals that don't cooperate shouldn't lower your tip. In the RMEF piece, Brandon Bates says success "should never be married to a kill."

It isn't a fix for a bad or unsafe hunt. The sources give you room to tip less when the guide is the problem:

• Outdoor Life says if your guide is "unethical, sullen, or totally incompetent," tip the cook and walk away.
• Hunt the North says to take it out of the tip if the guide slept on the hillside or left you to fill his own tags.
• Outdoor Life also separates the guide from the outfitter. If the outfitter misled you about the area or game numbers but the guide worked hard to save the hunt, the guide should still be tipped.

If something was unsafe, a bigger or smaller tip doesn't resolve it. Raise it with the outfitter. A tip is a voluntary thank-you. None of these sources treat it as required, and this isn't legal advice.

What you still bring

The tip doesn't replace your own gear. Ask the outfitter what they provide, then pack the rest:

• Duck hunts: Some outfitters supply blinds and decoys but expect you to bring waders. A blind bag keeps shells, calls, and your tip cash dry until you hand it over.
• Deer and elk hunts: Bring blaze orange where it's required, your own binoculars, and base layers for long days.

Bottom line

Start at 10 percent of the hunt price for the guide. Go to 12 to 15 percent for solid work, and up to 20 percent when the guide went well beyond the job. On short duck hunts, many hunters tip cash per hunter per session instead, and the published minimums vary widely. Tip the cook and camp staff separately. Don't expect the outfitter to take a tip, and don't assume they'll pass yours along. Ask about gratuity policies before you book, bring cash, and base the tip on effort rather than whether you got an animal.

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