The tipping point

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As our van turned onto a skinny dirt road between two soybean fields on the first of a five-day dove hunting trip in Córdoba, Argentina, I honestly had no idea what to expect.

One by one we were called to get off and were met by a guy dressed in camo. When my time came, I joined my “bird boy,” Eric Emilio Feminia, who took me to a nicely done, makeshift blind, constructed of sticks and vines to hide us as the birds approached.

Trying to make small talk, I complimented Feminia on adding a few flowers to my blind. Every day after, he added more and more. By the last day, when I’d tip him for his week of work, my blind was so colorful with flowers and pink clover that it would have won the Rose Bowl’s Tournament of Roses parade.

I don’t recall why, but the subject of tipping came up with Feminia on our first day. We talked about the $40-$50 a day gratuity recommendation by my host, MGW Outfitters. He shrugged that it wasn’t high enough, telling me that unlike every other guide I’d ever hired, he received nothing from the outfitter and lived on tips.

Which brings me to one of the most heated debates in outdoor circles: what to tip guides.

For many, it is an agonizing decision filled with questions. Did you catch fish or get a bear? Was lunch good? Did the guide teach you a few new tactics or twiddle his thumbs?

For others, it’s a simple percentage based on the price of the trip, like tipping the bill at a restaurant. Add a bit if service is extraordinary; subtract if it sucks.

And for a few, tipping isn’t anything they’ve ever considered. Try not to take guided trips with those folks. It’s embarrassing.

To come up with a consensus, I asked around, contacting a few guides and people who’ve hired guides.

My brother Joe lives in Idaho and sometimes takes clients of his company fishing on fabled Silver Creek. He talks to his group about tipping before they meet the guide. “We settle this beforehand,” he wisely said.

Typically, for a guided daytrip to wading streams, he tips an average $100 for his group, “all based on the quality of the guide and the experience of the trip.”

For hunts, I asked Paul, my former neighbor who got me into deer hunting. He tips on the restaurant formula, about 15% to 20%, then adds from there. For him, the decision is not based on whether he kills, but on the full experience.

“On my last hunt, I didn’t see a bear, but I had a hell of a time,” he said. Paul gave the guide 20%.

My shotgunning pal, Jed Babbin, tips based on the effort of the guide and the length of the hunt. A great day of goose hunting with a guide using good dogs will result in a $100 tip per hunter. “And if the guide is really, really, really good, I’ll up it,” he said.

And for a couple hours of skeet or sporting clays, we tip $20 per shooter.

Two fly fishing guides I talked to said the consensus is 15% to 20% of the price of the trip. So, add $80 or so for a $400 trip.

“Fifteen percent is probably average,” said Dave Rothrock, a Pennsylvania guide and co-author of Keystone Fly Fishing: The Ultimate Guide to Pennsylvania’s Best Water.

He is well known for teaching new tactics to anglers and offering advice from his 40 years guiding, but he added, “I don’t expect anything. There is no standard.” For two anglers, I’ve tipped Dave $100.

Tom Sadler, also an author and conservationist who guides in Central Virginia for Mossy Creek fly fishing, said, “There is not a set formula, as Dave notes. If asked in the shop they will say 15% is the norm and adjust from there.” He added, “Truth be told I don’t go into a gig with a tip expectation.”

Back to my Argentina dove hunt. Initially, I budgeted $50 a day, as recommended, but when I realized Feminia would spend all day shoving shells in my gun until his thumb was black, and he explaining that he received nothing from the outfitter, I adjusted upward. His final day blind construction didn’t hurt either.

I gave him $400 and a gift of a Havalon knife. He emailed me that he carries the knife every day.

Paul Bedard is a senior columnist and author of Washington Secrets.

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