Tips on DIY Trips?

[csmcclain]

Tipping is customary on guided hunts, so I doubt that needs to be discussed anymore. What are tipping expectations on unguided/drop camps? We are considering two options in Alaska in 2028:

Option 1.) Boat-based (transporter) hunt for ducks, deer, and fishing: we would plan to tip in line with a guided hunt for this, as they are cooking, cleaning, transporting, and basically doing everything
Option 2.) DIY airboat trip for caribou. They drop you off and pick you up a week later. Are you supposed to tip the airboat operator on this or is that not customary? They are not providing anything for the camp, just a ride up the river to a designated spot.

Curious for input here

 

[Flipper Dude]

1. Yes

2. No. I don’t tip pilots either

 

[Altitude sickness]

Yes tipping anyone that’s directly involved is expected. Of course less than a guide babysitting you for a week. But a packer or bush pilot still expect a tip. They work hard for their money.

Also there are times when a decision has to be made which camps get picked up first and if you’re the cheapskate guess who’s not getting picked up first.

Might seem like a small detail, but if there’s a storm coming, or lakes are freezing up early and it’s a difference between getting picked up today and or getting picked up five days later after the storm clears and you’re out of food. it’s a big deal.

 

[Adam Stevens]

1. Yes

2. No. I don’t tip pilots either

Same thought. First one they are doing everything for you supply/service wise.

I'd be hard pressed to tip for someone flying me in and out unless they went out of their way for service or helping me out. Accommodating me in some way

 

[Altitude sickness]

The pilot loads your gear on departure. He loads your meat onto the plane. He unloads your meat back in town and has it taken care of. Because you’re normally still in the bush. Either still hunting. Or due to weight he takes multiple trips. They don’t just fly the plane.

 

[Flipper Dude]

I see your point in that instance. I usually got a bag and a rifle. That’s it.

 

[Betterinthebush]

Yes tipping anyone that’s directly involved is expected. Of course less than a guide babysitting you for a week. But a packer or bush pilot still expect a tip. They work hard for their money.

Also there are times when a decision has to be made which camps get picked up first and if you’re the cheapskate guess who’s not getting picked up first.

Might seem like a small detail, but if there’s a storm coming, or lakes are freezing up early and it’s a difference between getting picked up today and or getting picked up five days later after the storm clears and you’re out of food. it’s a big deal.

Every word.

Not every pilot owns the plane. The pilots work their butts off for their turns. Not taking care of a pilot is poor form and will come back to bite you.

 

[deewayne2003]

Every word.

Not every pilot owns the plane. The pilots work their butts off for their turns. Not taking care of a pilot is poor form and will come back to bite you.

Depends...if a waiter or bar tender sucks - NOTHING! and yes I've had both jobs

The last fly in hunt I did was my last ever trip to Canada on a remote lake in Ontario, upon fly in I pulled $300 out of my pocket and tried to hand it to the pilot while making a motion to circle the lake so we could at least see the opposite side tree line and shore, he just laughed and said NO!

This was a self guided trip where the air charter service owners daughter decided that her new husband needed to go with us because they are "friends" with my buddy who is older than me..... the husband had been a fishing guide for us the summer before on our fishing trip.

This trip he decided his only responsibility was drinking my whiskey, smoking my cigars & feeding us shit food so he could take home all our purchased food home(he did) and catching 40x his daily limit of Walleye, freezing them in the cabin and hiding them in a ice chest away from the cabin.

Time comes to load out and my buddy asked me if I wanted to give this guy $1,000 tip like he and our other older buddy were going to do.

Point being some people are just plain idiots and will tip anyone for anything and that's how the current shameless tip begging has come to be; I say tip those that deserve it - if you are being asked to tip people "behind the scenes" your just paying THEIR labor cost for them.

 

[Flipper Dude]

Yes tipping anyone that’s directly involved is expected. Of course less than a guide babysitting you for a week. But a packer or bush pilot still expect a tip. They work hard for their money.

Also there are times when a decision has to be made which camps get picked up first and if you’re the cheapskate guess who’s not getting picked up first.

Might seem like a small detail, but if there’s a storm coming, or lakes are freezing up early and it’s a difference between getting picked up today and or getting picked up five days later after the storm clears and you’re out of food. it’s a big deal.

Now you’re telling me that a bush pilot puts me last on the pickup list cuz I didn’t tip him on the way in as the other groups did. That just shows that I was correct in not tipping the sumbitch!

See, now I got a case of the red ass over some hypothetical bush pilot that I’ll never meet. That sounds about right

Come to think of it, I did spend a night in an airplane hanger out on the Aleutian peninsula last month, when the pilot decided he couldn’t come back after flying off with all my luggage and my wife. Shoulda tipped the SOB I guess.

 

[Altitude sickness]

I don’t think any professional service would screw you because you didn’t tip,

but if there’s five camps to be be picked up and only one can make it out before the storm. Experience and human nature tells me says it’s gonna be the easy to deal with guys that tip well

Not the pain in the ass group that is Cheap. Those attributes unfortunately tend to go hand in hand

Hey, It’s simply my opinion. No one needs to change their tipping strategy.

 

[Flipper Dude]

You’re probably right. But I am extremely easy to deal with. Too easy, wife says. I just don’t tip pilots. I don’t tip doctors either.

There was a bush pilot I spent a week with last month. He was in his early 70s and while he wasn’t flying his own plane, his plane was tied up beside it. Knocking down 40K + per month plus room and board for 6 months a year. Had over a hundred mounts including dozens of full body mounts. Richer than 3 feet up a bulls ass. How am I gonna tip that guy? I realize that’s not usually the case, but now you got me means testing pilots for tip worthiness.

Going full Aussie on this one.