General information
RIFLES: Although accuracy and bullet construction are far more important than caliber, we recommend that your rifle be of no smaller caliber than 270 Win. for caribou or sheep, or 30 caliber or larger for bear, and that the barrel channel be glass bedded. A rifle that will shoot consistent groups under all weather conditions is what puts trophies on the wall and meat on the table.
CLIENT RESPONSIBILITIES: Clients must furnish their own fishing gear, rifle & ammo, sleeping bag (sleeping bags are available for purchase), personal items and alcoholic beverages if desired. Moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages is allowed in camp. Clients can carry up to 50 pounds of personal gear on the bush plane to base camp.
PACKING: Pack all gear in non-frame duffel-type bags except rifle, and fishing poles. These are hand carried on the bush plane to camp. Hard rifle and fishing pole cases, suitcases, pack frames, cooler boxes, and all gear over 50 pounds will be stored at the air taxi for your pickup upon return from camp. Pistols are not necessary on your hunt. Expert trophy care will be provided in camp, but it is the responsibility of the client to make arrangements for any taxidermy work. (We have a professional taxidermist who is part of our team that will be happy to work with you.)
FAIR CHASE: All hunting and fishing contracted by Deltana will be conducted under the spirit and rules of fair chase. This means that an animal is hunted in a lawful and sportsmanlike manner and is not pursued or harassed with or from any mechanical means of transportation. We will not under any circumstances spot game from the air and proceed to stalk or hunt it. Fair chase also includes the reverence and respect due such fine game animals in their taking.
ABOUT THE MEAT: We are required by state law — and impelled by conscience — to salvage for human consumption the meat from wild food animals. Most of our hunters want at least some of the meat from the game they take. Some want it all. Caribou and sheep meat is a real taste of wild Alaska, and we encourage our hunters to take as much as they can. Well-cared for game meat is first class table fare. Not everyone can take it all home, however. If you cannot take it all, rest assured that we will care for whatever is left. We have good connections with community food banks and other sources that will put this meat to good use.
OUR GUARANTEE: Our guarantee to each individual is to do everything possible, within the confines of the law, to make your Alaska adventure successful, comfortable and enjoyable. To this end, all hunts are conducted under personal contract between the outfitter and client.
BOOKING PROCEDURE: We recommend that the first thing you do when you make the decision to hunt with us is give us a call. We cannot personally meet most of our clients because we are here in Alaska. Talking on the telephone is next best!
When you call, we’ll get to know a little about each other. You will know much better if we are truly the kind of people you will enjoy spending your time and money with…and we will start to understand just what kind of trip and experience you are looking for. After all, you are planning to spend quite a bit of money on what may be the trip of a lifetime. We want to make sure the trip it is what you are looking for. A phone call is cheap in comparison to overall cost!
We ask 50% down payment when you book your hunt. If a full 50% is a problem at the moment, we can work out a payment agreement. An additional 25% payment to be paid on June 1. The remaining 25% is payable upon arrival at the hunting camp. Please make the final payment in cash, traveler’s checks or cashier’s check. You may send the first two payments by check or by wire. For wire information, please call or email us.
Hunts scheduled more than 18 months away may be reserved with just a $2,000 partial payment. This down payment will reserve any hunt until final prices are established and you are notified, generally 10 to 12 months prior to the hunt. Partial payments apply toward the required 50% down payment and give you the right for first refusal. They hold the hunt for you and as such are nonrefundable.
Down payments are a commitment to the trip, both by the outfitter and the client. They are not refundable or transferable unless you provide another client to take your place. We recommend that you purchase trip/deposit insurance to protect your investment.
Trip Insurance:
You can protect your investment in a trip with travel insurance. A concern clients sometimes raise with us is what happens to a deposit if the wife gets sick, unforeseen business priorities prevent travel, or other problems arise. Insurance can inexpensively cover those kinds of issues. We recommend that you contact our travel insurance partner for additional information on this.
TIPPING:
This is a topic I don’t like talking about. But I am asked the question how much and who should I tip on my trip. So I am trying to give a little history and information on the subject. Below is what I have seen and learned over many years in hunting camps. Take it with a grain of salt and do with it as you wish.
What is tipping for?
Tipping is a good thing; it is a straight forward way to encourage effort and great service. However tipping looses it’s most important purpose when others start deciding or dictating who should get tips, how much you should give or pooling tips and redistributing them however they see fit. These practices do not allow workers to make that connection between their effort and their compensation, after all what is a tip for?
Tipping is customary in hunting camps, but it’s also discretionary
In the hunting industry a tip is customary and should always be figured into your budget during the planning stages of your hunt. That being said, a tip is also always a reflection of the level of effort and quality of service that you have received during the entirety of your hunt and should not be considered mandatory. It should however be a VERY rare occasion and a completely bungled hunt, due to human error, not nature or weather, when skimping on a tip should be considered acceptable. You should absolutely inform the owner or person in charge if you are dissatisfied to the extent that you do not feel that a tip is deserved by anyone involved in your hunting trip.
Why is tipping so important?
The reason is simple, Guides, Pilots, cooks, packers, skinners and camp staff derive much of their income from the tips they receive during a short hunting season which creates the incentive for them to perform at their highest level for each and every client. After all we must remember that hunting is a service industry. The custom of tipping has evolved over a long period of time and is responsible for creating an environment of ever evolving higher standards and better quality of service, leaving behind those who are less than hard working.
When to tip
Most people give their tip at the end of the hunt, which makes sense because it should be based upon overall effort and your satisfaction. There are some hunters who swear they get better service by offering a portion of the tip at the beginning of the hunt to the trackers and skinner, as an incentive. They explain to the hunting team that they will be well compensated at the end of the hunt in addition to what they have already received if they work hard and do their very best. Even if they spend no more than they had planned to originally, they believe this method to be an effective stimulus that makes the team want to work harder. This may be of particular importance with the skinner who often gets little attention, even though the fate of your trophies rests in their hands. My thought is that this theory is hard to prove as you will never know how hard the hunting team would have worked for you otherwise.
This tip has nothing to do with tipping
Here is my tip to you which has nothing to do with tipping! Your behavior has more to do with the outcome of your hunt than your tip. You should know that the outcome of your hunt is highly dependent upon the performance of your entire hunting team and that the effort they put forth from one hunt to another can be drastically different depending on how they “feel” about the hunter as a person. It’s not always about money, just being nice goes a long way too.
How important it is that the guide/outfitter and hunting team perceive you positively, for whatever reason, is not something that you will ever hear discussed, but it is really a factor that can play a huge role in how hard the hunting team works for you and how successful your hunt is.
From the moment you arrive it is important to go out of your way to have warm and friendly interactions with the staff… and I mean all of them. Remember they work together, live together and are often related to each other, if you are disrespectful to one person they will all know about it in short order. Not to say that you shouldn’t complain if there is something that you’re unhappy about, but I suggest you take it to the guide/ outfitter and let him deal with it.
Preferred form of payment for tipping
A tip should be given in cash or with traveler’s cheques.
How to make sure your tip gets where you intend it to?
You should make an effort to hand your tip directly to the person it is for. In this way you can help to insure that your wishes are being respected. It is fine if you wish to put your tip into an envelope and have the guide / outfitter give a group tip to be divided evenly, or as you see fit, for the lodge/camp staff if you are more comfortable or if it is too time consuming.
Factors to consider when tipping
-Overall team effort
– Satisfaction with overall experience
– Success of hunting target trophy
– Area where hunt takes place
– Price of hunt
– Number of days of hunt
– Number of non-hunting observers
You may not have as much contact with the lodge/camp personnel as you do with your hunting team but they are still an important component of your whole hunting experience. These people should also be taken into consideration when tipping as they care for your day to day needs behind the scenes. The hunting and camp staffs are a complete team, each doing their part to make you hunt great and the stay enjoyable, however some hunters may be inclined only to tip those who they have had the most contact with (ie. Guide, pilot, packer) but it is really a team effort in every way. The cook, skinners and camp staff are what make the whole camp a success. These people work very hard for you.
Typical personnel to tip
– Guide
– Packer
– Skinner
– Cook
– Pilot
– Camp Help
Who is it normal to tip and why?
A general guideline for me as to who should receive a tip goes back to something I mentioned earlier: the purpose of a tip is to reward and encourage good service. That being said, I believe anyone directly providing service to you should be tipped, as outlined in the list above. This general rule will help you to clarify when or if an outfitter is asking you to tip personnel that should be salaried workers. If someone is driving, cooking cleaning for me or otherwise involved directly in the hunting they should be tipped.
Asking your hunting outfitter for guidelines
You may wish to ask your hunting outfitter/ guide for some guidelines regarding who and how much to tip, however be prepared for a less than clear response as many guide/ outfitters are uncomfortable providing advice regarding this subject. Always remember that any suggestion is merely a point of reference and not what you should tip, ultimately the decision is yours.
How much to tip on an Alaskan Big Game hunt
There is a lot of advice and theories out there regarding how much to tip, which often creates more confusion than actually helping you get a better grasp on a fuzzy subject. I will share with you my method for how I decide how much of a tip to leave and knowing from the other side of the equation how much people really do leave. This method really works for all hunting camps from a bargain caribou hunt package all the way up to a big Brown Bear Hunt.
I base my tip for the Guide on the total cost of the hunt, daily rate and trophy fees combined, excluding tax. Using that figure, I multiplying it by:
For Your Guide: 5% – 10% for an average to better than tip average tip
For Your Packer 2% -5% for an average to better than tip average tip
For Camp Cook 2% -5% for an average to better than tip average tip
For Camp Skinner 2% -5% for an average to better than tip average tip
For Your Pilot 2% -5% for an average to better than tip average tip
I believe that this method works well because it figures in the cost level of the hunt, the number of species you take and allows for you to express your appreciation by giving you the ability to choose the percentage based upon your overall satisfaction.
As for the rest of the hunting team and lodge/camp staff I break it down as follows:
For a typical hunting Camp:
For Camp Cook 2% -5% for an average to better than tip average tip
For Camp Skinner 2% -5% for an average to better than tip average tip
For Your Pilot 2% -5% for an average to better than tip average tip
All this being said tipping is totally up to you. This is your decision and only yours. This is just a information sheet to help and give you some ideas.