Hunting Pressure and Time Questions

[mmboat]

1. Does hunting pressure from one species affect other species like if I shot a fallow deer, would it affect if a herd of roe deer will come back to a zone near where I shot the fallow? If it affects one species, does it affect only the herd that I hunted an animal in or does it also affect other herds of the same species that have zones near there?

2. How many animals do you have to kill before a herd will not come back to a zone. Will they come back to those zones eventually?

3. If I played on another map for a while, will the animals on other maps also age? This may be a dumb question, but I want to be sure. How long does it take for an animal to age?

4. How long until hunting pressure goes away, not as in what I asked in question 2, but if I shot an animal in a herd and hunting pressure goes up by 25% for that herd on an imaginery bar, how long until it's back at zero percent?

5. Do animals in private areas age.

The reason I want to know this is because I found one lake on Transylvania that had a 5 star fallow deer, 5 star red deer, and a 5 star roe deer. I shot the 5 star fallow and debated resetting time and coming back for the roe and red deer but thought I may destroy the zones if I kill so many animals in such a short time and I don't want to lose these herds since they have such high genetic animals. The lake is the one that is just outside the cabin that is to the north of the main lodge. I still don't understand a lot about the game and I don't want to do what I did the first time I played the game where I hunted the animals out of my best zones. I'd like to get everything before it dies but if they do, it probably wouldn't be a huge problem since another animal with good genetics would likely replace them.

[DC2Dixon]

I don't think most of that info has been given by the devs. All this is my own opinion so make of it what you will.

1 I believe so, I think its a area around where you are hunting. I have never had animals disappear from zones but only kill 2-3 max from one herd. Its mostly 1-2 but if there are a few low fit I will try to kill them.

2 Unknown I believe, the best thing to do is hunt many different areas. I usually hunt from dawn until dusk walking the map. I never hunt the same areas for consecutive days. I am not sure if it is from animals killed or just game time that makes them come back.

3 No, luckily one maps time is only for that map. I have seen one or two people asking for that to change but that would suck imo. If I am working on herd management on one map, playing another map for a few days shouldn't affect other maps imo.

4 Again unknown by the community as far as I am aware. It is good, COTW became to easy with everyone knowing how the mechanics of that game worked.

5 All animals age when playing. Some say 3 in game days is one year for the animal. It was changed so you cant just skip time to age animals. You still need to play the game to allow animals to age. It was to stop people cheesing 5 star animals, probably the reason many youtubers stopped playing.

6 Killing 3 animals in one area should be fine. I believe it depends on species but most wont go to another zone from 3 animals (at least from my game time) You could also wait at the zone and follow them to there next zone if want to be 100% on that. If its the area I am thinking of the fallow and red deer eat in the forest just above the lodge (about 250M)

Again this is just from my own experience playing. I have never seen the devs post about most of the info you are asking.

[mmboat]

Thanks for the help. I think I'll try killing one more at the lake and then follow the other to it's next zone. Also this area is called Aurora Woods I think.

[DC2Dixon]

I thought it was there you were talking about. Yes all those animals have feed zones up in the woods just above the cabin. Can normally spot them as soon as you leave the cabin.

[mmboat]

I was able to kill the 5 star roe deer but haven't found the red deer. I doubt it died since I've been resetting time so it shouldn't have aged. If it did die, I do have another 4 star red deer that may be able to reach 5 stars before it dies.

[DC2Dixon]

Congrats on the roe and fallow! They are both nice looking 5 star animals.

I am a little confused in what you said sorry. If you have reset time it means you have skipped a day yes? You cant go back in time if that is what you mean? It is quite possible it might of died if that is the case. If the red deer was very grey it could of been in its last age cycle of the mature stage.

If it did die it will simply be replaced with a respawn and the genetics should be very high on that animal. If you have a 4 star in the herd also there is a good chance you will see another 5 star in that herd. I had 3 red deer 5 stars recently from there but now my genetics have taken a hit. All my matures now are either a 1 or 2 star mature, herd management works both ways. Killing all the high genetics will lower the overall average of the area so worth keeping that in mind for future reference. All private land has high genetic animals to start with but how we manage herds is important to finding more.

The devs say secondary habitats have a limit to how good genetics can be but after 350 hours I am seeing many high genetic animals all over my maps. I have had a few 5 stars in the starting area on Nez recently so it is possible to get 5 stars anywhere with enough herd management imo.

[mmboat]

Yes, it would have meant that I was skipping a day when I wanted to be at the start of their drink time again but I did also skip just an hour sometimes to get everything to come back to their zones when drink time wasn't over yet. I think if it did die, it was very soon after I first spotted it since I haven't seen it again even though I think I've found the same herd and it couldn't have aged because I changed the time. I do remember the deer was a very light brown which I saw with many of the other mature red deer.

[DC2Dixon]

Not sure how that all works as I have never done that sorry. Animals don't stay at there zones for the duration though. Some arrive early and leave early and others do the opposite. There are 2 red deer herds that drink down there as far as I know. Maybe he was in the other herd? If he was light brown he probably had a few years still left, the red deer go very grey in colour in there last few years.

[mmboat]

I haven't hunted red deer a lot so I'm not exactly sure how to tell how old one is. I thought the light brown was right on deaths doorstep since I thought a younger mature would be closer to the red that the adults have. As far as my lake goes, I have 4 herds of red deer and have gotten as close as 100 yards to try to spot them all but wasn't able to find a 5 star. I am actually starting to think I may have spotted the 4 star and thought it said 5 since I didn't see it for long. I have noticed that they leave their zones around 12:30 since drink time ends at 13:00 and have even tried to set the time to that to catch them while they were leaving.

[mmboat]

Also do uneven antlers mean bad genetics usually? Checked that lake again and found a 2 star mature that has one antler with less tines than the other. And I see what you mean about the color. Some of the other matures do look more red or light brown like the adults but the 5 star was definently more grey so it likely was closer to the end of it's life.

[DC2Dixon]

It can be tricky when starting. Usually its easy to tell if there are more mature in the herd, even looking at females will give you a good idea. You could buy the caller but need to unlock the perk to call the high fit animals. Could be worth getting just to make sure no low fit are in the herd (first call available for that caller) it will mean any respawns are higher fitness if you take the low fit out.

Usually yes but not always according to Lanani (a moderator here) apparently a uneven rack can still be high fit, it can change to even as the animal gets older ( I believe that is what she said) I have killed many 2 star mature that were below 50% but killed others that were 90 odd (could of made 5 star) its not always easy to tell just by looking at animals. Small+uneven racks are normally a given though. Here are some photos of pretty grey red deer. Not easy to tell from them but it might help you.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2962885569
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2962885801

[mmboat]

Yeah I think the 5 star looked about like that and so does the 4 star mature. Still some pretty healthy herds that I think may have potential to have some 5 stars.

[DC2Dixon]

It is that location that those 2 are from. Its a bit of a hotspot like many areas in private land. What you could do is take your chances on the 2 star mature. If he is lower genetics the average will go up if you take him out. Even if he is 70-80% he wont make 5 star, the 5 star and 4 star will make the average higher. Also worth getting the caller and checking all red deer herds in that area/region. Take out any that come to the low fit call, it is a average for a area not a single herd that produces better genetics. Anything that is 2 star or less and fairly grey is worth taking imo, otherwise a 2 start mature could still be high genetics if a younger mature. Personally I don't worry if I do take out a high fit as focusing on only producing higher fitness animals is boring imo. As much as I look at animals and aim for low fit animals I could never do what some do and check back on animals daily to get more 5 stars. The more you play the more you will see as long as you don't just shot everything that moves.

[mmboat]

Thanks for the help. I haven't played in a while and still don't really know how alot of things in the game work still.

[DC2Dixon]

No problem! I am still unsure on many things myself but I like that. As soon as I knew all the mechanics for COTW it became boring for me.

[mmboat]

I tend to take out the lowest fitness in each herd I can. I probably will have to use the caller to weed out the low fitness animals since there are a lot of hills they tend to hide behind and are hard to get around.