New player, got any tips?

[Deaglerk]

I did progress the story and at the part where need take water samples for April. Been using story and some side quest to buy guns and gears. I notice a lot of 1 stars in animal, I been trying practice my shots and hunt for $ to buy more stuff and those passes to unlock area def expensive (haven't bought one yet). I did read do not killing adults, kill the mature (look for gray fur), If group are all adults, for example just saw white tails 3 females and 3 males. what do u kill here? Is doing side quest only way to make good money or do need higher stars for better money or do need hunt bigger games like moose, bear, or elk? And yes been working on my perks.
--------------------------------TIPS shared by users-----------------------------------
1. Passes that require to hunt in private area, if you work on cabin quests eventually you will unlock area without needing to buy pass.

2. Website for Way of the Hunter - Toolbox! (interactive map plus wiki)
https://codeaid.github.io/woth-toolbox/animals

3. Handguide made by community and ToothlessChuWawa
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bJw1dJERwsqbocKdS3CSFB7eM35fKM9D/view

4. Find campsites and explore question mark area, and while your exploring pick up all quests so can progress them while playing the game normally.

[Peacemaker]

herd management, how I do:
young: don't shoot anything!

adult/male
1-2 star: shot!
3-4 star: wait and watch!

mature/male
1-3 star: shot!
4 star: wait and watch close (5 star possible!)
5 star shot!!!

adult/mature/female
only shot, if there are too few males in the herd

[Deaglerk]

Oh also, first time playing this type of hunting game, played red redemption 2, year ago (like the hunting there) and recently looking for hunting game that was similar to like that and this game pop up.

[Deaglerk]

Originally posted by Peacemaker:

herd management, how I do:
young: don't shoot anything!

adult/male
1-2 star: shot!
3-4 star: wait and watch!

mature/male
1-3 star: shot!
4 star: wait and watch close (5 star possible!)
5 star shot!!!

adult/mature/female
only shot, if there are too few males in the herd

What is a good ratio if there are too few "males" in the herd?

[Peacemaker]

I have very rarely seen a herd that only had one or two males, in this case I thought about shooting an older female and did so

[6Taylor4]

Animals generate from $1 to several hundred; objective rewards are usually in the thousands.A great starting kit is a .270 rifle and a bow, or any tier 6 weapon and a bow, covers all tiers. That's all you'll need for a while.
Moving, I like on foot because you can auto-move and keep hunter sense on; car you have to hold down a key, but vehicle carries all inventory. Cover does not matter; sound and movement are what they notice. Good hunting.

[6Taylor4]

Also be sure to check out the Toolbox!
https://codeaid.github.io/woth-toolbox/animals

[Bjørn]

Originally posted by Deaglerk:

I been trying practice my shots and hunt for $ to buy more stuff and those passes to unlock area def expensive (haven't bought one yet).

You don't have to buy the passes. Complete the missions for the land owners, then you get the passes for free, and also money rewards (I think?).

[Deaglerk]

Oh currently my gear is Binoculars 10x42
Bought Steyr Pro Hunter 2 with Leupold VX-6Hd 3-18x44 scope (was able to kill moose and bear with this with heart or brain kills) but seem brain kills aren't really worth a lot, even tho save lot of meat (in my opinion, purely for meat sell i mean).

Shotgun: morning silence with Red Dot attached (needed better shotgun for hunting ducks for the objective quest)

and 2 lures for ducks & goose need get 8-13lbs of goose,duck for side objective tho lures could be useful (so far don't seem to be, or not using them right lol)

Oh thank you for the website, def will helpful!

As for bow, haven't gotten one yet, any recommendation? (believe there only 3?)
Tier 6 rifle any recommendation?

[Deaglerk]

Originally posted by Bjørn:

Originally posted by Deaglerk:

I been trying practice my shots and hunt for $ to buy more stuff and those passes to unlock area def expensive (haven't bought one yet).

You don't have to buy the passes. Complete the missions for the land owners, then you get the passes for free, and also money rewards (I think?).

Oh! thank you, that's good to know. (wish they mention it somewhere in-game)

[CONDOR V]

One of the longstanding community members, ToothlessChuWawa has put together the ultimate guide to WOTH. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bJw1dJERwsqbocKdS3CSFB7eM35fKM9D/view

I would also suggest checking out Bumblewoots channel. He goes into the science of the game and he has lots of good information about animal ageing (getting to 5 stars), herd management and much more.
https://www.youtube.com/@bumblewoot

[Deaglerk]

Thanks for tips and link.

[Herr Morlock]

Originally posted by Deaglerk:

Originally posted by Peacemaker:

herd management, how I do:
young: don't shoot anything!

adult/male
1-2 star: shot!
3-4 star: wait and watch!

mature/male
1-3 star: shot!
4 star: wait and watch close (5 star possible!)
5 star shot!!!

adult/mature/female
only shot, if there are too few males in the herd

What is a good ratio if there are too few "males" in the herd?

I don't think that herds do benefit from additional males, at all. Ideally, you would only have one of them (because the average of a high one and some "meh" males always will tend to spawn less higher scores, than if it would only be a single high scoring buck setting the "average" himself), which should have the highest possible score, so new spawned males have the best chance to get a score like him (or even higher).

How I do it:
Cull anything that comes towards you, when using your callers in "low score animal luring" mode. You might consider to shoot anything which is in it's "mature" age and has only 3 stars, but it could be a potential 5star buck which changed his age to mature just some minutes before and has therefore not already achieved 4 stars, but only 3 stars. So I personally, do not shoot those ones, as well (as long as they don't react to my caller, as described above).
Never ever shoot an animal which has 4 stars, because you never know if it could become a 5star animal, the day after.

Oh and never shoot any females, because the more there are inside a herd, the faster it's population increases.

[6Taylor4]

"Oh and never shoot any females, because the more there are inside a herd, the faster it's population increases."
Interesting; if too many females, might that lead to a lower quality herd? Thanks for your insights.

[Herr Morlock]

Originally posted by 6Taylor4:

"Oh and never shoot any females, because the more there are inside a herd, the faster it's population increases."
Interesting; if too many females, might that lead to a lower quality herd? Thanks for your insights.

As far as I know, they don't have any genetic score, at all. So the average score of the herd, which is used for the newly spawned young males, is purely built by the scores of the male ones.
You can see this by the way callers are handled. There is not a single caller, which does differentiate between low scoring females and high scoring females. There is only the function for females, in general. This supports the idea of them, being - technically - all the same.

[Peacemaker]

Originally posted by Herr Morlock:

Oh and never shoot any females, because the more there are inside a herd, the faster it's population increases.

Was this information confirmed by a dev?
This would be new for me.

My thoughts go like this: The herd has an approximate maximum size, if there are “too many” females, something only happens when the oldest ones automatically disappear. However, you could speed up the spawning of new males by shooting some of the older females.
Therefore I shot older females from time to time (quiet rare).

Is not that right? If not, please provide a precise reason and source. thx