Am I missing something?

[Silerthin]

Only a few hours into the game and I am enjoying it so far.
But I am struggling to shoot any sort of large game. The .243 is recommended for the white tailed deer but no matter how close I am the bullets just seem to bounce off and they run away.

Also does the game 'penalise' you for using the 'wrong' gun for the the 'wrong' game? I shot a deer from 10 metres away with the 30-30 and it, yet again, shrugged it off and ran away.

[Alf Tupper]

Hello, welcome aboard.

Not sure what other hunting games you have played, but to help you, could I suggest you have a look at this toolbox developed for the game:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2882064749

One of the sections shows you what power of rifle you will need for any given animal. The .243 should be good for Tier 5 animals if you place the shot well, ie the optimal shot is broadside through one lung, and hopefully both lungs. You should be ok with Whitetail deer, but bear in mind your lethality drops with range, and the chances of your bullet not going where you aimed it rise.

The .30-30 as standard is really a Tier 4 weapon, as the standard ammo is a managed recoil round , ie lower power. If you use the 'premium' ammo, the energy levels get it back to a Tier 5 standard. EDIT - standard ammo 1780J at the muzzle, premium ammo 2477J or 2579J, quite a big jump.

NB although I have used the phrase tiers, WOTH uses those as rough guidelines, and not in the way COTW tHC do.

There are no penalties in this game for the 'wrong' gun in the way COTW and tHC do it. If you shoot, and the animal survived, no penalty apart from the cost of ammo if you have paid for it. If you shoot with a lower power weapon, and kill your game with one shot, no penalty.

However if you have a mad moment and blast a small animal with a powerful rifle, you will be penalised in hunt score and by meat loss. Also if you shoot an animal more than once, expect similar penalties.

[Lanani]

General advice for reliable takedowns:

1. Gun tiers roughly correspond to animal tiers, at a reasonable distance. That is, if you're hunting a tier 5 animal for example, any tier 5 gun used within 300 m or less will generally have enough hit energy to do the job. There are exceptions to every rule though (cape buffalo for example are extremely tough and I would not advise shots on them beyond 200m).

2. Shot placement is key. You will want to go for double lung shots from the side or heart shots from the front. Headshots usually ruin the trophy. Neck shots are NOT reliable in-game.

3. Always make sure that you are zeroed correctly.

4. Hold breath (Shift on keyboard) to reduce weapon sway. Crouching and proning also reduces sway.

[6Taylor4]

That's a lot of Great information to absorb; get back to us please on how you managed!

[Silerthin]

That's a lot of info and the toolbox is very helpful thank you.
I've played a small amount of CoTW but just couldn't get into it, WotH just feels and looks better.

According to the toolbox the .243 is optimal at any range (50-300m) for the White-Tailed deer and I've hit accurate lung shots from 100-200 yards only to have it run off without any blood trail.
Hitting the target hasn't been an issue as the deer reacts to being shot, and it's fairly clear to see a general shot placement with the 'tracer' like ammo used.

I will keep trying though, I might give some premium ammo a go. I am really enjoying the game, thanks for the help.

[Alf Tupper]

No problem! I think you're doing all the sensible things.

Something that might help (if you haven't already done this of course!)

- in in the Settings in Gameplay is to enable the 'blood trail origin marker'. It will show you on the map, and with an icon visible for 100 metres, if you hit the animal, and where the blood trail starts.

- in Huntersense enable 'blood prints identification' so then you can analyse your track leading from the blood trail origin marker. If your animal survived - better luck next time. If it's a fatal hit then you'll know to get tracking.

EDIT - and yes of course enable the impact dot in Huntersense so you can see if you are aiming rght!!

The other solution is trade up to a .308 or .270 of course!

[Silerthin]

Thanks heaps. Turns out the kill shot graphic wasn't working and didn't show the bullet travel path. I didn't realise how accurate the shot placement needs to be.

Managed to get a few and track them down.

Thanks so much for your help :) Can't wait to explore more in this game.

[Alf Tupper]

No worries, I've just been out with the .30-30 and the .243, they work well enough, posted a few screenshots of the kills. Would I use them regularly? Not really, no.

Make use of the Huntersense stuff until you feel at home with turning it off. Looking forward to you posting your first big trophy! Happy hunting!