the right time to hunt whitetail deer

[76561199760325970]

when I hunt like there are no signs of life whatsoever I have difficulty finding the game animal and when I meet it it only takes about 25 minutes

[Hylie Pistof]

there is no "right time" and place in this game.

all animals are created at the start, when you enter a map. then they roam into random directions, get spooked by random encounters of other animals (and maybe you) and end up all over the maps.
of course you wont find a bighorn sheep down at the lakes of TGT, these are animals that live in the mountains.
but there is no fixed location where any animal will be, only larger areas, where you have to track and hunt them (XD thats what the game is about ;))

for WT (whitetail deer) try the south of Whiteheart Island or the area around the middle tower in Loggers Point and to the west from there. south east along the coast of Redfeather Falls is also a good place to search.

of course your behaviour is also important, if you run around expecting a shooter like game.... ;) this is a sneaky one, you have to learn how to move carefully and how to find the species you are looking for.

take your time, 25 minutes is not long, often i have more success the longer i stay on a map, but some people tend to respawn to "create" new animals and hopefully run into them fast :( that is NOT hunting ;)

have alook at these, maybe this can help you:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3346267824

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2878466302

[76561199806549702]

Originally posted by Hylie Pistof:

there is no "right time" and place in this game.

Wrong, there is a period of time when animals are less active. At least deer and elk tend to sleep during the day, from about 11 am to 3 pm. They curl up in the bushes and don't respond to calls. This is the worst time to look for deer.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3399205784

[**********]

Roosevelt elk start to sleep before 10am and wake up sometime after 11am. Whitetails sleep around 10.30am+, but again it's only for an hour or two. They may have an afternoon sleeping time also but it's not a solid 11-3 for either in game. You often get call just before they curl up to doze off. Either way once they're asleep the caller has no effect.

[76561199806549702]

Originally posted by **********:

but it's not a solid 11-3 for either in game.

Yes I didn't say that it's solid, I said 'about' 11-3. And they don't sleep all at the same time, of course, some go to sleep others continue to roam. But in general, based on years playing this game, I can say that 11-3 is the time when the woods feel the most empty. I would also add that midday has the worst lighting conditions: a very strong contrast between the shadows and the sunlit foliage makes it hard to see anything. So I recommend hunting deer early in the morning, as soon as visibility allows. Or in the afternoon, until it gets dark.

[leongt1954]

There no specific time but I did find early in the morning I seem to get some good animals but I haven't played in a long time so it mite have changed matter of face I was just looking at my save fold in my email and came across a February 2009 VIP code to play they sent out to players before the game was released

[Hylie Pistof]

Originally posted by Chaser82Max:

Wrong, there is a period of time when animals are less active.

no animal and certainly not all drop to sleep at any time!! and they dont have a designated sleeping place, so my statement stands...

there is no "right time" and place in this game.

and no matter how you see it, my statement is absolutly not "wrong" - less active doesnt mean the map is empty and there is no way to find a certain species - what was the actual question here

i find enough animals in your sleeping period because not all are sleeping, and you can disturb them too, then they will spook and run into a random directions - as allways, including spooking other animals.

again a so called veteran who nitpicks on a mechanic that is totaly irrelevant for a newbee who asked a specific question :( read OP again and try to understand.

[76561199806549702]

Originally posted by Neza:

the right time to hunt whitetail deer

when I hunt like there are no signs of life whatsoever I have difficulty finding the game animal

So, answering to the OP directly, once again. Best times for whitetail deer are early morning and late afternoon, any experienced player knows that. See the top reply here, for example:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/253710/discussions/0/5020940479398728944/

And yeah, that dude who copy/pastes his how-to-earn-gm tutorials in every newbie topic, even if the question was about something completely different, he doesn't have any deep knowledge about the game, but always gets mad when exposed. This is not the first time.

Originally posted by Hylie Pistof:

there is no "right time" and place in this game.
....
for WT (whitetail deer) try the south of Whiteheart Island...

First he claims "there's no right place..." and in the next paragraph "these are good places...". First he tells outright lies and then contradicts himself in the same post. Funny, isn't it?
-------------
There are right places for every species, except migrating animals who randomly travel across the entire map. This is a common knowledge, and you can check out animal maps at theHunter wiki.

But even for migrating species there are right places, where terrain is open and you have great visibility. For geese you wanna place your blind where they like to land and not in a thick forest, and so on.

[Hylie Pistof]

that "dude" knows enough to at least understand a basic question and answer that, instead of brabbeling about how amazing they are themselfs!

my tutorials are far more helpfull then your claim of "animal sleeps = not a good time"! - what is not a 4hour period anyway, so its irrelevant to the OP. i find enough animals in the middle of the day!

are you serious?
this is what you make out of "25minutes ingame and no WT around" ? did you actualy read the Original Post?

and no i dont get mad when exposed, i get mad when people twist my words and claim to know "what i meant" rather then read and understand (comprehension issue?) what i wrote.

just as you now try to belittle and disrespect me in your arrogance and ignorance.

no wonder so many new players of countless games are anoyed by so called veterans who dont even answer the question they asked.

EDIT:
XD holy brainsalad batman XD you realy can comprehend ;) i did NOT contradict myself, i said no place but larger areas, where did i lie? - DUDE - get some glasses or soaber up, you cant be real.

who asked about geese? what is wrong with you? stick to the topic.

OP...
dont get confused by that linked thread, it states also that there are "fewer chance to see them roaming" - but a map is never empty just because "animals sleep".

[76561199806549702]

no, I don't need to learn how to read, you need to learn how to write. This is your direct quote:

Originally posted by Hylie Pistof:

there is no "right time" and place in this game.

all animals are created at the start, when you enter a map. then they roam into random directions, get spooked by random encounters of other animals (and maybe you) and end up all over the maps.

..and then some vague examples about goats in the mountains, but nothing specific about existing and well-known game rules.

Where did you mention spawn maps? Nowhere. What a new player would think after reading that? - "Oh, so there's no right place, because all animals are mixed evenly and randomly across the map. Only goats are in the mountains and fish in the sea. So it doesn't really matter where I start my hunt". But this is complete bs, right? He will never find blacktail deer on the south of RFF, because they only spawn at the north. Technically they can reach south after a full day of roaming, but lol... It's possible that poor newbie will waste hours trying to find blacktails there, because you told him that it doesn't matter. Your vague "explanations" are inaccurate and misleading. Why not just give a wiki link to the new player and explain how exactly it works (spawn maps)?

And yes, there are right spots. Not areas, but specific coordinates on the map which are good places for ambush, where spawns are dense and animals tend to gather. And you must find and know them, this is the part of the game which makes it more interesting. I myself won a bunch of wood grouse competitions back in the day, because I knew such spots for wood grouse.

So stop lying to people and calling it "help".

[76561199806549702]

Just bought the crossbow pistol to check my spot again. What do we have here? Is that 8 drummers in 30 minutes, all at the same spot? And there were more, but they fled because I fired my shotgun twice:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3399840085

What was that you were saying, Mr. 'Expert'? Right spots don't exist? Oh, sure, keep believing that.

[Dools]

Always started my hunts at 8am but most chose a time they like the light at more then anything for WT deer south cliff lodge Whitehart anytime good walk too closest tower should get a call or tracks 9 out of 10 times only few mins into game

[Pete Gaimari]

I start at 8am too but at 10am or so the hunting slows down.

[Pete Gaimari]

I also keep moving slow most of the time. I do setup treestands now but only stay in them a few minutes to see what's happening in an area. Sometimes i'll stay in a stand when eating lunch or a snack.

[76561199806549702]

Originally posted by 🐾 Tracker:

Originally posted by Chaser82Max:

At least deer and elk tend to sleep during the day, from about 11 am to 3 pm. They curl up in the bushes and don't respond to calls. This is the worst time to look for deer.

11 am to 3 pm is the worst time to look for deer in this game?

There are 14 deer species in this game. Of those 14 deer species, I have 11 deer species for which I have a higher personal best score than a well known high ranked player who has twice as many hours on record than I have. All my deer were shot between 10am and 3pm as far as I can remember. The reason why I hunt mostly during that time is very simple; I like the lighting, and it makes trophy shots look better, but that's just my opinion.

Unfortunately, there's no way to check if that is true, because the game doesn't save the in-game time of the harvest, only real time. Besides, there are well known high ranked players who don't know anything about the game. For example, there's a video on youtube where such player claims that a certain weapon can't penetrate a lung of a moose. And "proves" it by shooting into the shoulder blade, instead of shooting behind the shoulder blade, like any sane hunter would. Not to mention the everlasting confusion among them about what bow is the strongest and the most quiet... So the fact that you have higher scoring deer than some well known player doesn't prove anything to me. Maybe you can show your competition wins? Or how high you are on the deer leaderboards? That'd be at least something.
As for the best hunting time, you do you. I explained my point earlier. The author of the topic can decide for himself who to believe. But it's better not to believe anyone and test everything yourself. However, this will take a lot of time.

[**********]

Originally posted by 🐾 Tracker:

Originally posted by Chaser82Max:

At least deer and elk tend to sleep during the day, from about 11 am to 3 pm. They curl up in the bushes and don't respond to calls. This is the worst time to look for deer.

11 am to 3 pm is the worst time to look for deer in this game?

The reason why you're unaffected by sleep times is that you run and as you said move quickly. Any sleeping deer or elk, boars, lynx etc will have been spooked and run. They'll run for the ~150m or whatever the fleeing distance is, and then as long as you don't spook them again in the next 6 minutes of real time they will start calling or at least appear in the call queue.

I run only if I have to get somewhere quick or if I'm in a dead zone as in some parts of Redfeather or TGT. If there's animals around I prefer slow walking (crouch) to reduce my chances of spooking. You can play the game mechanics how you want but running round doesn't feel like hunting to me so I don't. I don't play the game for high scores. I have plenty of Trophy shots of Red Deer that I liked the look of or the pose it fell in or though was a good memorable hunt for some reason, but it was no where near the high scoring table. The beauty of this game is that you can hunt how you want and enjoy it how you like. If you want to do missions or compete in comps then you will have to play the game mechanics to some extent.