What do I do with wolf meat?

[JiffyPopKids]

I got the "itch" to play the game again, and after starting a new stalker run I've found myself with more wolf carcasses lying around than I know what to do with. I have a wolf skin coat already and I could easily make three more with all the pelts I have, but what exactly do I do with all the meat? I don't have cooking level 5 yet, so there's no hope of using it as a main source of food due to the possibility of parasites. What I've been doing is eating the meat one piece at a time, letting the risk of parasites expire, and repeating. This is very slowly getting rid of my meat supply, but it's so slow I still need to supplement deer / other food for the well-fed buff. I dare not go over 5% risk because I'm not really in a position where I can get parasites, trying to map FM and, essentially, get out of this cursed region fast as possible.
And I hate to leave the carcasses lying everywhere, for it not only wastes my revolver / rifle ammo / arrow, but also wastes the meat guts and pelt. I of course only kill them when I need to / out of self defense, but it's getting pretty extreme. I'm on day 48 and I have 40 wolves killed so far... I really don't remember the wolves being this plentiful last time I played haha.

[mf187doubleg]

when I am full of meat I just leave them - they despawn slower if you do not touch them.

[mf187doubleg]

I am also back Jiffy. Nice to have you here :)

[Cal Thang]

Use those meats for baiting i guess. What i'm more worrying about are those wolf pelts...

[Pbaier5150]

I agree that we should be able to use whatever pelt for whatever crafted item, although trying to make a bunny bed roll would probably need like 50 pelts, so not really worth it.

I just leave the wolves. I'm on voyager, so I can eat the meat just fine and do in the first couple days, but otherwise it isn't worth my time, calories expended, or fuel for fire to harvest the meat.

Jiffy, you can kill far fewer wolves if you use the "torch trick" to scare them off. Isn't always ideal if you want to be in a spot where the wolves will patrol back to constantly, but for moving around it is quite efficient at getting them to run away and no longer a nuisance.

[Lenny Rat]

Originally posted by Tekel1959:

From what I can tell, the skill is granted by time spent in the activity, so using the slowest tool available and appropriate for the specific scenario can be useful.

Actually, the skill award has noting to do with time; harvesting a very small amount of meat gives the same amount of skill points as the maximum that you can select. That is why many will start a harvest action and then hit "escape" to stop the harvest with as small a piece of meat as possible (I usually let the "dial" travel about 25%). Harvesting 4 pieces of .5lb meat gives you 4 times as many skill pints as harvesting a single 2lb piece of meat. Ditto for cooking skills.

[JiffyPopKids]

Thanks folks! I really like the torch-throwing idea, and use it often when traveling to-fro places, but I hate that it costs a match every time I want to scare off a wolf. Matches are gold in long-term games, though I've heard of a few players with 1000+ days, still having loads of matches..
Good point on using the carcasses for harvesting skill, I've definitely not taken advantage of it as best as possible. I recall using it in the past, where I've been able to get 4+ skill points off of one wolf. I'll definitely start implementing this.
Also good idea on not harvesting them 100%, and leaving 1/2LBS on them so they don't respawn as quickly.

Gotta agree with you, Jay. It would be nice to use pelts for any clothing item. I think moose-skin boots would offer some killer warm, waterproof footwear.. Of course at the cost of a moose-pelt, but they might be better than mukkluks.

[Pbaier5150]

Yeah, the shredding is to increase cooking skill, not harvesting.

You cook a .1kg piece of meat it counts the same towards skill as cooking a full 1kg piece.

Jiffy, there's a better way to use torches against wolves. Hold a lit torch as the wolf walks up at you, select a weapon of any kind using the hotkey (stones work as well as anything else), it will drop your torch and select the weapon, aim at the wolf and it will run away.

Every time*

If you are in or going across wolf infested areas, just chain the torches so you don't waste matches. If it's windy, have a flare at the ready and light it when you hear the bark.

*Does not work on aurora wolves

[JiffyPopKids]

Originally posted by Pbaier5150:

Jiffy, there's a better way to use torches against wolves. Hold a lit torch as the wolf walks up at you, select a weapon of any kind using the hotkey (stones work as well as anything else), it will drop your torch and select the weapon, aim at the wolf and it will run away.

Interesting. I've noticed a couple differences in wolf AI since returning, I'll have to use this. Thanks!

Originally posted by NYCxchaos:

The Jiffypop drop was named after you, right?

Indeed. I invented it in TWM when looting the summit. I was tired of all the sprains from "billy goating" down the mountain side, but I was always too encumbered to climb down the ropes, so I found a way to gimmick it. It's very sketchy, but I haven't fallen yet!

[Lenny Rat]

Originally posted by Tekel1959:

Originally posted by Lenny Rat:

Actually, the skill award has noting to do with time; harvesting a very small amount of meat gives the same amount of skill points as the maximum that you can select. That is why many will start a harvest action and then hit "escape" to stop the harvest with as small a piece of meat as possible (I usually let the "dial" travel about 25%). Harvesting 4 pieces of .5lb meat gives you 4 times as many skill pints as harvesting a single 2lb piece of meat. Ditto for cooking skills.

Are you sure you are not just referring to shredding / cooking ?

The last time I looked at harvesting hides/guts in particular, which can not be done by pieces, I was noting one point of skill per hour of harvesting, so using the slowest tool got you the most bang for buck. ( I cut rabbit meat in .4.-9k pieces first then do hides/guts later).

This was back when the rabbit/trapping badge popped. Pretty sure it still works this way, there are still only 100 points required to achieve level 5 harvesting. Shredding for harvesting would almost let you get there on one bear.

I have no idea what "shredding" is. I am clearly talking about harvesting meat. I never said anything about hides or guts.

[JiffyPopKids]

Originally posted by hunne:

the heck is a jiffy drop...I know what a jiffy is, but it´s unrelated to this game...110% lol

Lol, I can't find the old forum post about it, but a couple years back I made a video of how to drop items down to the ground from the top of a climbing rope. A lot of people liked it and somebody dubbed it the "Jiffy drop".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rezz7lA1okw&t=94s

I've used it a lot since discovering it, really handy for TMW summit runs.

[Oolae]

Originally posted by JiffyPopKids:

Lol, I can't find the old forum post about it, but a couple years back I made a video of how to drop items down to the ground from the top of a climbing rope. A lot of people liked it and somebody dubbed it the "Jiffy drop".

I still use the JiffyDrop when in a tough spot before climbing a rope; most recently when entering BRM from PV for the first time. The long walk took me by surprise and did a number on my bars, only to find out I still needed to climb a rope... Long live indestructible free-falling wolf burgers.