Struggle to get kills

[FEVER888]

I've got the basics of the game, I.e, run around, hear a call, use the "callers" get em close and shoot.

But I've had a number of times were animals just won't die....Sometimes I'll hit a deer and it will go down 20m away (or instant) but other times I'll shoot it sometimes multiple times and it will keep running....i head shot a moose and tracked it for almost an hour (real time) before I lost the trail....it clearly didn't die.

I actually had a bear I shot 3 times in the head (literally right through the middle of the brain) and it recorded it as a "flesh wound".

Where should I be targeting to down animals? Head doesn't work (not consistently at any rate), heart and lungs seems like it's 50/50 of it will work?

Any tips would be great.

Cheers
D.

[wim1234]

look in the guides section, there is a great one about that, but also there are some bugs yet

[Roosterfish]

Look up how and where to shoot the real life game animals to kill them. Funny thing is when you do that you will hardly see any mention of head shots.

[dgeesio & ronMctube]

the key thing is to make a clean kill shot. if you dont you will be on a long run before you get your animal. what gun you use makes a big difference also where its hit.with the lower powered guns i will shoot next back of head for effective fast kill shots.head shots i know isnt ideal but they work.

as you get high powered rifles like 7mm and .338 it becomes alot easier .

[Bugs Bunny]

"Run around" is not a very good idea unless you are moving to a specific area. That said, as far as guns go they are still working on getting us firearms in the game, in the meantime we are all using varying sizes of pellet guns. The bigger guns throw rubber balls apparently.

Just kidding, but either these animals have armor or the guns are terrible. You really need to aim at the vitals and then get lucking not to get one of the numerous bugs that turn perfectly valid shots into flesh wounds.

The 7mm and .338 have apparently been broken by the last patch, so you need to take that into account. Also, using the proper caliber is very important unless you are doing spine shots like lots of people are doing (I refuse to myself, seems like an exploit to me, never heard of real life hunters aiming for spines).

I'm taking a break from the game right now, hoping it will be in better shape when I come back.

[Curupira]

first, use the right weapon: http://steamcommunity.com/app/518790/discussions/0/133258092237301549/
bears can be killed with the 7mm 100%
always look for double lung shots, spine or heart shot. you have to shot at least one lung or you will walk a lot following the animal.
its better dont shoot than misplacing one shot. if you dont shot you can call again or walk around the animal. most of the flesh wounds will make them die far away from you.
closer is always better.

[Tommyangelo]

Bears and moose both have a hard skull and on top that the skull is general the hardest bone to begin with and you would need something very very good at getting past the skull on a small target area with a powerful gun when a head shot never should be a good idea on a animal try both lunges or if you like facing behind them aim for the neck or I have tried with shooting the animal in the butt and successfully finding them dead maybe 200 yards in rl wouldn't recommend it you would mess the meat up.

[CellNav]

The game only models one mechanism for dropping an animal, called Direct Contact. The other mechanism of Indirect Contact in the form of Hydraulic or Hydrostatic Shock is not modelled, except that the "expansion" rating of the ammo helps widen the wound area and damage so it just needs to be near the the spine or organs.

Flesh wounds are only part of the equation, but the end is the same, meaning that the player will have to shoot the animal again. The shock will cause the animal to shut down and drop, like a boxer getting knocked down in a fight. The game doesn't show the horror of the animal trying to get up or recover from such shock, it simply runs away and perhaps to ensure that the kids (teens) don't freak out and mom deletes the game.

To read more, I suggest this article at the Ballistic Studeis website :
http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Effective+Game+Killing.html

Video from same website, (920 yard shot) Long Range Hunting with a 7mm 190gr Matric Bullet :
https://youtu.be/h7lkaRRihUs

[Humpenstilzchen]

Originally posted by Deicide666ra:

The 7mm and .338 have apparently been broken by the last patch, so you need to take that into account.

When you write it like this it sounds as these weapons are inevitably broken for everyone, but infact they aren´t. For me both weapons work perfectly fine.

[FEVER888]

Thanks for the tips guys.

Sounds like there are some issues that will improve, and some work arounds.

[Araminis]

I had what appeared to be a quartered away double lung and still had to track a long distance. However it is the starting rifle but at 50M I could make that shot half blind. was a bit irratating. guess I just need to figure the game mechanics, other than that nice game so far, and some of the movement of the the animals seemed correct. Ill write a review once I get more time in on the game. Im hoping the bears are realistic.

[KaiEr]

It's a game, and neither the animals nor the weapons are the same as IRL. While I'm sure the developers are trying to approximate things with shot placement, it still all boils down to it being a game. Once you find out where the GAME thinks kill shots are, start aiming there. But don’t expect any real-life scenarios in cases where you are not shooting game-specific kill shots.

I have the same success rate with a .357 that I do with a 7mm Mag (obviously not with 300 yard shots). If I’m taking down bear with a single pistol round at 50+ yards, with the same shot placement it would take two 7mm Mag rounds… it’s not real-life accurate.

Take every bit of knowledge you have as a hunter, if you are in real life, and throw it out the window.

I’ve found that if you call a few times immediately after taking the shot, give it a minute or two and the animal will return and you can try again.

Basically you want to get your perks/skills up to be able to judge the health of the animal by the blood trail. If it maintains a 50-75% health rate, it doesn’t return for calls and you have tracked it over 100 yards… move on and find something else. If I walk up and see “flesh wound” and the health rate doesn’t drop after 100 yards, I simply walk away – it’s not worth the headache.

[FEVER888]

Yeah. I've unlocked the .270, but it's stats seem like it's very poor accuracy, which doesn't appeal to me at all lol.

[Finnfinn]

Prospective hunter from Germany here.

I've been able to transfer a lot of knowledge from the course to this game, that goes double for shooting:

1) Don't go for the head. For a kill you have to penetrate the skull AND hit the brain, which is a tiny target to begin with. To make matters worse, missing the shot means hitting the deer's jaw or their neck. The latter may destroy their neural system and result in an instant kill as well, but most likely, you'll have to track it down. Here's the thing: In real life, it means the animal will not die of blood loss and can run perfectly fine. The hunter WILL NOT FIND IT. It will die of thirst or starvation (and anyone who risks that torture should not be a hunter). Of course, that kinda suffering doesn't matter ingame, but the search is still going to be a nightmare, as the animal will suffer little blood loss.

2) Don't shoot the hind legs or stomach. Ever. This is tempting if you can only see your quarry's rear, but waiting for it to turn will save you a lot of time in both the game and real life. Animals get used to running with only one hind leg quickly and these wounds don't bleed all that much either, resulting in a rather long search.

3) Aim for the scapula. The "Blattschuss" (heart shot is rather inaccurate, scapula shot would be better) is a surefire way to kill the animal quickly. Your quarry simply cannot run with a destroyed scapula, aiming for the lower part of the scapula can result in either a perfect shot, shattering the scapula, heavily wounding the lungs and injuring the heart. It'll drop on the spot or run for 30m. A less-than-ideal hit should still wound the lungs, resulting in a pneumothorax (collapse of the lungs, impairing breathing) and moderate to high blood loss. The latter is the factor you care about in the game. Having a large target will make sure you don't have to track the animal forever. It will die quickly and tracking is made easily due to the blood trail it leaves behind.

I really hope this helps.

[iridian]

Originally posted by Finnfinn:

Prospective hunter from Germany here.

I've been able to transfer a lot of knowledge from the course to this game, that goes double for shooting:


3) Aim for the scapula. The "Blattschuss" (heart shot is rather inaccurate, scapula shot would be better) is a surefire way to kill the animal quickly. Your quarry simply cannot run with a destroyed scapula, aiming for the lower part of the scapula can result in either a perfect shot, shattering the scapula, heavily wounding the lungs and injuring the heart. It'll drop on the spot or run for 30m. A less-than-ideal hit should still wound the lungs, resulting in a pneumothorax (collapse of the lungs, impairing breathing) and moderate to high blood loss. The latter is the factor you care about in the game. Having a large target will make sure you don't have to track the animal forever. It will die quickly and tracking is made easily due to the blood trail it leaves behind.

I really hope this helps.

The problem here is that even with shots to the legs, animals in this game happily run around without it impacting their 'running away' ability

[Finnfinn]

Originally posted by iridian:

The problem here is that even with shots to the legs, animals in this game happily run around without it impacting their 'running away' ability

True, but my point still stands. Having animals limp around would add a lot of atmostphere (although you'd be surprised what injuries can be ignored just due to the adrenalin rush...).
Lower scapula is just a very forgiving target.