Best Way To Level/Earn Money

[Hauler Bob]

What is the best way to both level and earn money? Any easy way?

[Zacht_180]

Harvest animals, dude. I know you aren't looking for that answer but I've managed to rack up 6-12k in just an hour or two of gameplay before. Grind on some of your quests or side quests, a lot of them are as simple as, "spot an animal in this region." Additionally, even the does will likely get you anywhere from $500-800 dollars. Bucks depending on their size and all are usually well over a grand. I also don't think I've ever harvested a red fox that was less than a grand, most are anywhere from $1100-1300. That takes patience, though, as it can sometimes take 10-15 minutes to get them to lure over to you and you have to be very still/quiet. I like hunting them with the .357 night sites, 100% integrity.

Another thing I've done before is get into a position where I'm not down wind and am completely concealed. I'll call a bunch of fallow deer over, and they will get pretty close if you're in a good enough spot. I'm talking 5-10 meters away and they won't scare. If you use the over-under shotgun, you can usually drop two of them consecutively without an issue using buckshot (it is a bit underpowered, so you will have to track for a short distance). Depending on the deer you managed to get, you probably just earned yourself anywhere from $1,400-2,000. Just be careful you don't get trampled.

Doing the above will guarantee you make good money and level up. Again, don't ignore your quests. It's very easy to save money in this game because the only thing you really need is ammo, which isn't an issue to spend money on.

[Venison it's whats for dinner]

Stay in high ground with good visibility into a good spawn area far away. This usually means shooting across some body of water. You can shoot down many animals this way. If you find a herd, shoot one and wait a minute between the next shot, and they won't spook away. Don't harvest until you see no more animals to shoot. I can easily harvest 10k like this in 15 minutes. I currently earn about 50k net profit every 2 or 3 hours of playing, this includes spending money on ammo.

[Wolf of Sarcasm]

If you have the dlc reserve, the frozen lakes/rivers are basically shooting ranges

[iLLuSioN]

Wherever I spawn, I walk into the wind and walk until I hear a call. Crouch and start stalking whatever called. I've found that wind is a major factor in scaring the animals. Another tactic is walking along bodies of water as someone else suggested. Eventually you'll see something if you're not running or on an ATV. Shoot everything... If you're low level, only shoot animals that correspond with the caliber you're shooting. You really shouldn't be messing with moose, elk or bear with the .243 unless you want to shoot it a few times and like to track animals. Fox/Coyote are big money makers but without the call they're a bit harder to track down. If you run across one, shoot it immidiately (easy $1k). I personally don't like sitting in a stand or blind waiting for something to show up. If you play multiplayer, spawn in tents that are set out on the map. They're usually there because of a good hunting spot. I wouldn't bother with bows, shotguns or handguns until you've gotten atleast the 7mm or you get bored with rifles.

Also, don't build any stands until you have so much money that you don't know what to do with it. I think they're a waste of resources (money/time) until they come out with feeders.

[Zourin]

1. Understand that you can lure animals in multiple times. If you get a bad pull direction, miss a shot, or even land a non-vital hit, you can often bring them back before they wander too far.

2. Don't waste your time on Foxes/Coyotes. They're worth a lot, but you'll waste hours waiting for them to lure in, and that's if you can find terrain that doesn't make them invisible.

3. Don't buy 'expansion' rounds. Even a perfectly placed kill shot will lead you on a chase that can last hours. Like this PERFECTLY aimed heart-shot that failed.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1214800255

Not just because it didn't just reach the heart, but because expansion rounds don't increase the bleed out rate. 76% damage and essentially no bleeding. Polymer tipped rounds would have dropped it on the spot and saved me loads of time.

(FYI, I used these rounds because I bought 45 of the damned things and figured I should use them up, since I can't throw them out)

[Rookie-31st]

Originally posted by iLLuSioN:

You really shouldn't be messing with moose, elk or bear with the .243 unless you want to shoot it a few times and like to track animals.

Do you mean brown bear here? I had no problems so far downing black bear with starting rifle, poly bullet. I have harvested two bears and both were one-shot instant kills (first heart and second spine). Was I lucky?

Fox/Coyote are big money makers but without the call they're a bit harder to track down. If you run across one, shoot it immidiately (easy $1k).

Yeah, I was doing mission about coyotes at Layton Lake and was surpriced to see coyotes priced over 1K similar to male blacktail deers (maybe females as well, but I did not shot any deer female). It is possible to hunt them without caller, but more difficult and time consuming.

[Sunshine]

Just grind it...

[Zourin]

Originally posted by rookie31st:

Fox/Coyote are big money makers but without the call they're a bit harder to track down. If you run across one, shoot it immidiately (easy $1k).

Yeah, I was doing mission about coyotes at Layton Lake and was surpriced to see coyotes priced over 1K similar to male blacktail deers (maybe females as well, but I did not shot any deer female). It is possible to hunt them without caller, but more difficult and time consuming.

Foxes in the europe map are VERY hard to track, because they're always in places with insane amounts of undergrowth for them to hide in. You'll never see them unless you luck out on terrain.

They aren't worth hunting for money because of the long stalk times and being very, very hard to get eyes on. You can bring down several Fallow deer, or even Roes, in the same time and get more money for the trouble.

[Exozen]

From my experience , bowhunting , you can litterly sit in one place and farm a big heard in like 30 min. Massive amounts of cash for relativly little work , just sit stil under a tree and call for a nearby heard, shoot and repat ( Since they come back after about 1 min to the location where they got spoooked when you use a bow ).

[VonStreed]

Originally posted by iLLuSioN:

You really shouldn't be messing with moose, elk or bear with the .243 unless you want to shoot it a few times and like to track animals.

While I don't neccesarily disagree, as I wasted time chasing around bleeding moose and elk as a noob, what I didn't know is that if you can land spine shots dependably you can kill anything with the starter rifle. So it would be better to say only go after larger animals if you are a good shot. Just don't bother going for lung and heart shots until you have a stronger firearm and/or better ammo.

[iLLuSioN]

I agree with all of this. I was only saying that you shouldn't really mess around with the bigger game until you get a bigger caliber or can place your shots pretty well. When I first started, I wanted to shoot the big game but now that I've been around the block, there's a big difference shooting a moose with a .243 compared to a .338. I could have saved countless hours tracking if I just stuck with the smaller game and leveled up to get the bigger weapons faster. If you really want to shoot the big game with the starter rifle, I wouldn't spend too much time tracking them if they don't go down quick.

I've helped some newer people lately by letting them take the first shot and I follow up if it doesn't go down. We both get points and we're not tracking halfway across the map.

The zeroing perk, I feel, is the best perk and really helps you land the long shots when used with a range finder. There's alot of people that won't agree with this but after you get the hang of it, it can't be beat. I recommend trying to get the zeroing perk as soon as you can if you're into long range hunting.

Originally posted by Exozen:

From my experience , bowhunting , you can litterly sit in one place and farm a big heard in like 30 min. Massive amounts of cash for relativly little work , just sit stil under a tree and call for a nearby heard, shoot and repat ( Since they come back after about 1 min to the location where they got spoooked when you use a bow ).

I agree with this 100% but alot of people don't have the patience for this. If there's a herd, you will scare them after you shoot but they're easily called back to you. Just make sure you have the right call for the species you're hunting. Scent blocker/remover is a plus in this scenario.

[Oligator]

The easiest way to farm animals, at least for me, is to stick near water sources. Since I am almost always playing on Layton Lake District, I stay to Balmont Lake and the huge-ass lake to the east of it.

Once I’m at the lake, I simply walk around it until I see an animal or I hear a call. I get into a position where I’m as hidden as I can be and atleast 35 Meters away from the animal. I use my Gamekeeper 12G and fire near the neck-chest area, although this isn’t the best method, I find that it works for me, the animal may not get the quick-kill bonus, but sometimes it can get downed easily.

If your looking about the best animal to hunt, I find that black bears are the best animal for you to stick with. They can be downed with .243 and 12G and will always give you somewhere between 1K and 1.5K. I’ve never gotten a bear under 1K.

Do not waste your time with jackrabbits, ducks, mallards, coyotes and foxes. The ducks, mallards and rabbits are hard to hunt with little pay. Although coyotes and foxes do give good pay, they are almost always hidden inside tall foliage and once they are outside of that foliage, they go away too quickly before you can land a good shot.

From the moose I’ve hunted, they give me under 1K. But, if you have 12G Buckshot and a Gamekeeper 12G, they can be downed if you hit both shots near the chest.

So, I suggest staying near lakes and hunting bears and blacktail. Keep in mind, bears can get aggressive and charge you. They do quite a bit of damage, deer can also be a problem if you aren’t aware of your surroundings, countless times I’ve gotten trampled by deer.

Good luck mate.

[Oligator]

Also, keep in mind the hunting pressure zones (the purple zones on your map) when hunting around the lakes. If the perimeter of the lake has nothing but hunting pressure zones, go to another lake.

Also, avoid using ATVs unless your traveling to a lookout point to get to outposts.

[Nite69]

Originally posted by Patrick:

Originally posted by Father Christmas:

What is the best way to both level and earn money? Any easy way?

Freezing the animals like everyone does.

Not everyone cheats...

[saphire jinn]

just hunt hunt hunt, like we all did. focus on easy prey like white / black tail and ducks for early money but it all come down to ginding it out like Sunshine said...no easy money in here, just go out and do it. see you back at camp and look forward to hearing your war stories...