Thoughts on the Silver Ridge Peaks reserve reveal

[Snail Rancher]

Here are some thoughts and suggestions on the Silver Ridge Peaks reserve as revealed on 2020-06-09. Obviously some of this might be addressed or clarified in the future.

I am a Colorado native (family in the state since the 1880s) and grew up in the area of the Frontline foothills and have travelled (and camped) in the Colorado Rockies since I was a baby.

The animal species selection is absolutely appropriate for the environment we have seen, with one possible exception (discussed below). For those who want grizzlies and wolves, those have been extinct in Colorado since the 1960s at best, and probably already extremely rare well before that; my father, (born in the early 1940s) recalls seeing a wolf when he was under 10, but not after. Moose were only reintroduced to the state in the 1970s/80s; I don't particularly want more moose anyhow. Blacktail deer don't live in Colorado as far as I am aware (mule deer instead), the Whitetails are out in eastern Colorado on the Great Plains, living along river banks, not in the Rockies.

In the future, however, I hope that bobcats can be added. Coyotes would be very appropriate as well, but bobcats would be better.

The one issue I had with the actual species as shown in the reveal are the pronghorns. I am very glad that they are included, but they don't live in aspen parks like we saw. They are mostly a Great Plains animal, but they are common up in the mountains as well. However, even there they live in open sage scrub areas (like in South Park[www.npca.org] or North Park), not in forests. They rely on their eyesight to spot predators from a far distance (historically this was wolves). We did not see all the biomes on the map, but I hope that a bit of a rethink is given to this. Pronghorn in aspen forests is just wrong.

Other feedback:

1. We saw one or two male mountain goats. However, they did not apparently have beards[kool1079.com]. (Maybe I missed it.) Perhaps the higher level ones will, but if not, perhaps this is something that might be added.

2. The turkeys would be Merriam turkeys if they are in the Rockies (Rio Grandes are further east, on the Plains). If so, the coloration seems really off. As others have noted, the head color of the hens is just wrong (should not be red), and the toms should have darker plumage on their bodies, not so grey.

Also, when the turkeys walked near the bighorns and the elk in the reveal they looked absolutely gigantic, about the size of an elk calf. Yeah, they are big birds, but not THAT big!

It seems that turkeys are also tied to drinking need zones. Please get rid of this mechanic! Make them challenging to hunt like in Classic. If they are tied to a need zone, all we'll have to do is wait with our need zone spreadsheet and shoot them. We have plenty of other animals for that kind of "hunting"; don't ruin the turkeys with this. (Alternately, make the need zones invisible -- preferably for all animals....).

3. I love that you used "Saguache" for one the place names ("Saguache Plains," though it seems to be more of an aspen park than plains). It's a Ute indian word and the name of a county and town in Colorado; in the northern part of the state we use the more Anglo-spelling Sawatch for some locations, which is roughly how locals pronounce it; the "G" is silent like in Spanish.

However, you also used "Cougar" in "Cougarwatch," one of the regions on the map. "Cougar" is more of an Eastern US word; out West it is mostly "Mountain Lion." "Cougar" is really out of place here; save it for an Eastern USA reserve one day.

4. From what I have seen, you have really nailed the landscape. The rocks look just perfect (but hoping there are some red sandstone areas like Red Rocks or Garden of the Gods[en.wikipedia.org] too); even the tired asphalt on the road was correct. Same to be said for the the mountain wild flowers[www.wildflowersofcolorado.com] (I saw mountain bluebells, Indian paintbrush, alpine sunflowers or buttercups [could not tell which]; again, hoping for columbines, the state flower). I didn't see any Ponderosa pines (maybe in other parts not seen), but the aspen looked just perfect.

Needless to say, I am beyond excited to play this reserve! I have been abroad since the 1990s, so this one already gave me serious homesickness. Well done to all the development team for this! (And yes, I initially wanted Australia more than the Rockies , but I changed my mind instantly once I saw this.)

[Sgt-ShoeShine]

wish it had rabbits and ducks

[Snail Rancher]

Originally posted by Sgt-Shoeshine ☾:

wish it had rabbits and ducks

Yeah, some small game would be nice, prairie dogs for example.

I don't like duck hunting in COTW as it is now, however. If it was more like Classic (long and short range callers, return callers, flag lures, etc), then perhaps. Plus it looks like the map just has a series of small beaver ponds, so not much space for ducks anyhow.

[leighton]

What about squirrels? I've spent a lot of time in MI hunting fox squirrels. What kind of squirrels live in Colorado? It would give me a good excuse to look up in the trees for a change.

[TheMarcosianOne]

I didn't watch the livestream, only ZaggiD's summary of it. I'm confused about the turkey dynamics: Are they going to spawn at need zones like rabbits and then fumble around within 100m or so of the need zone afterward? Or are they always going to be wandering around certain areas of the map according to the natural habits of turkeys and then arrive at the need zone like every normal animal?

Turkeys typically come out of wooded areas beside fields to feed and shouldn't just appear like ducks and rabbits do when you are standing there already. Hopefully the turkeys are like every other animal and they are always in play.

[McSqurl Nugget]

Originally posted by leighton:

What about squirrels? I've spent a lot of time in MI hunting fox squirrels. What kind of squirrels live in Colorado? It would give me a good excuse to look up in the trees for a change.

you'll find fox squirrels, they're mostly around the populated areas for easy food, Pine squirrels out in the wilds but they're about half the size, and maybe some Abert squirrels.

[Hovenberg]

Was there a release date mentioned?

[dthompss]

Turkeys - what strikes me is that the hens are illegal to hunt in TN & MO (and probably more places) except in a very small window of dates. You could lose you weapon, you truck, your license (for life), pay thousands and of course do time. The law is serious.

I was turkey hunting in MO, Osage Co years ago on private land. Walking down a hill I ran across a dead hen (blue head). I got the he$$ out of there.

I'll probably limit my hunting to Tom's...

[NuCkEnFuTs]

Originally posted by Hovenberg:

Was there a release date mentioned?

Nope

[McSqurl Nugget]

Originally posted by dthompss:

Turkeys - what strikes me is that the hens are illegal to hunt in TN & MO (and probably more places) except in a very small window of dates. You could lose you weapon, you truck, your license (for life), pay thousands and of course do time. The law is serious.

I was turkey hunting in MO, Osage Co years ago on private land. Walking down a hill I ran across a dead hen (blue head). I got the he$$ out of there.

I'll probably limit my hunting to Tom's...

Private reserves have different rules for hunting, they don't have to follow state reg's.

And since the map is in Colorado, the CO state regs list seasons in the fall and the spring, and allow both toms and hens to be hunted for both Merriam and Rio Grande turkeys.

[eagle74]

1st of all I am happy that you guys got your map. The animal selection is very good, & I will help you celebrate by hunting the RM elk, mule deer, goat, sheep, & turkeys of course. It will probably be a long time b4 we get another NA map as too many people will whine about it.

What struck me on the stream is that the trophy claim screen for turkeys just said "turkey" & did not ID the sub-species. Makes me think that if they ever did an eastern map we would get the same "turkey." If this is the case, I don't know what coloration they should use for the birds.

I am east coast & don't pretend to know the western habitats like you guys. So, I will defer to you on this & accept your opinion. But, hunting pronghorn in the woods just doesn't feel right to me. I am glad that they included pronghorn, but would have expected them to add at least one "plains" sub-region to give them a proper place to live. Granted we have not seen the entire map.

[Snail Rancher]

Originally posted by eagle74:

1st of all I am happy that you guys got your map. The animal selection is very good, & I will help you celebrate by hunting the RM elk, mule deer, goat, sheep, & turkeys of course. It will probably be a long time b4 we get another NA map as too many people will whine about it.

What struck me on the stream is that the trophy claim screen for turkeys just said "turkey" & did not ID the sub-species. Makes me think that if they ever did an eastern map we would get the same "turkey." If this is the case, I don't know what coloration they should use for the birds.

I suspect they will be like the moose: all the same.

Originally posted by eagle74:

I am east coast & don't pretend to know the western habitats like you guys. So, I will defer to you on this & accept your opinion. But, hunting pronghorn in the woods just doesn't feel right to me. I am glad that they included pronghorn, but would have expected them to add at least one "plains" sub-region to give them a proper place to live. Granted we have not seen the entire map.

You are right; pronghorn don't live in the woods at all. They do, however, live in the mountains, but in the open valleys between ranges. The gameplay reveal was wrong to have them in the woods. Here are some pronghorn in South Park, Colorado, which is up in the Rockies:

https://flic.kr/p/PAjtq7

It shows you the kind of environment they live in.

[eagle74]

@Snail Rancher,
Thanks for clearing that up & for the great pics. The pics are exactly what I imagined for the pronghorn. Makes me want to hunt them :)

[florble mcfumperdink]

Originally posted by Snail Rancher:

Originally posted by eagle74:

1st of all I am happy that you guys got your map. The animal selection is very good, & I will help you celebrate by hunting the RM elk, mule deer, goat, sheep, & turkeys of course. It will probably be a long time b4 we get another NA map as too many people will whine about it.

What struck me on the stream is that the trophy claim screen for turkeys just said "turkey" & did not ID the sub-species. Makes me think that if they ever did an eastern map we would get the same "turkey." If this is the case, I don't know what coloration they should use for the birds.

I suspect they will be like the moose: all the same.

Originally posted by eagle74:

I am east coast & don't pretend to know the western habitats like you guys. So, I will defer to you on this & accept your opinion. But, hunting pronghorn in the woods just doesn't feel right to me. I am glad that they included pronghorn, but would have expected them to add at least one "plains" sub-region to give them a proper place to live. Granted we have not seen the entire map.

You are right; pronghorn don't live in the woods at all. They do, however, live in the mountains, but in the open valleys between ranges. The gameplay reveal was wrong to have them in the woods. Here are some pronghorn in South Park, Colorado, which is up in the Rockies:

https://flic.kr/p/PAjtq7

It shows you the kind of environment they live in.

As far as I'm concerned with the environment of the reserve regarding the Pronghorn and the Bison they're just passing through on their way to the Alpine prairies to graze, or sheltering from some form of godforsaken 113 degree heatwave which we get here basically every Summer (gotta explain it to my Coloradan brain somehow lol, not the worst mistake in the world though).

Although that being said it's not like Pronghorn never live in forests, the populations of the Oregon subspecies actually tend to split their time between sagebrush plains and the timber in the foothills and mountains, also the ones here in CO travel through the woods rather often on their way to higher altitudes like the image of the herd outside of South Park that you linked, especially during heatwaves.

As far as I know the only reason they even willingly venture through timber and don't confine themselves to sagebrush is because of the lack of wolves in the state of Colorado, and much of Oregon.

Meanwhile the Pronghorn in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Southern Canada are extremely weary of timber at all and mainly sit out on the plains only going into the timber when seeking shelter from harsh weather or temperature. The common theme amongst the populations that despise walking through timber even if there are "greener pastures" on the other side of the timber is that they live in areas with established wolf populations, which apart from humans and mountain lions are their only regular natural predator, and at that wolves are their only threat which is capable of challenging their long distance sprinting speed and stamina.

The Pronghorn don't have much time left before their nemesis from time immemorial reappears, as a pack of six adult gray wolves were spotted in Moffat county back in late January. Poor things are probably in for a rude awakening considering the Colorado population hasn't seen wolves as a regular threat for damn near 100 years, their instinct should probably help them with that though, considering they've been the pronghorn's nemesis for like 30,000 years the fear of the wolf should be burned into their soul lol.

[Snail Rancher]

Originally posted by florble mcfumperdink:

The Pronghorn don't have much time left before their nemesis from time immemorial reappears, as a pack of six adult gray wolves were spotted in Moffat county back in late January. Poor things are probably in for a rude awakening considering the Colorado population hasn't seen wolves as a regular threat for damn near 100 years, their instinct should probably help them with that though, considering they've been the pronghorn's nemesis for like 30,000 years the fear of the wolf should be burned into their soul lol.

That's why they like the open areas: they can see trouble coming from far off. I can't wait to play this new map!

[McSqurl Nugget]

Originally posted by Snail Rancher:

Originally posted by florble mcfumperdink:

The Pronghorn don't have much time left before their nemesis from time immemorial reappears, as a pack of six adult gray wolves were spotted in Moffat county back in late January. Poor things are probably in for a rude awakening considering the Colorado population hasn't seen wolves as a regular threat for damn near 100 years, their instinct should probably help them with that though, considering they've been the pronghorn's nemesis for like 30,000 years the fear of the wolf should be burned into their soul lol.

That's why they like the open areas: they can see trouble coming from far off. :winter2019angrydog: I can't wait to play this new map!

+1
took the words right out of my fingers :)