Shot a deer, no blood trail, just a tracking cone? Very frustrated spending 30+ minutes to find one animal.

[twiigss]

I own Cabela's Big Game Hunter Pro Hunts, on Steam. I don't see it on the Steam store, but at one time it was there and anyway I bought it and still own it.

There's a big difference between tracking in that game, versus this game. For example, in Cabela's, when you shoot a deer, or boar, or any animal that you can hunt, it leaves an actual trail of blood you can follow, like breadcrumbs, to the body.

In this game, you find a thing of blood, and when you press E on it, all you get is a tracking cone? I mean, it's extremely difficult to find the body when there's no blood trail to follow. Cabela's gives you a lot of visual cues to help you out, which is a nice feature.

I have seen the skills stuff, and I'm at level 2 for tracking, but it's still difficult to track blood trails in this game. Here's another problem, when you press E on a footprint or a blood spot, on the phone or map, it shows the same darn icon of footprints. Why not show a separate icon for blood and a separate icon for footprints? Makes sense to me. It would be very beneficial if you could have a different color setting just for the blood spots. Because the footprints and blood are all under the same color, when there's 100 different footprints, and one or two blood spots, it's very hard to find just the blood spots.

If the visual cues in this game were more easier, it'd be a better experience for me, because I get so mad and so frustrated trying to figure out where this animal went, and all I get is a tracking cone to follow. No actual trail of blood. And in reality, you wouldn't have a tracking cone, you would have a trail of blood. I've lost so many animals that I shot, I have no clue where they went, because the visual cues just aren't enough.

[anarchyxf36]

This is where the tracking skills come in handy and from my experience should be the first skill you max out. Believe me that narrower directional cone does make a BIG difference when tracking game. It also helps if you can to spot the animal while it's fleeing after shooting it. Not shure if it will happen (hope it does) but from what i've seen from the dev streams the devs are thinking about adding realistic blood trails for injured animals.

[dbump]

I've spend my share of time trying to follow a wounded animal, so I know how frustrating it can be. What I've come to appreciate is taking the time to get close enough to place a shot well, which sometimes means not taking that long shot at all. Moving closer, and waiting for the animal to be positioned so you can hit the lungs with the appropriate ammo makes a tremendous difference in how much time you spend trying to find an animal. When I'm patient enough to do that, almost every animal drops before they leave my sight.

As Anarchysf36 mentioned, following the animal you shot with your scope will also help in the cases where you did not land a quick-killing shot. As long as the animal remains highlighted in your scope (or you can quickly switch to binoculars), the map will keep updating the pin on the map where it was last sighted, and that can give you a big advantage when you start tracking.

The other tip I picked up here was to not start running (or even walking) after the animal immediately. Instead, stay exactly where you are and check the map. If you don't see a purple hunting pressure circle appear, the animal hasn't died yet, and following it will cause it to run faster/further. If the shot placement was off, it may not die at all, or not for several minutes. In that case, if you simply wait, that animal and any other in the herd will generally return to the spot where you saw them, or continue traveling in the direction they had been, and you will get a second chance.

[twiigss]

Originally posted by dbump:

I've spend my share of time trying to follow a wounded animal, so I know how frustrating it can be. What I've come to appreciate is taking the time to get close enough to place a shot well, which sometimes means not taking that long shot at all. Moving closer, and waiting for the animal to be positioned so you can hit the lungs with the appropriate ammo makes a tremendous difference in how much time you spend trying to find an animal. When I'm patient enough to do that, almost every animal drops before they leave my sight.

As Anarchysf36 mentioned, following the animal you shot with your scope will also help in the cases where you did not land a quick-killing shot. As long as the animal remains highlighted in your scope (or you can quickly switch to binoculars), the map will keep updating the pin on the map where it was last sighted, and that can give you a big advantage when you start tracking.

The other tip I picked up here was to not start running (or even walking) after the animal immediately. Instead, stay exactly where you are and check the map. If you don't see a purple hunting pressure circle appear, the animal hasn't died yet, and following it will cause it to run faster/further. If the shot placement was off, it may not die at all, or not for several minutes. In that case, if you simply wait, that animal and any other in the herd will generally return to the spot where you saw them, or continue traveling in the direction they had been, and you will get a second chance.

Usually what I've been experiencing is that I'm down on one knee, my scent is at my back, and I use the deer call. I have had deer practically maybe 10-20 feet away from me, so I've got perfect shots. I always get the purple pressure circle, but that doesn't mean the deer has died in that area does it? It just means there's higher hunting pressure?

I shot 3 deer last night and only found 2 of them. My tracking skill is level 2/3 but I really wish it was more like Cabela's. In Cabela's, there are no skills. It's just you, a rifle, ammo, calls, find the animal, shoot, follow blood trail, dead animal, press F to claim trophy and done.

The other nice feature with Cabela's is every time an animal moves, you get that white circle. In theHunter, you get a white circle when the animal does a warning call. And in Cabela's if you're close enough to the animal moving, each time you see that white circle means that it's safe for you to move, because their sound masks your sound of walking. But generally I ignore that and stay down on one knee and am able to do things just fine.

One of the main cons/pros, other than the blood trail, Cabela's vs theHunter is, Cabela's is more of a campaign. Shoot two deer in this area to unlock the next area, whereas in theHunter you can shoot whatever, whenever. Not sure why it's no longer in the store, but glad I got it when I did.

[Executor]

If the animal is running fast and the blood rate is low, there can be quite a large gap between blood trails - enough to make you think that the trail might have disappeared.

If you get a good hit they won't run as far. Certain organs (heart or spine) will drop them immediately. The more organs you hit, the faster the animal will drop. If you're only hitting one lung or not getting any vital organs, it's going to be frustrating to track it.

Some guns also seem a little weaker - class 6 and up seem to run forever even when you get a decent shot hit if you use the 6.5 mm, for instance, but I might just be projecting.

[dbump]

The purple circle will be centered on the spot where you first shot the animal, even if that wasn't a fatal shot. But if it shows up soon after you first shot the animal, that's a good sign that it didn't run far. Usually when I shoot an animal that close, it either drops on the spot or within a few steps. What ammo/ammo type are you using, and what type of deer?

[twiigss]

Originally posted by dbump:

The purple circle will be centered on the spot where you first shot the animal, even if that wasn't a fatal shot. But if it shows up soon after you first shot the animal, that's a good sign that it didn't run far. Usually when I shoot an animal that close, it either drops on the spot or within a few steps. What ammo/ammo type are you using, and what type of deer?

I'm using the .243 polymer tip ammo, not the soft-tip, and blacktail & whitetail deer. Even if I get a vital organ hit, the deer seem to run a good distance. The 2nd one I found, was by pure luck. I just happened to turn around and saw this large thing glowing and then realized it was the dead animal.

I don't think we'd have as much as a problem as we are, if the visual cues were more forthcoming.

You find a blood trail, so the little phone you carry, should show an icon of a blood drop, not footprints. And if we could change the color of the blood that is different than the footprints, it'd be a million times easier to figure out.

[dbump]

I have had better experience using the .30-06 on deer--even though white/blacktail are in the middle of the .234's class range. The numbers don't seem that different, but it seems like in-game performance doesn't always reflect those numbers. I realize that's a DLC weapon (and it does seem like the DLC weapons perform better than similarly spec'd in-game weapons) that you may not have. At the range you are shooting, you might consider the 30-30 (soft/round) or 45-70? Though the .270 would also be good if you aren't hunting class 2-3.

I agree--I do wish you could choose a different color for blood than footprints. I also wish you could zoom in and out on the phone's map, as that would make it easier to use that tracking feature (it would also be an excellent, realistic "mini-map").

[Executor]

Originally posted by twiigss:

And if we could change the color of the blood that is different than the footprints, it'd be a million times easier to figure out.

There is a separate color for the currently tracked animal (by default it's blue in Layton) If you already found one drop of blood, then you can just only follow the blue tracks. Make sure not to inspect any white tracks or your currently tracked animal will switch and you can easily lose it...

[TECHNOMANCER]

....Turn Off the visual cues for a while and "track it visually" around, say Balmont Lake, once you've found a few dozen kills that way, turn them back on. It can make a world of difference in your "outlook".

[twiigss]

Originally posted by Executor:

Originally posted by twiigss:

And if we could change the color of the blood that is different than the footprints, it'd be a million times easier to figure out.

There is a separate color for the currently tracked animal (by default it's blue in Layton) If you already found one drop of blood, then you can just only follow the blue tracks. Make sure not to inspect any white tracks or your currently tracked animal will switch and you can easily lose it...

I thought the color for footprints was the same as blood drops? I know I made inactive tracks red and active tracks white. I'll have to go back in and look at that setting then.

[twiigss]

Originally posted by twiigss:

Originally posted by Executor:

There is a separate color for the currently tracked animal (by default it's blue in Layton) If you already found one drop of blood, then you can just only follow the blue tracks. Make sure not to inspect any white tracks or your currently tracked animal will switch and you can easily lose it...

I thought the color for footprints was the same as blood drops? I know I made inactive tracks red and active tracks white. I'll have to go back in and look at that setting then.

Okay so I guess active tracking means the one single animal I'm tracking at that moment? Because I've done that before, just tracked the blood, and all of a sudden 100 footprints show up, and I have no clue on where I'm supposed to go.

I did change active tracking to cyan from white, inactive tracking is red.

[SavageSergal]

I really wish that you can turn off all other tracks when you have a highlighted one...like any other live animal track or others of the species until you kill and/or locate the animal whose track you have highlighted or cancel it and have all tracks back again.

[Geronimo]

Tracking, like stalking and shooting is a skill which is developed with experience. And this is represented in CoTW by having to earn xp as you level up.

Therefore, it stands to reason that for the sake of realistic immersion there would have to be a difference between skill degrees from lower to higher progressions.

For this reason new hunters must learn their skills in the field, which correlates to more difficulty in certain matters which becomes lessened with skill development.

It's simple to understand.

If one wants to start the game as a skilled tracker at level one, than be sure you buy a game that offers a more arcade style gameplay.

Having said that, CoTW does provide us with a multitude of setting options, and perks, to alter game difficulty, especially in the tracking dynamics.

Regarding tracking, regardless of your chosen settings, there are still many dynamics that we learn over time as we gain experience through actual hunting throughout the various landscapes and topography. For example, learning how to stay on the fresh tracks when they begin to cross over older tracks.

There are some glitches here and there, as with any game, but these are rare and usually tied to recent patches which are usually fixed quickly.

In some cases there are a couple of track sign glitches that arose from a couple of patches that remain unfixed, but again these are rare and I believe bound to a specific individual animal. So once it is harvested that glitch should also disappear as I would hope the respawn would not have the exact same codes attached to it.

So overall, to summarize, yes, when starting as level one hunter, tracking and shooting is not going to be done as easily as when you reach higher levels. This is intentional for the sake of immersion. However when you follow the mission tutorials, you will quickly learn the dos and don'ts. And if you are more inclined to the donts, for example shooting a moose with a 243, than dont be surprised when you have to track it for an hour only to find it stopped leaving blood sign.

[Executor]

Originally posted by twiigss:

Originally posted by twiigss:

I thought the color for footprints was the same as blood drops? I know I made inactive tracks red and active tracks white. I'll have to go back in and look at that setting then.

Okay so I guess active tracking means the one single animal I'm tracking at that moment? Because I've done that before, just tracked the blood, and all of a sudden 100 footprints show up, and I have no clue on where I'm supposed to go..

1) Yes, there is no color difference between blood drops and footprints. But that doesn't matter..you want to be following both blood drops and footprints from the animal that you shot.

2) If you're seeing 100 footprints (and they're all inactive), it's probably a herd grazing or traveling. Ignore them, they have nothing to do with the animal you're tracking, it's just a distraction. If you inspect any one of them, you will lose your tracked animal because the currently tracked animal will switch and you won't be able to find the original animal again. I bet this is what is happening to you.

Animals will usually just run in a straight or curved line until they collapse. There can sometimes be pretty big gaps (like, almost 100 yards) between blood drops or footprints if the shot wasn't great and they are running really hard and not bleeding a lot. Ignore all inactive tracks, and just keep pushing forward.

[Apsolutnul]

I think you need to give the game a chance and learn the mechanics a bit better...and not complain at lvl 2

sorry was not trying to sound rude, see below for more info