Why do Geese Stop Coming?

[FwhPixelink]

I am set on Hirefedlt, in a strawfield. I use to get 5-8 flocks in a 8 hour in-game time. Now I have been sitting for 3 hours and not one goose or flock has flown in. I noticed this slowly over time.

I have killed about 20 geese in two cycles of hunting pressure.

Is there a reason flocks of Geese diminish over time over this spot?

[ÐåŕķMệşşịäħ]

The respawn system is extremely slow or bugged on you. The hunting pressure also prevents them from coming to you.

[ÐåŕķMệşşịäħ]

There's also a notorious "no animal respawning bug" that hasn't been fixed for years. My guess is that's your problem. I had the same issue in all of my maps when I first bought the game as well as not seeing any ducks/geese.

So the only unofficial fix for that is to manually reset your animal population for your map(s) which is what worked for me.

The link has all the steps on what you need to do:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/518790/discussions/5/2995421083761303969/?tscn=1607575930

[FwhPixelink]

1) I was told hunting pressure has no effect on geese. But, I disagree. I think it does. Because when I go to a different spot. All is well.

2) I have already reset my population once. I don't think this is the issue for me, but just too much pressured.

Thanks

[jamesb996]

Do the Population reset (As above), that should work.
Hunting pressure does not effect Birds, only 4 legged animals.

[ÐåŕķMệşşịäħ]

Originally posted by Frank Hilton:

1) I was told hunting pressure has no effect on geese. But, I disagree. I think it does. Because when I go to a different spot. All is well.

2) I have already reset my population once. I don't think this is the issue for me, but just too much pressured.

Thanks

1) Hunting pressure creates a stupid purple zone on your map that the animals will avoid. The more animals you hunt in that area the darker the purple gets on your map to the point where animals will completely avoid it. This system was designed to prevent people from camping one area 24/7. The devs wanted to force people to move around constantly to hunt not just stay in one area. It makes tree stands useless after your first few kills as well as scents/lures. Bows/xbows create the least amount of hunting pressure out of all the weapons.

https://thehuntercotw.fandom.com/wiki/Hunting_Pressure

I'm pretty sure hunting pressure affects all animals in this game including ducks/geese. It also depends on the level of the hunting pressure. There's a threshold for it.

Another thing to know is that tents (if you ever use them) create a dead zone around them just like hunting pressure which prevents animals from spawning near them in a certain radius. I think people said it was around 200m.

[jamesb996]

Originally posted by Frank Hilton:

1) I was told hunting pressure has no effect on geese. But, I disagree. I think it does. Because when I go to a different spot. All is well.

2) I have already reset my population once. I don't think this is the issue for me, but just too much pressured.

Thanks

Originally posted by Frank Hilton:

1) I was told hunting pressure has no effect on geese. But, I disagree. I think it does. Because when I go to a different spot. All is well.

2) I have already reset my population once. I don't think this is the issue for me, but just too much pressured.

Thanks

(1) If it works when you go to a different spot, then why are you asking for help?
Just set up a new Geese field.
(2) Rest as many times as you want, you can reset quicker than coming on here to debate whether it works or not.
You may be surprised?

[Nightwalker]

Replacement animal spawns need not occur in the same band, herd or flock. They can spawn elsewhere and wind up using different travel pathways/need zones. I'll give an example that might help others understand how the game mechanics can work. Found a band of 5 Bull Elk and killed 2. In 3 weeks of game time I never saw more than 3 Bulls in that area (despite hunting pressure being relieved) until sometime after I began killing bulls elsewhere on the map. I've found the best results by identifying hunting areas for a species in 3 different regions of the map and rotating my hunts through those areas.

With Geese and Ducks the glory days of being able to kill 20 in one spot in a single game day, then going back the next day and doing it again are long gone.

[jamesb996]

My Son & I both play COTW on separate computers.
In the last 4 months or so, we have managed to unlock & buy ALL weapons, ammunition etc plus have a balance over $5 million @ Lvl60.
This has been mainly through Geese shooting & with shooting that many on the same field, you can be sure the Hunting pressure is intense.
Once in a while it slows a little but Pop reset fixes that.
But the Geese are still coming :)

[FwhPixelink]

@jamesb996

1) I said I went to another spot.
That is also setup with decoys etc... I actually have 3 locations (spots). it was ONLY this one spot that it stop, I believe from pressure.

2) I didn't come here to debate. I am fairly new at this and I read a lot conflicting views.

3) From my experience... hunting pressure does effect geese coming in from what i see UNLESS someone has documentation from devs to prove otherwise.

[dbump]

I don't have any documentation, but in my experience, geese appear to ignore hunting pressure. However, there are times when I've seen exactly what you describe. I don't know what changes, but suddenly there are either no geese, or very, very few. When I have seen that, switching to my alternate (not as good) spot, and shooting at least one goose, and then returning to my preferred spot has sometimes done the trick. Other times I just called it quits for a day and played another game, and when I came back, the regular flocks returned--of course, in game time, no time had passed.

The scarce goose thing was fairly unusual, but I did see it on at least three separate occasions. I mostly hunt geese on Hirsh, so the hunting pressure at my primary location was maxed out, hot pink--both when flocks weren't coming by, and later when just as inexplicably they were flying over often enough that I wasn't always able to harvest the 4-6 I had downed from the prior flock before I heard the next one approaching. Fairly regularly I'd find myself going prone next to a dead goose as a new flock came in, and shooting those too--which was usually much less productive than shooting from the blind, but better than scaring them off trying to crouch my way back.
Edit: I should note that even in my secondary location, while the pressure wasn't hot pink, it was way above the pressure you get from 4 standing/16-tripod kills--and I was definitely getting geese there despite that.

[GIbbralter]

"Another thing to know is that tents (if you ever use them) create a dead zone around them just like hunting pressure which prevents animals from spawning near them in a certain radius. I think people said it was around 200m."

this is false, i have three duck blinds set up on Layton, and i spawn at a tent, run five yards to get into a duck blind in front of my decoys and the ducks are already there, 20 yards from the tent. If i do it fast enough the ducks dont even spook and i can spot them for the highest level one, i know Tents used to act that way but they don't anymore.

my wife sets her tent right next to her stand and regularly ports back to it after picking up animals, i thought it was wrong at first, but didn't say anything because she never listens to me anyway, lol, and she can see animals regularly.

[dbump]

Agreed; I have a tent about 30m from my blind on Hirsh, and have never had a problem.

[FwhPixelink]

Thanks for the info. Helpful

[ÐåŕķMệşşịäħ]

Originally posted by GIbbralter:

this is false, i have three duck blinds set up on Layton, and i spawn at a tent, run five yards to get into a duck blind in front of my decoys and the ducks are already there, 20 yards from the tent. If i do it fast enough the ducks dont even spook and i can spot them for the highest level one, i know Tents used to act that way but they don't anymore.

I've had it where the tents don't have any animals near them even at the correct time for the need zones. I'm assuming it's a broken in game mechanic which really wouldn't surprise me. I've come across a lot of bugs in this game that remain unfixed for years.

[Pinger]

geese have different flight paths across the map during the day, thats why they stop coming in, you are now outwith there flight path so cant call them in, move to another setup.