What Map/Animal do you enjoy Bow hunting most?

[JJBandit]

Hi Folks,

I was just wondering where and what you enjoy or find best hunting with a Bow?

I'm currently trying to get my Bow xp up to unlock the 600gr arrows, I'm running around with the crossbow, using 600gr tracer bolts (as they were unlocked with the high tech pack), as i found that its easier to get close to large beasts. And hunting everything else with a compund bow using the 400(?)gr arrows.

I found the Yukon map decent, hunting Bison. But its not my favourite map.

What are your thoughts on Bow hunting? Where do you find it easiest to get a load of kills, or have a good ability to stalk? Some maps seem to have not enough cover to stalk close enough for a bow, Others seem to often have too much underbrush to be able to see well enough to take aim.

Also, what is/are your favourite animals to hunt with a bow and why?

I guess we could also ask, what do you find the most challenging to hunt with a bow?

Thanks

[Humpenstilzchen]

Originally posted by JJBandit:

Hi Folks,

What are your thoughts on Bow hunting? Where do you find it easiest to get a load of kills, or have a good ability to stalk? Some maps seem to have not enough cover to stalk close enough for a bow, Others seem to often have too much underbrush to be able to see well enough to take aim.
Thanks

Without wanting to offend you but that is wrong. I hunt all species on all maps with bow except for lions and there is no species which you can´t sneak up to. The map doesn´t matter at all. The only thing that matters is your visibility meter and your sound meter and as long as you keep low and move slowly and maybe even crouch if you want to get really close you can even manage to sneak up to 20 meters to pumas.

I like to hunt any species with the bow or crossbow, there is no favourite species for me. The most challenging to hunt is without an exception a lion, becasue it will outright kill you if the shot is not instantly lethal and if you are within 100 meter which you usually are when hunting with a bow. They also like to ambush you, so it can happen that a lioness ambushes you from the side while you are sneaking up to a lion. That´s the reason why I stopped hunting lions with bows because it is too crazy and risky. I have a very good aim with the bow but still these beast rip you apart lol.

[Byzantium]

my fav animals to hunt with the crossbow is blacktail and whitetail i LOVE getting buffalo to charge me and take em with the recurve its soo fun

[JJBandit]

Originally posted by Humpenstilzchen:

Originally posted by JJBandit:

Hi Folks,

What are your thoughts on Bow hunting? Where do you find it easiest to get a load of kills, or have a good ability to stalk? Some maps seem to have not enough cover to stalk close enough for a bow, Others seem to often have too much underbrush to be able to see well enough to take aim.
Thanks

Without wanting to offend you but that is wrong. I hunt all species on all maps with bow except for lions and there is no species which you can´t sneak up to. The map doesn´t matter at all. The only thing that matters is your visibility meter and your sound meter and as long as you keep low and move slowly and maybe even crouch if you want to get really close you can even manage to sneak up to 20 meters to pumas.

No offence taken! I'm still a total rookie with the bow, hence why i'm still trying to level it up.

Its good to know that all maps are suitable for bow hunting. What prompted me to ask was a situation in silver ridge peaks, where i was stalking over to a longhorn, and when i got close enough, i was stuck in those bushes that barely give you any additional cover according to the meter, but you literally can;t see out of it, and when you get to the edge, you don't seem to get any cover. I'm not sure if it took me too long to belly crawl over to them, or i made some noise trying to get sight of them again.

But my question is still whether there are any "great" maps for bow hunting, that will allow me to gain xp a bit quicker by getting a decent amount of harvests.

I'm aware some animals are extremely sensitive, and others are less so. So was hoping peopel could share their experiences of where and what is good to hunt for a noobie bow huinter such as myself.

Thanks!

[Humpenstilzchen]

Definitly belly crawl to get close. Any map is suitable, but as you already found out some species are easier to hunt. For a beginner I would recommend hunting roe deer, they are incredibly easy to hunt and there are plenty of them on Hirschfelden. They are also very responsive to their caller and you can easily call them back in if you accidently spook one.

Regarding the bushes, they do work but you have sit at the edge of it so that it fully covers you but you can still see. Tbh you don´t even need the bushes. Always check the distance to your prey and then crawl the last 30-40 meters, that works every single time.

What i like to do is spot the animal and then mark it on your map so you have a visible distance meter when you are crawling up to it.

[Humpenstilzchen]

Originally posted by TagAndBag:

You can sneak up on lions with a bow, i have done it. Once you shot at a Lion they seem to have laser pin pointing precision targeting and instaneously attacks you. The A.I is terribly bad and very unrealistic.

Yes, it way too risky, because you have to hit it´s heart to stop it in its tracks and if you don´t hit that say goodbye lol.

[Leadmagnet]

Silver Ridge seems to be a regular shooting gallery for the most part or at least my map seems that way a lot of the time. As mentioned above, you take your time & go slow to get in range. Since you have the hi-tech pack, you might look at the tracer arrows, the 600gr might be unlocked like the tracer bolt version (but I don't know for sure). Use the range finding bow sight from the same pack if you really want easy mode with a bow. If you don't want to use that sight, then use the 5 pin sight if you have it.

If you are really going to go bow and stalk, get both tiers of improvised blind and both tiers of soft feet. Improvised blind help you hide in brush easier and soft feet helps reduce the amount of noise you make over certain terrain.

If I want a real hair pulling challenge (and not want to get turned into lion food), I hunt fox on Hirsch. They are small, smart, and blend in extremely well with the vegetation in certain areas. Rabbits or hares would be the next hardest from me to bow hunt due to size and being able to spot them before spooking them.

[JJBandit]

yeah, i'm finding silver ridge the most populated so far.. by a long shot.

Maybe i'll switch back to rifles for SRP.

And go for deer with the bows on LL or Hirsh

[jjs82xx]

You've really implied two different questions: 1. What is most fun; and 2. What to do to pump bow XP.

1. (most fun) Hunting European Bison from a tripod in Hirshfelden. I've been using the CB70 + 600 grain; but recently got the DLC which unlocks the 700 grain (haven't used it on Euro Bison, yet). I try for a kill shot with the 600 from the tripod. Usually the Bison's buddies charge the tripod. When they turn around to leave, I put a 600 grain through the poop chute, and it can go as far as the heart. Even if it doesn't, that guy ain't going far: They usually drop like a sack of potatoes.

2.a. (pump bow XP) I hunt Red deer from tripods with the red deer caller (locations -7599, 5915 and -7473, 5926 have worked great for me --> 49 deer at one of those locations!!!). The caller brings them right in, and the tripod keeps them from seeing you until they are about 5 meters away (sometimes much closer). It is like shooting fish in a barrel.

2.b. I haven't actually tried this, because I got my bow score way above 12,000 before ever hunting birds; but, if you have the Wild Goose Chase DLC, and have caller and decoys, you can get about 12 flocks of geese to land in corn and straw fields per hour (of real time). Geese pay big bucks (about as much or more per goose as a wild boar) and they land 5 to 25 meters from you: perfect for a bow +300 grain. I have been pumping my shotgun score using geese. I see no reason why it wouldn't work for bows.

2.c. From what I see posted, if you have SRP DLC, you can hunt there. (I do not have.) But if you have tripod and WGC DLCs, I doubt you can beat the goose trick, though.

Happy hunting.

[DanthemanBoone]

I hunt Cape buffalo among the trees and at the waterholes with the scoped crossbow a lot. It means you can shoot one and the rest of the mob will run off without charging, as they seem unable to locate you.... unlike when you use a gun they mark your position and charge unrelentingly. Anything within 70 metres is a certain instant death with a double lung shot from the 600g bolt, and not long before the whole mob comes plodding back again.

[Hanuman]

I love treestand bow hunting red deer in CC most I think. High chance for nice racks and males and tons of red deer 8 mythicals.

[Freewheelin' Freddy]

Hi,

I hunt with bows a lot, gave myself a little challenge to hunt every species with it and it is a lot of fun. Some are way too easy (Roe deer as mentionned are stupid ;) ) some other are very hard to approach ( mountain goat spook very easily and vegetation doesn't help) and others are very dangerous to get close to, like bisons, water buffalos or lions (most intimading prey for me, tried to sneak up on a few ones and was ambushed a few times, also they are very scary when they start growling and you see nothing but bushes ;)

If you have tripods dlc, Hirsch is a very good map for piling up money, with lots of boars, red deer and roe deer. It also provides la lot of cover.

In fact when you're bow hunting, you take everything's slower, you crawl a lot and need to pay a lot of attention to your surrondings.

I generally use the recurve for big game (deer,fallow,bear,bisons etc...) and the compound for small game (rabbits, foxes etc...) as it is easier to aim with the bow sights.

[JJBandit]

Thanks everyone! I'm off to Hirsh to lvl up.. i'll return to SRP with rifles once i have completed my personal challenge!

Keep the convo going though, as its really interesting to see what peoples opinions are!

[MetalMind85]

I usually hunt with bow medium and large animals. For foxes, coyotes, rabbits and birds I use rifles or buckshot.

I like to use bows and crossbow especially when I have animals within 50 - 100 meters. Proper hits on that range when taking into account arrow drop and wind calculation are always satysfying for me.

I also like to use bows because you can take out whole herds with it pretty fast.