Tips for Hunting for a new player

[MysticMusician]

I just started playing the game, I got a rabbit, 2 moose, and 2 black bears. I am struggling though to actually get to the animal with tracking, I just wind up tracking forever.

[funewchie]

If you're running, and/or making a ton of noise...yeah, you're gonna be running for a long time.
The animals aren't stupid, if they hear you, they're going to run away.

When you're tracking the animals, if it says "Walk" or "Trot", you're fine. But if it says "Running", that means you spooked them and they're fleeing from you.

That doesn't mean it's hopeless, but it means you need to quiet down, and give them time to calm down.
They may return.
----

Lures help quite a bit, too.

[huebnerrl]

When you say tracking are you talking about tracking down an animal you shot or tracking an animal you are hunting?

[NuCkEnFuTs]

Stealth and shot placement wins. watch your wind direction.

[dbump]

If you just started, if you are using the non-DLC weapons, don't try for moose yet. They will run a long ways when shot with the weapons you have access to initially. Stick to deer and smaller game, but even then as mentioned above, careful shot placement makes a big difference. I had exactly the same experience when I first started.

Try slowly walking around lakes or along rivers, making sure you are moving into the wind, not with it, and try to carefully work your way to 150m or less from your prey, as the initial scope isn't great either. There are some good guides here on shot placement; check those out; also some good ones on need zones for the various maps that are very helpful. If you land a shot broadside into the lungs of a smaller animal, it's unlikely to run very far, which will be much less frustrating to you. In fact, the recommendation I read and took to heart is to not even start walking after the animal you shot until you see the purple blotch show up on the map, indicating it died (the blotch is hunting pressure; too much and other animals will avoid that area). No blotch--you missed or didn't hit an organ.

Another thing you can do if you're taking longer range shots is to look at your hunter statistics and note your current hit/miss numbers. Then check again after taking a shot. No point running after that animal if you missed--in fact, if you just hang out where you are, the animals will actually come back relatively soon, if you found them at a need zone, as long as the time for that need zone hasn't passed.

[Pinger]

all animals use need zones with set timers so they are doing 1 of 3 things when you see them 1/ running from you as you spooked them 2/ Semi static at a need zone like drinking/feeding/resting etc 3/ if not spooked moving to there next need zone.

Easiest way to find them is near water once you know there drinking times, as all animals have to eat/drink/rest and drinking need zones are generally the easiest to spot. Check the guides section on here for need zone time guides for each reserve and animal.

Shot placement until you know where to aim always go for a broadside shot just behind the foreleg to hit the lung, you can do that twice to increase the chance it drops quickly

[jjs82xx]

Lots of good tips in this thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/518790/discussions/0/2923353981931248320/

[MysticMusician]

Originally posted by huebnerrl:

When you say tracking are you talking about tracking down an animal you shot or tracking an animal you are hunting?

Tracking one that I am hunting.

Originally posted by dbump:

If you just started, if you are using the non-DLC weapons, don't try for moose yet. They will run a long ways when shot with the weapons you have access to initially. Stick to deer and smaller game, but even then as mentioned above, careful shot placement makes a big difference. I had exactly the same experience when I first started.

Try slowly walking around lakes or along rivers, making sure you are moving into the wind, not with it, and try to carefully work your way to 150m or less from your prey, as the initial scope isn't great either. There are some good guides here on shot placement; check those out; also some good ones on need zones for the various maps that are very helpful. If you land a shot broadside into the lungs of a smaller animal, it's unlikely to run very far, which will be much less frustrating to you. In fact, the recommendation I read and took to heart is to not even start walking after the animal you shot until you see the purple blotch show up on the map, indicating it died (the blotch is hunting pressure; too much and other animals will avoid that area). No blotch--you missed or didn't hit an organ.

Another thing you can do if you're taking longer range shots is to look at your hunter statistics and note your current hit/miss numbers. Then check again after taking a shot. No point running after that animal if you missed--in fact, if you just hang out where you are, the animals will actually come back relatively soon, if you found them at a need zone, as long as the time for that need zone hasn't passed.

Idk why I so far found moose the easier to hunt lol. I haven't managed to find a deer or any more rabbits yet. Thanks, I didn't know that they'll just come back to a need zone.

[dbump]

They are huge and loud, so you're right--they are definitely one of the animals that you're most likely to notice when you first start playing. If you want to pursue other animals, check out the need zone maps here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=938853537