The Hunter: Call of the Wild – Useful Tips

Useful Tips for Beginners

Hunting at need zones (waiting there for animals to show up in particular) is definitely an easier way of hunting. But roaming around and taking opportunity shots at randomly discovered animals also works. Some caveats, though:

• It depends a lot on the terrain that you’re in. Watch your noise and visibility indicators while moving through different terrain. Note that animal senses are not blocked by terrain or obstacles, they can “see” through hills and trees – they only react to your noise and visibility meters. If you get into a certain distance (usually 150m) and still have a full visibility indicator, they will usually flee.
• Use the terrain to your advantage. Whenever I’m at a crest of a hill, I stop, pull out my binoculars, and scan the entire area below. Often there are animals somewhere that I didn’t immediately see. Once I know where they are, I can approach safely and carefully. Some maps are much easier to hunt in this way than others. The two starter maps, Layton Lake and especially Hirschfelden, are among the hardest and most frustrating for newcomers.
• When approaching an animal, keep spotting it and notice its current state. If it’s calm, then you’re safe. If it’s attentive, then it may have noticed something, and it may be a good idea to wait until it becomes calm again. This can take a while – patience is key for this game, laying on the ground for 10 real-time minutes while waiting for something to happen is not an unusual occurrence. If the animal is “alert”, drop prone to the ground, don’t move, and hope that it doesn’t flee.
• Whenever you hear a warning call, drop prone before doing anything else, and don’t move. Make that a habit until you do it automatically. You can still crouch or get up again if needed. But the warning call basically indicates that the animal is just one small step away from fleeing, so minimizing your visibility and noise at that point is a good idea.
• Learn how to use callers. They are invaluable for getting animals into shooting distance, especially on rough terrain.
• There are various skills in the skill tree that make you less visible and less noisy. Going for opportunity kills without these skills may be difficult.