Moving Animal Post Kill (Versus Field Butchering, Gutting, & Skinning)

[TygerxEyes]

Greetings,

I am not certain as to the reason one is forced to butcher, gut, and skin one's kills in the field.  

• Rabbits (and future small game animals) - It is EASY to pick-up a rabbit and carry one - let alone a few.
• Wolves (and future dog-to-cougar sized animals) - Less easy and a bit of work though not too hard...
• Deer - Some Work, Some Know How... Though Not Impossible... (and remember, my character starts with the knowledge of how to butcher, gut, skin, and process fur hides... so boning out and quartering is not a real stretch now is it).

I mention this... because it makes NO SENSE that I have to address the issue in the field when it is closer to dark than I would like or the weather does a sudden shift or it is otherwise life or death.  It would be MUCH MUCH MORE PRACTICAL to move the carcass back to base camp.  I am not saying butcher medium or large game  indoors (fish and rabbits and small game sure) though you could, if you wanted, or in life for death food and freezing situation It does, however, make sense to bring it within 25-100 yards of base camp - got out work for 30-90 minutes, warm-up, 30-90 minutes, etc., and not trek a 0.25 to 1 mile back and forth... that's just dumb - especially, for a character that knows how to butcher, guy, and skin several different animals and make clothes from them.

LARGE GAME:

While bears are another matter (and maybe moose depending on how big the game developers make them), I think deer, small moose, and wolves can all be move, especially over the ever common snow (which really reduces friction), by dragging and by making a stretcher or using tarp or using hunter's tricks (see below). 

SUMMARY:

What does not make sense is always choosing to butcher it in the field, especially in dangerous conditions. And, while the game development has not caught-up with this aspect, with wolves and wolves as hungry as these wolves are in voyager and stalker modes... leaving a carcass overnight is 'feeding the wolves' not you and you might have a fight on your hands the next day, if they have not finished and you return.  Even in pilgram mode, I think attempting to take food from a hungry wolf will not go well.

[TygerxEyes]

HUNTERS SHARING KNOWLEDGE ON MOVING DEER:

• http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=281506
• http://www.gameandfishmag.com/hunting/hunting_whitetail-deer-hunting_ra_1105_03/

SIMPLE ROPE METHOD (Warning : Real Dead and/or Dead & Gutted Animals In These Videos):

• Deer Rope Method
• Deer Tarp Method - Note Comment About Snow; Note Use With Boar (So Wolves No Issues...)

[cekivi]

Yep. Completely agree. It's been brought up a few times before (especially for rabbits). Hopefully if sleds or rope are ever added to the game then mechanics for dragging a carcass will be introduced.

Note that even large game can be moved. You can quarter the animal with an axe and then move the quarters to your permanent shelter. Now, whether the wolves and ravens will leave anything for you to harvest by the time you return is another matter

[TygerxEyes]

On ‎6‎/‎16‎/‎2016 at 6:36 PM, cekivi said:

Yep. Completely agree. It's been brought up a few times before (especially for rabbits). Hopefully if sleds or rope are ever added to the game then mechanics for dragging a carcass will be introduced.

Note that even large game can be moved. You can quarter the animal with an axe and then move the quarters to your permanent shelter. Now, whether the wolves and ravens will leave anything for you to harvest by the time you return is another matter

Hmmm, I lack the experience regarding bear-sized game though it makes sense, and I would think that, once moving a carcass is added that finding your carcass begins attracting other animals is a great idea.  I should like to see a sledge and tarp added and maybe general tackle rope... I believe climbing rope is in the game as is fishing line made from animal gut). Lol, it would be less than funny to find a bear or wolverine or a couple of wolves making a meal of the last quarters of the game you bagged and left.

[SteveP]

On 2016-06-16 at 3:36 PM, cekivi said:

Note that even large game can be moved. You can quarter the animal with an axe and then move the quarters to your permanent shelter. Now, whether the wolves and ravens will leave anything for you to harvest by the time you return is another matter

Ravens in the game don't bother stuff but in real life, it's a worry. You have to cover the meat to avoid birds getting on it. A bear finding the meat is problematic in real life as he can eat it all rapidly and so can wolves. They also spread diseases since they contaminate your meat.

In game, the critters don't seem to poach the meat and if they did, a campfire should be sufficient to deter them. The near constant wind prevents fire placement that would be ideal and we are restricted from building fire on slopes (why?)

[SteveP]

I haven't tried it but do wolves scavenge meat if they kill it and you drive them off or will they scavenge kills or meat you leave outside overnight? If you drop meat, they will consume it unlike the bear unless they have fixed that. But is that all across the game map or just in proximity to the player and only when the player is outside?? For example, if there is a bear outside, you still hear it thrashing around so something in the game has to be still "running" in simulation. Are wolves for example, off in far parts of the map chasing simulated deer, killing and eating them? I guess they are...

As an experiment (last fall), I've left low condition meat outside to see if the bear or wolves would be drawn to it. They seemed to ignore it. It was never consumed nor even of much interest at that stage of development.

[TygerxEyes]

On 6/18/2016 at 7:53 PM, SteveP said:

I haven't tried it but do wolves scavenge meat if they kill it and you drive them off or will they scavenge kills or meat you leave outside overnight? If you drop meat, they will consume it unlike the bear unless they have fixed that. But is that all across the game map or just in proximity to the player and only when the player is outside?? For example, if there is a bear outside, you still hear it thrashing around so something in the game has to be still "running" in simulation. Are wolves for example, off in far parts of the map chasing simulated deer, killing and eating them? I guess they are...

As an experiment (last fall), I've left low condition meat outside to see if the bear or wolves would be drawn to it. They seemed to ignore it. It was never consumed nor even of much interest at that stage of development.

With regard to game mechanics, I am not 100% sure about inside and outside game actions running parallel.  I am sure that they could and probably do, at least, in proximity to the home... if a wolf gives chase and you enter the house and leave 10 seconds later is it frozen mid-stride? Now, whether the game runs the wolves actions, or makes random approximation - is another matter.  In other words, if a deer is grazing outside the farm house, does it simply randomly respawn in the area that it spawns in normally, hence it looks like it... or does it actually calculate movement and have it move around.  Guess that is one for game developers to answer.

Whether it is bears, wolves, ravens, raccoons, scavengers will come.... At present, however, I have left animals out for a few days and nothing has ever disturbed my kills. I do not do that when I am playing serious, but when I do dry runs or pilgrim map crawl in Mystery Lake when I first started (aka learn game mechanics).

Oh, and one other factor is, fresh kill can be butchered and skinned by hand (no ax and no hunting knife required)... once it freezes you need gear preferably the hunting knife as it is faster and, as a result of speed and efficiency, does less wear-and-tear on the knife (less wear-and-tear is my guess... never really compared... but it is much faster that I know).

[iSUGGESTthings]

Yes, this is something that bothers me quite a lot, the inability to pick up carcasses. I am 100% in favor of rabbits being inventory items, because they are tiny. They must be dropped in order to be harvested. Anything larger than that could use a drag mechanic, or find some alternate means. It's a great pain when I've shot something miles from my home base and have to make multiple trips because I couldn't just take the darn thing home with me.. Please for implementation.