Tracking bleeding animals

[kurja]

A bleeding animal (wounded by arrow or knife) eventually bleeds out and dies; but is this guaranteed to happen so that the carcass can be found?

I shot a deer with an arrow, it did not die on the spot but ran away bleeding. As it galloped away I lost sight of it. That's when the weather changed for the worse and the other deer in the area disappeared as well as I was looking for the wounded one. Luckily my arrow broke and it had fallen where it hit the deer.
The next day I returned to the area to look for it, instead found a wolf and put an arrow on him as he was approaching me - and the bugger bolted off (with my precious arrow) behind a hill and I couldn't maintain line of sight. It got foggy and I did not find a wolf there, living or dead.

So can I actually find the carcasses? Or is it possible that they went to whatever nowhere-land to die where they seem to reside when the weather is poor?

[Mixxut]

2 hours ago, kurja said:

A bleeding animal (wounded by arrow or knife) eventually bleeds out and dies; but is this guaranteed to happen so that the carcass can be found?

I shot a deer with an arrow, it did not die on the spot but ran away bleeding. As it galloped away I lost sight of it. That's when the weather changed for the worse and the other deer in the area disappeared as well as I was looking for the wounded one. Luckily my arrow broke and it had fallen where it hit the deer.
The next day I returned to the area to look for it, instead found a wolf and put an arrow on him as he was approaching me - and the bugger bolted off (with my precious arrow) behind a hill and I couldn't maintain line of sight. It got foggy and I did not find a wolf there, living or dead.

So can I actually find the carcasses? Or is it possible that they went to whatever nowhere-land to die where they seem to reside when the weather is poor?

They ran like crazy until they die. If you see blood, follow it. It leads to the dead animal. Also listen for crows. They ususally hang around a dead animal

[Thrasador]

Has anyone noticed blood spots appearing as you follow them, or is there something wrong with my graphics?

What I mean is prior to Wintermute, the blood trail for animals were static, like if they left one the entire trail was visible from the get go. Now....for me at least, the blood trail is appearing a little bit at a time...as I follow it. 

Basically I'm asking if that's how it is now for everyone, or am I experiencing some kind of bug....?

[Mixxut]

42 minutes ago, Thrasador said:

Has anyone noticed blood spots appearing as you follow them, or is there something wrong with my graphics?

What I mean is prior to Wintermute, the blood trail for animals were static, like if they left one the entire trail was visible from the get go. Now....for me at least, the blood trail is appearing a little bit at a time...as I follow it. 

Basically I'm asking if that's how it is now for everyone, or am I experiencing some kind of bug....?

Yeah they drop those little red dots. They are kinda hard to track but not impossible

 

[Thrasador]

1 hour ago, Mixxut said:

Yeah they drop those little red dots. They are kinda hard to track but not impossible

 

I know they drop little red dots.

My question is are all the little red dots appearing in the snow at once for you, or are your little red dots appearing gradually....like three or four at a time....

For me previously they would all be present immediately....now they are appearing for me gradually as I follow them....

Which way is it happening for you?

[Mixxut]

2 minutes ago, Thrasador said:

now they are appearing for me gradually as I follow them...

Same here

 

[Thrasador]

9 hours ago, Mixxut said:

Same here

 

Gracias....must be another stealth change....

[Stormwolf1O1]

Aside from looking for crows over areas where I know there is not usually a carcass/corpse, I sometimes just Pass Time for an hour or two until the animal bleeds out and dies. During this time the animal obviously does not move any faster, so this just speeds up the dying process while they're still within your sights.

Edited August 26, 2017 by Stormwolf1O1

[Thrasador]

17 minutes ago, Stormwolf1O1 said:

Aside from looking for crows over areas where I know there is not usually a carcass/corpse, I sometimes just Pass Time for an hour or two until the animal bleeds out and dies. During this time the animal obviously does not move any faster, so this just speeds up the dying process while they're still within your sights.

That's a super good idea....I think I even have heard that before, but I keep forgetting to try it. Then once I do try it....I will need to make it a habbit....

[Stormwolf1O1]

3 minutes ago, Thrasador said:

That's a super good idea....I think I even have heard that before, but I keep forgetting to try it. Then once I do try it....I will need to make it a habbit....

Just keep an eye on your condition!

[WanderingPalm]

2 hours ago, Stormwolf1O1 said:

Aside from looking for crows over areas where I know there is not usually a carcass/corpse, I sometimes just Pass Time for an hour or two until the animal bleeds out and dies. During this time the animal obviously does not move any faster, so this just speeds up the dying process while they're still within your sights.

How do you pass time without putting down your bedroll? Or do you whip out your roll, throw it on the ground, and then pass time on it for the hour? And does this actually keep them from dying farther away from you --like, do they stop moving while you pass time, so are just dead in the spot you last saw them when you come out of it? Because that would be amazing and I definitely need to start doing this if that's how it works!

13 hours ago, Thrasador said:

I know they drop little red dots.

My question is are all the little red dots appearing in the snow at once for you, or are your little red dots appearing gradually....like three or four at a time....

For me previously they would all be present immediately....now they are appearing for me gradually as I follow them....

Which way is it happening for you?

Yup, they pop into existence a couple of dots at a time for me, too. It makes tracking incredibly difficult because the dots don't seem to exist at all from a few steps away. They also sometimes just... stop. Even when the creature bleeds out and dies elsewhere. I've also noticed that the blood spots are less red-colored now. They look more like black splats, even when fresh. Anyone else seeing that, too? Oh, and I'm on PS4-- maybe the console versions have a lower draw distance on blood?

 

But yeah, absolutely be on the lookout for crows circling your kill! I thought I'd lost the wolf I'd killed, but two days later I saw crows circling somewhere they never had before, and found my kill (in the tall grass right where I'd apparently walked by it a dozen times before....). So crows are now my best friend. XD

[Stormwolf1O1]

Just now, WanderingPalm said:

How do you pass time without putting down your bedroll? Or do you whip out your roll, throw it on the ground, and then pass time on it for the hour? And does this actually keep them from dying farther away from you --like, do they stop moving while you pass time, so are just dead in the spot you last saw them when you come out of it? Because that would be amazing and I definitely need to start doing this if that's how it works!

Pass time without your bedroll by going to the radial menu, selecting Campcraft, then selecting the deck of cards. Easy as that!

I believe they do continue to move while time is passing, yet only as fast as they were going in real time. They don't suddenly speed up or anything. So just keep them in your view as they bleed out at hyperspeed!

[WanderingPalm]

8 minutes ago, Stormwolf1O1 said:

Pass time without your bedroll by going to the radial menu, selecting Campcraft, then selecting the deck of cards. Easy as that!

I believe they do continue to move while time is passing, yet only as fast as they were going in real time. They don't suddenly speed up or anything. So just keep them in your view as they bleed out at hyperspeed!

D'oh, I forgot that was on the radial! Ah, I get it now. But wouldn't they get far enough away to change out of "panic and flee" mode to come right back and attack you? Or does the panic when they're bleeding out just last until they die? In which case, would this be safe to do to a bear, I wonder? 'Course, now that I think about it, I've never seen a bear flee... just charge in anger, and stroll away in boredom.

[Stormwolf1O1]

3 minutes ago, WanderingPalm said:

D'oh, I forgot that was on the radial! Ah, I get it now. But wouldn't they get far enough away to change out of "panic and flee" mode to come right back and attack you? Or does the panic when they're bleeding out just last until they die? In which case, would this be safe to do to a bear, I wonder? 'Course, now that I think about it, I've never seen a bear flee... just charge in anger, and stroll away in boredom.

It doesn't take as long as you might think for them to die while using Pass Time. They won't get very far. With wolves I've seen them run right past me while fleeing. Then they eventually slow down to a walk, before falling over dead. No attacking. Bears, however...I'm not so sure. Try it on a fleeing bear after shooting him a couple times, and see what happens.

A bear will usually flee when shot from behind. When you're facing his front or side where he can immediately detect you, he'll most likely charge. So shoot his butt! The bear fleeing sound is quite cute actually. Sounds like "roWArr!??"  or they just make a little scared cub sound.

[Thrasador]

3 hours ago, WanderingPalm said:

Yup, they pop into existence a couple of dots at a time for me, too. It makes tracking incredibly difficult because the dots don't seem to exist at all from a few steps away. They also sometimes just... stop. Even when the creature bleeds out and dies elsewhere. I've also noticed that the blood spots are less red-colored now. They look more like black splats, even when fresh. Anyone else seeing that, too? Oh, and I'm on PS4-- maybe the console versions have a lower draw distance on blood?

I've gone too fast before and had them just stop too....I circled back and walked back and forth over them a few times and spun around until they went again....I think that worked....

But I'll just add it to the list of another semi-annoying change that no one mentioned.....

[kurja]

Found the wolf and my arrow eventually, just on the other side of a hill. Soon died of other wolf-related causes though. 

[Thrasador]

4 hours ago, kurja said:

Found the wolf and my arrow eventually, just on the other side of a hill. Soon died of other wolf-related causes though. 

Rofl....typical....yeah after harvesting fresh meat.....even if you cook it all, it gives off quite a bit of scent. If you harvested the two guts you were probably at 3 scent bars....

You need to book it back to base after you harvest something, and PRAY a pack of wolves don't smell you....

Edited August 28, 2017 by Thrasador

[cannajan]

I really enjoy the new tracking mechanic, even though it can be really hard to follow, sometimes they lead up slopes I cant climb and its harder to pick up a trail further on, its also bad if they cross their own trail. I'm glad they added this

[kurja]

3 hours ago, cannajan said:

I really enjoy the new tracking mechanic, even though it can be really hard to follow, sometimes they lead up slopes I cant climb and its harder to pick up a trail further on, its also bad if they cross their own trail. I'm glad they added this

My experience so far is that a wounded animal will run around in mad circles at warp speed and then disappear when I look away for one second... a trail is kinda useless when it mostly zigzags like crazy over a small area.

[TROY]

The key to finding them is the crows, usually the following day.  They will often run through places you can't follow, and with the blood drops only visible from a couple steps away now, it's maddening. I've found wolves nearly a km from where I fought them. I can't tell you how many times I've found a deer I shot many days later in a place you'd never have thought they'd go, and only by investigating crows.  The pass time trick does work, because the animal only physically moves as far as it would in the seconds of real time, but it bleeds for the hour(s) of game time. I personally feel like that's an exploit, and I don't use it. If I am unable to track it, I search for crows the next day. 

[Mroz4k]

22 hours ago, cannajan said:

I really enjoy the new tracking mechanic, even though it can be really hard to follow, sometimes they lead up slopes I cant climb and its harder to pick up a trail further on, its also bad if they cross their own trail. I'm glad they added this

Its not really new, it has been in a game for quite some time. And also, the idea that they go up slopes you cant climb is wrong - the animals follow the same physics as the player, they will not go up something you cant walk as well. In fact, when tracking leads you to mountains, and you reach the slope where they cant climb anymore, you need to chose in which direction they went. 

It pays to remember that the wounded animals will run around obstacles they come across, so if the wolf came up a slope it cant run up, but hit it from a side, it will continue running forward along the obstacle untill he can cross over it.
If you cant find the carcass and there are no crows present, another thing that can help you find it is mapping. If you map from a high vantage point, chances are the corpse will show up on your map even if you dont notice it with your eyes. 
Crows are useful, but they are only limited to good weather. Rely on them as last resort, because optionally you want to harvest the carcass as soon as possible to get the meat with great condition and the carcass will still be thawed, meaning processing it will take less time.

On 26. 8. 2017 at 1:21 PM, Thrasador said:

For me previously they would all be present immediately....now they are appearing for me gradually as I follow them....

Which way is it happening for you?

There were changes in the settings, especially with Wintermute, which introduced some changes in graphics. So this is in your settings - the blood effects will be rendered in closely, either your machine is not that good or you just have worse graphics level set. My previous laptop was pretty garbage already so I had it turned down almost to the point where I had to stand over it to see the blood.

Edited August 29, 2017 by Mroz4k

[Hackfleisch]

I play on Ultra settings with everything maxed and blood spots also appear before my eyes. It's especially bothersome when an animal suddenly changed direction and I have no idea which way to turn in order to make the spots reappear.

And is it possible for bleeding animals to just survive? Few days ago I shot a deer, tracked it but it ran up a hill that was too steep so I lost it, then a blizzard came in etc. So later I returned, and a deer was grazing in the same place I shot it before (and only one deer hangs around there, the little rabbit patch near Trapper's Cabin). So I was wondering if it maybe just survived and returned (so I could shoot it again).

Edited August 29, 2017 by Hackfleisch

[Thrasador]

2 hours ago, Mroz4k said:

Its not really new, it has been in a game for quite some time. And also, the idea that they go up slopes you cant climb is wrong - the animals follow the same physics as the player, they will not go up something you cant walk as well. In fact, when tracking leads you to mountains, and you reach the slope where they cant climb anymore, you need to chose in which direction they went. 

It pays to remember that the wounded animals will run around obstacles they come across, so if the wolf came up a slope it cant run up, but hit it from a side, it will continue running forward along the obstacle untill he can cross over it.
If you cant find the carcass and there are no crows present, another thing that can help you find it is mapping. If you map from a high vantage point, chances are the corpse will show up on your map even if you dont notice it with your eyes. 
Crows are useful, but they are only limited to good weather. Rely on them as last resort, because optionally you want to harvest the carcass as soon as possible to get the meat with great condition and the carcass will still be thawed, meaning processing it will take less time.

There were changes in the settings, especially with Wintermute, which introduced some changes in graphics. So this is in your settings - the blood effects will be rendered in closely, either your machine is not that good or you just have worse graphics level set. My previous laptop was pretty garbage already so I had it turned down almost to the point where I had to stand over it to see the blood.

The blood drops have been present for a while, the new bit is the reason I started the thread to ask about it....

The new bit being now the blood drops seem to gradually appear as you follow them, whereas previously all the blood drops were present all at once....

The blood drops slowly appearing a few at a time seems to be a change implemented with Wintermute....along with scent bars not remaining visible on the screen, and having to prepare rose hips and mushrooms first before cooking them.

All these changes would have been clear had they released a change log with Wintermute....but they did not. Mel recently added a change log for August 1 in the "Master Change Log" thread under News and Updates, but the changes were listed as: "too many changes to list them all." So it's not a particularly useful change log....

Also, I have an ASUS ROG gaming laptop Intel i7 3.60 ghz(Turbo) 16GB ram and an Nvidia 980M with 4GB of GDDR5 RAM. Specs here for my specific model's barcode model number:

https://www.cnet.com/products/asus-rog-g751jy-vs71-wx-17-3-core-i7-4720hq-16-gb-ram-1-tb-hdd-g751jyvs71wx/specs/

I have all settings and sliders on maximum, but shadows turned off (because I don't care about shadows). I haven't changed my graphics settings, and before Wintermute all the blood drops were present all at once, now after Wintermute they are appearing a few at a time. Pretty sure it was a change....

I started this thread to verify that a change happened....

Edited August 29, 2017 by Thrasador

[Thrasador]

1 hour ago, Hackfleisch said:

I play on Ultra settings with everything maxed and blood spots also appear before my eyes. It's especially bothersome when an animal suddenly changed direction and I have no idea which way to turn in order to make the spots reappear.

And is it possible for bleeding animals to just survive? Few days ago I shot a deer, tracked it but it ran up a hill that was too steep so I lost it, then a blizzard came in etc. So later I returned, and a deer was grazing in the same place I shot it before (and only one deer hangs around there, the little rabbit patch near Trapper's Cabin). So I was wondering if it maybe just survived and returned (so I could shoot it again).

Animals are not supposed to survive if you shoot them with a bullet or arrow and they are bleeding, but there has been a bug where entering a building and/or resting/passing time can reset them somehow. Apparently this bug has been around for quite some time and they haven't patched it.

Apparently the safest way to ensure your "1 shot, 1 kill" is to just follow the animal until it drops, or pass time while outside, or maybe sit in a car and repair your clothes ( I did that with a bear once). It's tedious, but less tedious than wasting all that time anyways and not getting the kill....

Edited August 29, 2017 by Thrasador

[JAFO]

6 hours ago, Hackfleisch said:

And is it possible for bleeding animals to just survive? Few days ago I shot a deer, tracked it but it ran up a hill that was too steep so I lost it, then a blizzard came in etc. So later I returned, and ...

4 hours ago, Thrasador said:

there has been a bug where entering a building and/or resting/passing time can reset them somehow.

 

It's only entering a building that can produce this bug.. just passing time is ok.. in fact, passing time after shooting an animal is a useful technique for getting it to die before it runs off out of sight.

@Hackfleisch, if you do have to enter a building after wounding an animal, don't stay indoors for more than 60 seconds before exiting again. That seems to prevent the bug manifesting. After that, you can go back inside again if you like.

 

Edited August 29, 2017 by JAFO