Wolf ignoring bait: Intestinal Parasites?

[Klobberthon]

I've been playing a Stalker game for 60 days or so.  I've recently been in the 'boom' stage where you kill everything you see with a bow and arrow 

Weeeelll I got intestinal parasites (from 4% chance) while fishing in Pleasant Valley.  Ok no big deal.  I have plenty of antibiotics and reshi tea.

On my way to the homestead, I encountered a wolf.  I thought "oh fine, my bow is broken but I have my rifle too so lets do this".  I dropped bait... still he is growling.  "That's unusual... they normally go silent.  I better keep backing up and see if he goes for it".

He didn't.  "Ok... I'll drop another bait. Maybe there's a small chance they don't go for your bait or something".  He still didn't want it.

I decided "Fine. I'll just take the shot as you charge then"  I'm out of practice doing that with a gun so I didn't pull the trigger in time and had to endure a struggle. 

 

I didn't die and I'll be fine (Stalker is easy).  But the encounter didn't go AT ALL like how I had become accustomed to expect.  I enjoyed this because it broke the monotony and genuinely surprised me.  Experiences like this are part of why I love this game.

My question is: Was it the intestinal parasites I contracted that caused this behavior?  Or was it the fact I had level 3 smell?  (level 2 after I dropped first bait).  Or something else? Random chance?

Thanks for any input or shared experiences

[MarrowStone]

did you test aim your rifle before or after it started to ignore the bait and growl? They seem more aggressive once you zoom down the sights.

[RAIN]

What meat you were using as bait? Wolves seem to ignore wolf meat in most cases. And strong smell of you also may be the cause.

[Ruruwawa]

4 hours ago, RAIN said:

What meat you were using as bait? Wolves seem to ignore wolf meat in most cases. And strong smell of you also may be the cause.

So weird.  I always use wolf meat for bait, and it seems to work fine.

[RAIN]

 

Recently I was carrying 5 chunks of raw wolf meat, encountered 2 wolves. 1 stood growling, another was closing in. I threw all the chunks one after another and no reaction at all. He just ignored them. Thrown the last venison cooked chunk did worked.

[MrWolf]

7 hours ago, Klobberthon said:

My question is: Was it the intestinal parasites I contracted that caused this behavior?  Or was it the fact I had level 3 smell?  (level 2 after I dropped first bait).  Or something else? Random chance?

I think it's random.  I had the same thing recently, in good health and high condition, in Interloper.  A wolf was approaching and I was carrying some fresh guts and cooked meat.  I dropped one gut as I backed away.  Usually the wolf stops growling at that point, but this one acted like the decoy wasn't there.  I dropped another, it was ignored, and the wolf attacked.  I've seen a wolf completely ignore the decoys a few times - rarely, luckily.

[Ruruwawa]

46 minutes ago, RAIN said:

Recently I was carrying 5 chunks of raw wolf meat, encountered 2 wolves. 1 stood growling, another was closing in. I threw all the chunks one after another and no reaction at all. He just ignored them. Thrown the last venison cooked chunk did worked.

Interesting.  I wonder if there's a different factor at work here, like raw vs cooked.  Just checked my current sandbox, I've killed 31 wolves so far.  I wrestled a couple but since it's Interloper I try to avoid that.  The rest have been bow shots using a cooked wolf bait.  Including a few wolves killed while carrying a 15kg+ load of bear or moose meat back to base.

The reason I always use cooked wolf baits is pretty simple: they are a byproduct of leveling up my cooking skill.  I have dozens of tiny pieces of cooked wolf laying around. 

[Ruruwawa]

55 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

I think it's random.  I had the same thing recently, in good health and high condition, in Interloper.  A wolf was approaching and I was carrying some fresh guts and cooked meat.  I dropped one gut as I backed away.  Usually the wolf stops growling at that point, but this one acted like the decoy wasn't there.  I dropped another, it was ignored, and the wolf attacked.  I've seen a wolf completely ignore the decoys a few times - rarely, luckily.

Interesting about the growling thing.  I wait for the wolf to bark before I drop the bait.  I also step back a few paces from the bait, even with the wolf homing on the decoy, the "weapon aiming" agro seems to still be possible if you are standing too close to it.

[RAIN]

12 minutes ago, Ruruwawa said:

Interesting about the growling thing.  I wait for the wolf to bark before I drop the bait.  I also step back a few paces from the bait, even with the wolf homing on the decoy, the "weapon aiming" agro seems to still be possible if you are standing too close to it.

It's not "weapon aiming aggro", b/c he will charge if you stand close to bait not even aiming.

[MrWolf]

29 minutes ago, Ruruwawa said:

Interesting about the growling thing.  I wait for the wolf to bark before I drop the bait.  I also step back a few paces from the bait, even with the wolf homing on the decoy, the "weapon aiming" agro seems to still be possible if you are standing too close to it.

You're right - I meant barking, not growling.  I need more coffee.

[Ruruwawa]

1 hour ago, RAIN said:

It's not "weapon aiming aggro", b/c he will charge if you stand close to bait not even aiming.

That's fair.  But I wonder if weapon aiming increases the "time to forget the bait" range.  I'll test it both ways.

[Klobberthon]

In my situation I had not looked down the gun sights.  Both bait I dropped were rabbit carcasses.  I usually drop bait once the wolf has locked on (growling) and walked fairly close to me without reaching charge distance.  I use the same distance every time and have never had issues before.

6 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I think it's random.  I had the same thing recently, in good health and high condition, in Interloper.  A wolf was approaching and I was carrying some fresh guts and cooked meat.  I dropped one gut as I backed away.  Usually the wolf stops growling at that point, but this one acted like the decoy wasn't there.  I dropped another, it was ignored, and the wolf attacked.  I've seen a wolf completely ignore the decoys a few times - rarely, luckily.

I think this makes sense.  Some wolves might have a small chance to ignore all bait.  If this is the case I'm fine with it.  Wildlife should be a bit unpredictable.

[TerribleSurvivor]

Guts usually work like a charm against wolves. In terms of meat, i never noticed a wolf ignoring it because of its type (venison, wolf, bear, etc.). What i do know however is that wolves cannot be decoyed infinitly. If you decoy them once and they start stalking you again, a second decoy will not work for a certain amount of time (a few hours at least). Maybe the wolves ignoring your baits were decoyed already before not long ago.

[MrWolf]

4 hours ago, TerribleSurvivor said:

Guts usually work like a charm against wolves. In terms of meat, i never noticed a wolf ignoring it because of its type (venison, wolf, bear, etc.). What i do know however is that wolves cannot be decoyed infinitly. If you decoy them once and they start stalking you again, a second decoy will not work for a certain amount of time (a few hours at least). Maybe the wolves ignoring your baits were decoyed already before not long ago.

I haven't noticed that.  Maybe it's new?  I've seen that different kind/size of decoys distract a wolf for different amounts of time, but on a number of occasions I've dropped a decoy for a wolf, it wandered off for a short time, then came back, and took another decoy.  I'll test that the next time I have decoys and a curious wolf.

[Bladebss]

I have had them ignore fire aswell. I have had wolves just stand there just out of range of the fire where they would squeels and run and just circle untill the fire went out. These wolves also are the ones that ignore bait when ever i have been able to test. And a torch is just a candle lit dinner for them. 

On the topic of wolf behaviour they also dont seem to run far enough from a fire any more so they just keep coming back over and over. Its been a wolf masacre lately as i have no choice but to put them down as they seem fearless.