Need Help With Hunting/Killing Wolves - Voyager

[Winterz]

So I've tried looking around for videos and what not, but they're all really old, from really old versions of the game and I don't want to assume nothing has changed.

So a little bit of TLDR, I finished the episode 2 storyline 4 days ago, and have only just got into survival since then, and while I've made a few mistakes here and there, I don't really have any issues with sustaining food, clothing, water etc on voyager, the only real issues I have are the wildlife.

Issue 1: When getting charged by a wolf, an arrow never puts it down, normally its hurt and the engagement lasts a few seconds and it will run away.  However I just lost my 23 day survival game because despite hitting it with an arrow, and then repeatedly smacking it with my hatchet, the wolf killed me from ~70-80% condition. I've had 9 of these types of encounters now, and I was usually content to just find the wolf's corpse the following day, but this time it straight up killed me and so now I'm getting frustrated.  If the answer is just literally "you're not hitting it in the head" then I'm pretty much set to quit the game, because in the videos I've watched people will repeatedly putt down wolves with a single arrow from 50 yards away...

Issue 2: Repeated charges.  Occasionally after getting mauled by a wolf and or bear, the animal will start backing up and then turn around and charge at me again, in fact a bear did this to me 3 times on my earlier survival run that made it to day 13.

Would really appreciate some constructive help, not just "get better at shooting"
Cheers

[stratvox]

When you've been mauled by a bear and are getting up afterwards, your priority should be to crouch, move away from the bear, bandage yourself, and get the antiseptic/OMB going. In that order.

[peteloud]

Wait until the wolf is about 15 feet away before loosing your arrow.

[ajb1978]

I'm assuming you don't need to know how to avoid wolves, since you specifically asked about killing them.  So I won't go into that.

Some tried and true tactics are to carry a piece of gut or small chunk of meat with you.  Get a wolf's attention, backpedal, and drop the decoy.  Wait until the wolf takes the bait, then take it out.  Another method is to position a deer or rabbit between you and the wolf, then stand up to spook the animal.  It will run away from you, and if it runs into the wolf's detection radius, the wolf will pursue and take it down.  Then just creep up on the wolf and shoot while it's distracted.

As mentioned above, the moment you recover from a bear attack, crouch immediately and bandage that wound.  While you're bleeding, you can attract the attention of nearby wolves, so you need to get that taken care of ASAP.  Then creep away from the area, and once you're a safe distance away, apply antiseptic or OMB.  

Beyond that, it just takes practice to learn where to aim, and how to keep up with the wolf's evasion pattern as it charges you.  The moment you draw back the arrow, the wolf begins charging, but it runs at kind of an angle so you have to lead the target a little bit.  At the last instant maybe 1 second before you enter a struggle, it will be coming directly at you (no longer at an angle) and I find that is the sweet spot to release the arrow.  Most of the time I hit it in the face dead-on, which even at level 1 seems to be an instant kill.

[huntergathers]

Basically if you have a wolfs attention and you aim either a bow or rifle at it, it's going to charge every time. If you fire the rifle early enough, it can get the wolf to turn and run, but not always.

Your best bet is always baiting them first and backpedaling, listening for them to stop growling and start trotting towards the bait, then take your shot before they steal it from you. I carry around a piece of meat that I have eaten down to the smallest possible weight as a decoy by pressing esc while eating to cancel the action and not eat the entire piece until it's quite small to reduce the weight you have to dedicate to a decoy.

If you can spook another animal into their way and shoot while they are eating it, usually you can get a one shot drop on them.

Whats been stated above is the best bet for escaping both the moose and bear. Crouch and bandage, then sneak away to a safe distance and run once you're clear.

Having a hatchet is always your best bet for the chance of a wolf struggle, it has a hard hit and makes them bleed so it is a guaranteed kill and can get them off of you quickly if you are well rested when you get jumped and you don't have to worry about them coming back for a second try at you unless you get to close to them. Generally they just flee until they die after a struggle with the hatchet.

[Ahatch]

Well once you know your way around the maps better you will know the dangerous areas to pass through and perhaps avoid to not have to deal with a charging bear or wolf. Then you can start thinking about turning the tables on them with the use of good terrain and throwing rocks to lure them. If you can find a nice high spot with a good view and your crouching you can avoid being spotted and you can get them into closer range before pulling the trigger. Much easier than having the thing charging at you full tilt. Leaning trees that you can climb up are also good.