Moose: where does he go?

[NardoLoopa]

When I first started this run (Voyager), I was in pretty bad shape for clothes.  Weather was pretty harsh, so clothing took priority over the moose that I spotted around Unnamed Pond.  However, by the time I got the equipment, weather and guts he's become shy.

Does the moose just disappear when you wait too long?  Or does he migrate on the same map?

[ajb1978]

He migrates from map to map.  He might show up, stick around a location for a few days, then mosey on.  You'll have to hit the road and check moose hotspots in other regions to find him.

[NardoLoopa]

Thanks.  That's pretty helpful.  Guess, I'll stop checking in on that stop once a day, then.  About time I moved on, anyway.

[Spakerman]

2 minutes ago, NardoLoopa said:

Thanks.  That's pretty helpful.  Guess, I'll stop checking in on that stop once a day, then.  About time I moved on, anyway.

eventually he'll come back to that spot... just a matter of time.

[Vince 49]

In a recent playthrough (Stalker), I discovered a moose on the river just below the hydro dam in ML.  I was able to kill it to make a satchel.  It (or another one) appeared about every 35 to 40 days, so I was able to kill it (them) three more times.   In another playthrough, I saw a moose in the same place and prepared to come back and see if I could kill it.  However, like your experience, when I came back a couple of days later ready to shoot, it was gone.  I have no idea where it went, or if it simply vanished.

[Celeblith]

Is there only one moose in the game at a time? 

[Drifter Man]

12 hours ago, Celeblith said:

Is there only one moose in the game at a time? 

Definitely not - I've seen two in one day. Killed one, the other remained. So it wasn't one moose following me around

[L²]

The cyclic nature of the moose reminds me of that of the bear, but on a longer cycle...much longer.

[Celeblith]

4 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Definitely not - I've seen two in one day. Killed one, the other remained. So it wasn't one moose following me around

I had a dream I saw two moose last night. They were both dead and neither had any meat on em. It was bizarre. 

[NardoLoopa]

Met up with Bullwinkle in the same spot.  Took him out in the dark.  Blizzard kicked up while I was butchering . . . almost died to hypothermia.   Now I gotta lug all these bags back to base.

[NardoLoopa]

ProTip: The bags of meat from quartering are almost double the weight of the actual meat itself (~9kg vs ~4.8kg).  So, if you have a long-haul, like I did, it might be best to harvest at a way-point (in my case the Hunter's Cabin near Unnamed Pond) before bringing the meat back to base (Trapper's Cabin).

Be careful: stinky!

Question: My meat-bags were 75% condition when I finally retrieved them after the blizzard.  Is this normal?  Or did they just take a beating in the blizzard?

[Luciën]

I think it is just because moose meat and bear lumps decay incredibly fast. Cook it up and it'll be fine...

[dead frozen dude]

I once had another weird thing with blizzards and moose. I met my first moose at the Pensive Pond, managed to put an arrow at medium range while he was standing angrily huffing and puffing... ran away from the charge and hid inside the fishing hut, and with my next shot the big guy dropped dead at the hut's doorstep... convenient it was.

I stoked up the stove and initated my autopsy. At the time, the weather seemed like there was a blizzard in the making, and indeed soon it was blowing all-white... Just reaching out from the warm and cozy fishing hut, I was fetching my meat slab of after slab, when suddenly I got "carcass condition too low to harvest" message... snowstorm had stripped it to the bone faster than me... I mean, it was only, maybe, a couple of hours! And I used to feed off of days-old wolf carcassess, ravaged by two consecutive blizzards... and still being able to get decent meat.

It happened pretty soon after the Rugged Sentinel update, so it could have been a bug then... Figures.

[Doc Feral]

9 hours ago, NardoLoopa said:

ProTip: The bags of meat from quartering are almost double the weight of the actual meat itself (~9kg vs ~4.8kg).  So, if you have a long-haul, like I did, it might be best to harvest at a way-point (in my case the Hunter's Cabin near Unnamed Pond) before bringing the meat back to base (Trapper's Cabin).

Be careful: stinky!

Question: My meat-bags were 75% condition when I finally retrieved them after the blizzard.  Is this normal?  Or did they just take a beating in the blizzard?

Quartered meat decays faster. So does a carcass, I sometimes noticed. Maybe it represents the larger mass of flesh keeping warm for a long time in the inner part, and allowing decomposition to go on. Whatever the reason, quartering lowers the condition of meat but has the speed advantage.