Interloper Hunting Tips

[TitanTreks]

Hey everyone, I'm looking for tips on hunting. I've killed some deer in the past on interloper and even a Moose and a few wolves but I'm curious what tips you pros would give to up my game. I'll explain my method that I've used to get myself to this point but I would love to hear any thoughts or critiques. Also I'm assuming you want to hunt bear in the same way as I hunted my first Moose but maybe not?

1. Deer: I crouch walk about 10-15 yards from my target deer and stay behind them. When I feel I'm in good position and my target is standing still I rise up take aim and try to land my shot right in the butt of my target deer. It never just falls over for me so I have to track it and typically take a little condition damage trying to get to it for a second shot with the same method. (I'm still not the best shot with a bow)

2. Wolves: If I have a problem wolf near my camp or just want a wolf coat I always allow the wolf to see me and charge me then take my shot just before it pounces on me. If I land my shot the wolf takes off and eventually bleeds to death, If I miss I stab it to death with my knife.

3. Moose: I've only taken down a single Moose in interloper out of sheer necessity to eat. I would take my shot from about 20 yards away and jump in a car or building. I did this three times before the Moose finally succumbed to the multiple wounds it had sustained. 

4. Bears: I've only ever killed a bear with a rifle in my one stalker play through that was a little bit too easy for my taste. I notice them rare up on their hind legs before taking a charge at me. Perhaps thats the window I should take to fire my shot? Would a direct shot to the heart drop him? Or should I stick with the same approach I used to drop my first Moose?

Thanks for any advice or critiques of my methods. Just trying to improve so I can survive for more than just 100 days on interloper!

[dmbjt]

Head shots and chest shots are what you should be going for. Creep up to deer/moose from the front. Aim with your bow first and when deer drops head to eat stand and fire. You will be aiming at their upper chest while crouched and aiming just above their head when standing, youll be about 50 feet away. Deer won't notice you creeping until you get really close. Same goes for the moose, and when the moose notices you it drops its head and starts grunting for a good 2-3 seconds, at that time stand and fire just above its shoulders. Head shots are generally instakill at level 3 bow. Wolves just wait until the run at you and draw bow when they are 15 feet away and aim straight for their head. It takes awhile to get use to their running pattern

I just started playing again and am on day 50. 

Edited October 15, 2020 by dmbjt
Adding more info

[manolitode]

I think you already figured out the essentials, I'd only like to add a few things. As your bow skill increases you'll notice how much easier it gets when you can oneshot a wolf or deer. From my experience, the deer in particular seem to have a weak point in its ass. So you should experience more oneshot kills if you continue your current strategy. As for moose, you want to be able to kill it when there are no cars or buildings nearby. A good start is to find a vantage point. Stay stealthed, meaning shoot one arrow, then back off a bit, repeat. Choose a ledge beforehand, to which you can escape should the moose charge up the hill. It can take a while so it's nice to keep a fire going for your condition. Keep the flare gun ready if the moose charges you and you can't afford a broken rib. Which you can't if you want to carry a lot of moose steak. 

Edited October 15, 2020 by manolitode

[TitanTreks]

What about hunting with a snow shelter? Is that a commonly used tool? I used to love snow shelters but was actually attacked by a wolf in a snow shelter once and sort of gave up on them. Maybe it was a glitch? I'd seen them disengage many times before when I ran into my snow shelter.

[Serenity]

Fallen trees are your friend. In many locations there are trees you can walk where animals can't reach you

It's cheap, but works extremely well. In real life bears are actually very good climbers

Edited October 15, 2020 by Serenity

[TitanTreks]

Yeah but I mean in real life black bears aren't very big and run at the site of humans. They should have made the bears Grizzlies for slightly superior immersion but even Grizzlies are skiddish if there isn't a food source or cub involved to fight over. Black bears are just over grown racoons. The tree technique seems like a good trick for sure, I've seen it done in someones stream but I tried it and got jumped. Guess its important to get as high as possible.

Edited October 15, 2020 by TitanTreks

[DrZ]

I certainly agree that you got the important things figured out. Some things come down to taste and playstyle. So I would add the following:

1. Deer: I approach them from a right angle crouched. Wait for a pause and take aim undrawn (so you have the dot) below the neck (horizontally) and between the hoof (if this is the right word) and the "knee" or "elbow" (since it is the front leg) (vertically). Stand up and draw simultaneously and just release. This gives me a hit chance of ~95% and ~30% insta-kill. Which is pretty nice. With lvl 3 to 4 I even go more for the head. With level 1 more for the shoulder as it is big and hard to miss.

2. Wolf: Depending on the situation I apply another technique if I am below level 5: Attract the wolf to you with stinky meat. Drop and distance yourself from the bait and the wolf should now focus on the bait. If you crouch now the wolf loses interest and turns around back to his patrol. Stand up and arrow in the a**. Rarely a kill so you have to track the wolf for your arrow (which I usually do the next sunny day by looking for crows.) But almost zero chance of a fight.

Also herding a rabbit towards the wolf works really well. Deer not so much as it seems they avoid fleeing towards wolfs.

With lvl 5 you only need a few stones and any (non-Timber) wolf is managable.

3. Moose: I am not an expert but I apply the same approach as you. You need to hit it 4 times max. So find a safe spot nearby and run there after each arrow. Sooner or later you get the kill.

4. Bear: Yes, like with the moose you need a safe spot (or a fire). I also noticed that all bears go down after 4 hits. Shot at the heart never worked for me. Neck seems to be the weak spot for the insta-kill. But contrary to a moose a bear can bleed out. One hit is enough if you are patient. Just wait until it drops. But it can survive and run around a long time. So usually I use a fire. Attract the bear, get behind the fire and shoot as often as possible. Some trees don't work anymore as safe spot. So I avoid that with bears and only do it with mooses.

If you want to see a pro do it watch "Even Dark" on youtube. He drops bears and mooses like flies.

[Dr. S.]

1. For deer, I used to do the crouch-stand-aim thing, but I found it better to just learn to judge the distance at which they spook, and shoot from just beyond that range. I never shoot from behind, only from the side or front, and aim for head or neck shots. 

edit: oh, and when in doubt, aim high. An arrow at a deer’s feet will spook it, but a high miss will give you a second shot.

2. For wolves, before archery 5 I only hunt them by luring them to prey (or vice versa) and then shooting them while they feed. After archery 5, you can do whatever you want of course. 
 

3. For bears/moose, I scout in advance for fallen trees or buildings to climb in areas where they spawn. There are safe perches at trapper’s, the unnamed pond, and the little cabin in ML, just to name a few. 

Edited October 17, 2020 by Dr. S.

[OdaSamurai]

Why does everyone stand-up before firing?

Isn't it more effective to shoot crouched?

The question is valid for both bow (requires lvl5, I know) and rifle

[ajb1978]

For a bear, if you're forced to engage one out in the open, you will want to be mobile.  If you turn and run perpendicular to the charge at the right time, the bear will miss you and overshoot.  And that thing turns like a Mack truck so you can circle-strafe it, taking potshots until it drops.  It's easier to set that whole thing up if you're already standing.

[Mroz4k]

Not a good interloper player, but the essentials are pretty much the same regardless of difficulty. You should always try to down your prey with one shot if possible, and when hunting big game, you wanna do it in an area that is beneficial to you - for example near a tree that you can climb high enough not to be reached.

(I havent played the game in a while, but does moose still run away even if it charges and get close to a campfire? If so, you can use that to your advantage instead of a car - just shoot it, and turn to run to a campfire you created not far away to scare it away. Works with wolves and timberwolves too, and I know this as I recently used this a lot during my play of Episode 3. Wont work on Aurora wolves tho)

For deer hunting: I prefer to hunt deer head-on. Either by sneaking a bit closer to try and shoot their head of heart (both have decent chance if you approach it head on) or I hunt them similarly like you do with wolves. In some areas (Ravine - the forest on the Mystery lake side) for example, have deer in a somewhat dense forest. If you scare them, they quite often bounce back and start running straight at you, or slightly to a side from you. At that point, its a matter of drawing your bow and shoot a bit ahead to hit them as they pass you by closely. Almost always an instant kill). 

Lately I have been developing this method further - it is a bit more difficult to do, but I found out with a proper use of stones, you can do this everywhere, even in plains. I use the radial menu to select a stone, and position myself quite far from the deer. I throw the stone in an arc so that it drops behind the animal. This in 60% of the times scares them towards me. As soon as the stone is thrown, I use radial to select a bow and almost instantly draw it and shoot as the deer comes close. This method is pretty elaborate and takes some training to do.

Predator hunting: You can also use stones or make the predators spot you and lure them into an area with a good terrain, like the downed tree.