Hunting

Hope County contains a variety of critters for the aspiring hunter to bag. Hunting allows you to complete certain challenges that earn you Perk Points with which to improve your character. You also loot skins and meat. Animal skins are very valuable and a quick way to increase your cash. Selling skins is a great way to purchase equipment and vehicles, vastly improving your odds of survival. Meat can be used for bait to lure predators to attack your enemies.

The only thing you need to start hunting is a weapon, which you have at the beginning of your journey. Moving through hunting grounds reveals what types of animals can be found in that location. You can also discover specific hunting grounds by finding hunting magazines throughout the world, which reveals the locations on your map. This is important for quickly completing challenges or missions requiring you to kill or skin a certain number of a particular animal.

Although you can hunt with any weapon, some weapons are vastly superior to others when hunting large game, such as sniper rifles, composite bows, and LMGs. Other weapons, such as those with an explosive or incendiary component, shouldn’t be used for hunting, as it damages the skins and ruins the meat.

Hunting can be far more dangerous than fishing, as unlike fish, some animals have the means to fight back. Animals are divided into predator, defensive, and prey. Prey animals, which flee as soon as you attack them, are best taken down in one shot with a high-powered rifle before they can run away, to avoid a long chase.

Predator and defensive animals attack when fired upon or when you get too close to them. These animals are quite powerful and can quickly take down the most seasoned hunter if you’re taken off guard.

Most large predators, such as bears, will not be taken down in one shot. Whenever possible, take your first shot from a distance so that you have ample time to follow up with more damage before they can reach you, knock you down, and wreak their revenge. If your target is too nearby for this tactic, switch to a high-powered, fully automatic weapon to quickly dispatch them before they can tear you apart.

Once you take an animal down, you can collect any meat and skin it, as long as you didn’t ruin it with incendiary or explosive ammo or weapons.