Red Dead Redemption 2 How to Hunt and Track Animals

Hunting in Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the ways that you can get animal pelts and remains that will allow you to craft things like food, tonics, ammunition and more.  Hunting is rather complicated in the game and requires that you pay attention to your environment by scouting for animal tracks and remains.  At the same time you’re going to want to make sure that you don’t scare the animals or let them smell you.

There is wildlife everywhere in the game.  Each region has its own distinct animals that you can hunt and even hunt legendary versions of them.  Let’s start with the basics though.  The first thing that you’re going to want to do when hunting is to activate the Eagle Eye vision mode that allows you to see the trails of nearby animals which will be different colors.  You can do this by pressing in the Left and Right thumbsticks at the same time.

Blue will be for healthy animals, while red will be for animals that you have wounded.  Once you’ve found a track or trail in Eagle Eye you can then focus on that track by pressing the RB button to make following a little easier.  You’ll also be able to see any vegetation in the area that can be harvested.  Another thing to be mindful of when hunting in Red Dead Redemption 2 is that the animals can smell you.  If you don’t use Cover Scent, you may be spooking the nearby animals you are trying to hunt.  Cover Scent can be purchased at places like the general store, or you can craft cover scent for yourself.

If you are looking for a specific animal but can’t seem to find them, you might need to use bait.  You can use predator and herbivore bait to attract different types of animals to hunt.  You can craft this bait at the campsite or you can purchase it from different vendors.  Once the animal has taken the bait it’s time to talk weapon selection.

Sure, it’s pretty easy to take down a wolf or cougar with a shotgun, but you’re going to ruin the pelt of the animal in the process.  Using a weapon that can kill with one clean shot will allow you to not only harvest the remains of the animal for crafting but the pelt as well.  Arrows work well for a one hit kill and it will allow you to silently stalk your prey.

Once you’ve made the kill it’s time to decide what to do with it.  You can actually use the animal carcasses that you kill as bait to attract more, potentially bigger animals with more resources.  You can also skin the animal and take the pelt and remains.  Or you can put the whole animal carcass on your horse and take it with you.