Hunting and wildlife

Animals

Every wild and feral animal you can hunt, heaviest first. Sight is how far it picks out a moving person in daylight; smell is how far downwind your scent carries to it. Clean-kill energy is what a vital hit must deliver.

Animal	Behavior	Group size	Male weight	Female weight	Sees you at	Smells you at	Goes on alert at	Runs	Clean-kill energy	Meat of live weight	Meat	Hide
Feral Cattle	Flees	2 to 7	550 to 800 kg	400 to 600 kg	60 m	120 m	35 m	70 m	2,400 J	40%	Raw Beef	Cowhide
Feral Hog	Charges when cornered	2 to 8	55 to 150 kg	35 to 100 kg	40 m	190 m	55 m	120 m	1,600 J	42%	Wild Pork	Hog Hide
Feral Pig	Flees	2 to 6	80 to 160 kg	60 to 130 kg	35 m	160 m	30 m	60 m	1,600 J	45%	Wild Pork	Raw Hide
Mountain Lion	Stalks, then attacks	1	53 to 72 kg	34 to 48 kg	130 m	120 m	60 m	120 m	1,350 J	40%	Raw Meat	Mountain Lion Pelt
Mule Deer	Flees	1 to 6	55 to 100 kg	40 to 70 kg	95 m	170 m	85 m	160 m	1,350 J	38%	Raw Venison	Deer Hide
Feral Sheep	Flees	4 to 14	70 to 110 kg	50 to 80 kg	60 m	100 m	30 m	60 m	900 J	40%	Raw Mutton	Sheepskin
Feral Dog	Territorial	2 to 5	28 to 48 kg	22 to 38 kg	70 m	180 m	45 m	60 m	450 J	35%	Raw Meat	Raw Hide
Coyote	Predator: may attack	1 to 4	11 to 20 kg	9 to 16 kg	110 m	200 m	70 m	140 m	400 J	35%	Raw Meat	Coyote Pelt
Feral Cat	Flees	1 to 2	3.5 to 6 kg	2.8 to 4.5 kg	50 m	40 m	20 m	40 m	60 J	35%	Raw Meat	Rabbit Pelt
Desert Cottontail	Flees	1 to 3	0.8 to 1.6 kg	0.8 to 1.7 kg	45 m	40 m	18 m	45 m	40 J	50%	Raw Rabbit	Rabbit Pelt
Double-crested Cormorant	Flock	1 to 5	1.5 to 2.5 kg	1.2 to 2.2 kg	70 m	0 m	25 m	120 m	20 J	30%	Raw Fowl
Red-tailed Hawk	Flock	1	0.7 to 1.2 kg	0.9 to 1.5 kg	160 m	0 m	45 m	200 m	20 J	35%	Raw Fowl
American Crow	Flock	3 to 10	0.35 to 0.6 kg	0.3 to 0.55 kg	70 m	0 m	25 m	120 m	15 J	35%	Raw Fowl
Feral Chicken	Flock	3 to 8	2 to 3.2 kg	1.5 to 2.6 kg	25 m	0 m	10 m	35 m	15 J	55%	Raw Fowl
Western Gull	Flock	3 to 9	0.9 to 1.4 kg	0.8 to 1.2 kg	60 m	0 m	18 m	100 m	15 J	30%	Raw Fowl
Norway Rat	Scavenger	2 to 7	0.25 to 0.5 kg	0.2 to 0.4 kg	12 m	60 m	8 m	30 m	10 J	30%	Raw Meat
Rock Pigeon	Flock	5 to 14	0.28 to 0.38 kg	0.26 to 0.36 kg	35 m	0 m	12 m	80 m	10 J	40%	Raw Fowl

A person standing still or moving slowly is only picked out at 30% of the sight distance, crouching cuts it to 60%, and at night animals see 45% as far unless you carry a light.

A gunshot panics wildlife out to 2.2 times the distance the shot is heard.

When animals are about

How likely a group is to be up and moving in each part of the day. At 0% the animal is holed up and you will not find it.

Shot placement

What a hit does, by where it lands, for a standard round. Energy needed is the share of the animal's clean-kill energy the round must still carry when it arrives. Meat kept and hide damage are per hole.

A heart or lung hit carrying at least 2 times the energy the animal needs has a 25% chance to drop it on the spot, rising to 60% for heavier rounds.

A round carrying less than 60% of the clean-kill energy only wounds on a vital hit. More than 12 times a small animal's clean-kill energy shoots the meat to pieces.

A crossbow bolt kills by bleeding, so vital hits take 1.6 times as long, and a bolt barely marks the hide.

Walking within 35 m of a wounded animal that has bedded down makes it get up and run again. Give it time.

Calibers on game

The energy each caliber's standard round carries at the muzzle and what is left of it down range. Compare it with an animal's clean-kill energy and the share a hit needs (the tables above). For buckshot the energy is the whole shell: each pellet carries its share.

Caliber	At the muzzle	Pellets	At 50 m	At 100 m	At 300 m
.338 Lapua Magnum	6,560 J		6,380 J	6,205 J	5,553 J
7.62x54mmR	3,450 J		3,329 J	3,212 J	2,785 J
7.62x51mm NATO / .308	3,350 J		3,232 J	3,119 J	2,704 J
12 gauge 00 buckshot	2,475 J	9	1,076 J	467 J	17 J
7.62x39mm	2,030 J		1,907 J	1,791 J	1,395 J
.50 Action Express	1,950 J		1,721 J	1,519 J	921 J
5.56x45mm NATO	1,700 J		1,608 J	1,521 J	1,218 J
.44 Magnum	1,375 J		1,205 J	1,057 J	624 J
.357 Magnum	750 J		650 J	564 J	318 J
9x39mm subsonic	690 J		617 J	553 J	354 J
9x19mm Parabellum	520 J		440 J	373 J	191 J
.45 ACP	490 J		410 J	343 J	168 J
Broadhead crossbow bolt	130 J		115 J	101 J	61 J
.25 big-bore air slug	80 J		57 J	41 J	11 J
Collated framing nail	60 J		26 J	11 J	0 J

Loads on game

How the kind of bullet changes a hit, against a standard round. Expanding rounds dump their energy in the animal; armor-piercing rounds pass straight through.

A subsonic round carries 60% of the standard round's energy.

A 12 gauge slug is one projectile carrying 3300 J. It kills in 70% of the time and drops game on the spot 1.4 times as often.

Birdshot is 30 small pellets that lose their energy within a few dozen meters. It is made for birds and small game and never ruins their meat by overkill.

Dressing the carcass

How long each step takes with a knife in your hands, and how fast a carcass spoils if you leave it.

Hide grades: Pristine from 80%, Good from 50%, Poor from 0%.

Meat quality: Prime from 90%, Good from 70%, Fair from 45%, Poor from 0%.

Calls and scent

Tools that bring animals to you or hide you from their noses.

Item	What it does	Heard within	Wait between calls
Grunt Call	Sounds like a grunt and bleat. Draws mule deer.	260 m	25 s
Predator Call	Sounds like a rabbit in distress. Draws coyotes, feral dogs, mountain lions.	320 m	25 s
Cover Scent	Cuts how far your scent carries to 45% for 20 minutes.
Doe Urine	Cuts how far your scent carries to 60% for 15 minutes. It also draws mule deer.
Scent Eliminator	Cuts how far your scent carries to 30% for 25 minutes.