Far Cry 5 – Hunting Guide

by Falagar / Articles, Far Cry Guides / 13 Apr 2018

Getting Started: Gearing Up, Tearing Down

Upon entering the open world of Far Cry 5 one will always be in need of money. The shop offers the player a vast variety of weapons with very unforgiving price tags, so one must resort to hunting in an order to gain an edge against the ominous cult. Wasting money on foul attachments and on missed bullets is one of the worst things a hunter can do in Far Cry 5 since the said attachments can have a toll on the action of the weapon of choice. Stray bullets do not only backfire you in the way of money but they may also alert the targeted prey, either provoking it to attack if it is a beast or choosing flight over fight if it is a docile herbivore. Some weapons are not fit for hunting at all either for their action, the cost of their maintaining or their impact on the targeted prey.

Far Cry 5 has fifteen animal types (types not disclosing the animal families, such as many animals hailing from the cervine group), most with alpha or leader variants that change their color schemes and increased damage output and damage health pool. In an order to take average animals down or even the alpha ones, a hunter must have the right tools to take them down. The weapons to avoid when gearing up to hunt are any weapons that can damage the loot of the prey, namely flamethrowers and rocket launchers that will singe and harm the animal’s hide. Fishing with dynamite is also a bad choice since one can only get fish by a pole. Any explosive throwable is also a bad choice against animals and you’re better off resorting to ballistic weapons such as marksman rifles and handguns.

The first weapon to be featured in the sniper rifle section is the AR-CL, a stronger version of the average AR-C with one added hit point (AR-C does 4 points in damage, AR-CL does 5) and a fixed scope. Not only is this weapon one of the best ones to be used on animals it is also completely free of charge taken that you can unlock it by looting a cultist sniper. Fitting this weapon with a suppressor is a ticket to happy hunting. The compound/recurve bow is also a good choice if you are low on money, but once you begin to gain money from your loot you should stick to weapons with ammo that cannot be collected from the prey since the bows of Far Cry 5 may backfire – although all weapons have a projectile drop in the game, the bow comes second only to the slingshots when it comes to projectile drop. One can’t get the sought-after headshots on wild animals, instead, you might lose your arrow completely if you stick one to a deer’s side and it runs away with it.

A good sidearm is your friend. It doesn’t matter what you choose to tote in your pistol holster so long as it has more than six bullets in it. Revolvers are good for new hunters but one will learn to value the suppressed nature of the pistols and small SMGs when progressing through the food chain.

Perk Points: Waste Not, Want Not

When you have your primary weapon of choice alongside your trusty sidearm and a potential backup weapon if you have spent the perk points on an extra weapon holster, it’s time to look at what you need to become a good hunter. You are going to need the following perks in an order of your own choice to have an extra edge against the wildlife of Hope County.

HARVEST MASTER: Double your loot reward from plants and animals. COST: 8 PP

Basically doubles the money you get from hunted animals.

SNEAKY SPRINT: Move much faster while staying crouched. COST: 4 PP

You will be able to stalk your prey much faster and conveniently. Nothing scares a timid deer better than loud footsteps.

JOURNEY PACK: Carry more items in your inventory, including up to 5 medkits. COST: 7 PP

You will be able to carry ten animal hides instead of five with this perk. This also applies to feathers, increasing the carry capacity to fifteen.

KING OF THE JUNGLE: Reduced animal attack damage. Predators (except Judges) prioritize other enemies over you. Prey animals flee less from you. COST: 6PP

This will allow you to withstand the maiming of a bear should you not kill it fast enough. Timid animals will also flee from a much shorter distance.

RIFLE AMMO BAG: Carry more rifle and .50cal ammo. COST: 9PP

One of the most reliable weapons you use to hunt are rifles. Choosing this perk will increase the amount of bullets you can have with the deer’s name on them.

It is also important to complete weapon challenges to earn more perk points. Prepper stashes also help out a lot.

Shaky Shrubs: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

For scoped rifles with the hit point higher than 5 should one always aim for headshots when hunting any kind of beast? The caribou, deer, turkeys, carrion birds, grouse, ducks and eagles die from the first shot to the head, but having the first shot on the head with beasts with bigger health pools will allow you to sink less bullets into the given animal in the long run. This also applies for bows, although bows do more damage to the head than most rifles, they are much harder to aim even with the improved optics.

For shotguns, SMGs and LMGs should one try to aim for the torso when taking down animals. Shotgun headshots will kill bears, bulls, cows and moose on the first shell but these animals are very likely to lash out at you once you get to the position to land a clean shot on their head. If you carry body armour while hunting, which you usually should, spending two shotgun shells on a dangerous enemy is a much better economical choice instead of allowing the bear to even have a chance to destroy your armour.

For sidearms one should get the D2 shotgun as soon as possible, either the stock or the Faith Seed version for the fact that its usefulness could befit a non-sidearm weapon. Pistol ammunition isn’t all that great when it comes down to taking down animals, so if you have a chance to have a shotgun as your sidearm, you will prosper since this way you can add one extra weapon type to replace the previous slot reserved for a primary shotgun. The tactical ammunition bag and the sidearm ammunition bag both are great when it comes to expanding the longevity of your life should your primary weapon, be it a scoped rifle, an SMG or a shotgun fail.

The best companions for hunting are the dog Boomer and the archer Jess Black. You can unlock Boomer upon completing the quest MAN’S BEST FRIEND which requires you to free Boomer from his imprisonment in a ranch near Rae-Rae. Jess Black will be unlocked after you accompany her on the mission DISH BEST SERVED COLD which requires you to follow Jess through harsh terrain, liberate captive resistance members/civilians from cultists, and ultimately slay an elite cultist flamer. The last step is made easy due to the fact you will confront him from a high vantage point. Boomer will always tag nearby enemies, be it cultists or animals, while his biggest drawback is his useless nature in pursuing prey since he isn’t very stealthy. What Jess Black lacks in helping you tag enemies she will make up in her feral affinity, allowing beasts to walk by her without being alerted by her like Boomer would. The previously mentioned SNEAKY SPRINT perk is crucial to stealthy hunting. You need to crouch-walk around the woods in an order not to scare timid animals. The usage of the RIFLE AMMO BAG is not enforced if you can kill most animals with the first shot, in which case you need to have a scoped rifle to increase the magnitude of your weapon and to give it the accuracy it needs to land a shot to the animal’s brain.

All of the animals in Far Cry 5 act differently. Most of all wolverines are the hardest beasts to defeat as they are small in size but hit like a truck and have a grand health pool. Most every timid animals act the same, all deer and caribou will run away if they see you. Moose will try to run away if they see you, but unlike deer moose will retaliate if you try to harm them. Bears don’t really want to get into conflicts and would love to walk away if they see you. Once feeling threatened enough a bear will charge at the interloper and fight them to the death. Wolves are very opportunistic and are demoralized when damaged enough, attempting to run away in fear when their health is low enough (excluding the Judges). The cultists’ guard dogs don’t give you any loot but act a lot like the Judges. Most birds like to keep to themselves and the only birds who actively attack humans are the eagles and the turkeys. Carrion birds, grouse, and ducks will attempt to fly away if you get close enough, a turkey will run away when you get close enough but will turn around and fight you if it feels like you are pursuing it in an order to take its life. The eagles spontaneously attack the player, cultists, and the resistance members alike.

The only animals that you can’t find a sign of that indicates that they are around are eagles, furthermore empowering their element of surprise when ambushing you from up above. Looking for hunting signs that indicate the animal inhabiting the area nearby is a good way to find a certain kind of animal for your skinning needs.

Mistakes Were Made: Avoid Doing The Following

A lot can go wrong when hunting wild animals (or less wild, ahem, cows). Not only are you always in danger of dying in the middle of nowhere and spawning a great distance away from the nearest point of interest, but you can also end up not seeing any animals at all. It isn’t due to haywire in the animal spawning engine, the problem is with you. As previously mentioned crouch-walking through woods is an efficient way to get a good enough angle on timid animals. The biggest mistake one can do is driving a vehicle while hunting. Driving a pickup truck in the woods is almost as bad as firing your gun all the time. The loudness is infernal and will surely scare off most animals if not all of them. Always avoid using vehicles when hunting, even when on the road as moose tend to spawn near roads. Hey, the signs aren’t there just for hunters but also for those who don’t want their bumper totaled by a moose carcass.

Pursuing your frightened prey after landing a couple of shots on it, knowing one last shot will do, is a polarizing matter as some hunters say that they have already sunk several bullets into their game, and might as well finish the job even if it means losing out on all of the nearby game as they are very loudly running through the rustly foliage. Some say that one needs to calmly crouch-walk after the scared animal and pray to God that the animal doesn’t run far enough so that it would despawn. It splits the community and there isn’t a right answer to the problem as it highly depends on the situation. Sometimes it is wise to let the animal run as there are plenty more fish in the sea. You should also consider that the animal might ultimately scare off other animals in the end and that you don’t only miss out on all of the other games you also miss out on the one you have invested time and bullets in. Think smart, think for yourself.

The Trifecta: Bountiful In Beasts, Lacking Of Love

All three regions, every one ruled by a single Herald, have different ecosystems in nature. Holland Valley is likely the first zone for a new player and it is one of the friendliest ones to hunters. Henbane is the least friendly to hunters as the zone’s focus is on the cultists instead of animals. Wading through bliss flowers also can interfere with your hunting as being under the effect of either homeopathic or liquor your aim will shake a ton. Jacob’s region has the richest ecosystem but also the most dangerous with an increase in bears, wolverines, and wolves (and Judges).

Loot: Literal Skinner’s Steamed Hams

After skinning your felled animals you are encouraged to sell them to a traveling hunter or a static general shop located in any big resistance settlement before you reach the skin capacity. Nothing is worse than spending five minutes running after a moose, spending your whole magazine on it just to see that you have already maxed out the carrying capacity of the skin you could get from the moose.

This next step is one of the most important ones in this guide: the carnivore and herbivore hunting ratio. You never get bait from carnivores such as wolves, bears, wolverines, and the like but you will most often get bait from herbivores such as cows (yes, you need to kill cows), deer, moose, and the like. The optimal hunting cycle is to find thenumbert of carnivore animals identical to your bait capacity, kill and skin them, find an open area with no firefights to scare the allured beast away, throw the bait on the ground, shoot the shortly arriving beast in the head once and finish him off with a couple of shots to the torso. If you do this and run out of bait, find more herbivorous prey. You are also free to hunt any carnivores that are naturally spawned into the overworld. If you do this and you reach even one skin/loot capacity on any skin/loot, you should immediately seek out a store to sell all of your loot to maximize the profit.

After killing your prey the minimap reticle on the top of your screen will shop a cross, indicating the location of your loot. This also works with cultists. This is very helpful when your enemy dies in a body of water or tall grass, making locating the corpse a lot easier. When reaching a vendor, the skins that you have poached or “earned” sell for the following prices:

Most every animal has an ALPHA alteration, meaning that they are rare and also more deadly. Their skins sell for an average of 1.5-2.5xthe value of normal animal skin.

DAMAGED MEAT & SKIN = $5

FEATHER = $100

WOLVERINE SKIN =

SKUNK SKIN = $170

BOAR SKIN = $170

PRONGHORN SKIN = $180

DEER SKIN = $180

GRIZZLY BEAR SKIN = $185

BLACK BEAR SKIN = $185

ELK SKIN = $190

CARIBOU SKIN = $190

MOOSE SKIN = $200

COUGAR SKIN = $225

HARE SKIN = $300

Most every avian animal, were they domestic or bestial, only drops feathers for loot.

Maintaining Interest: Motivation To Hunt

The idea of hunting, selling hides, rinse and repeat, sounds very boring on paper but the world of Far Cry 5 will always offer random confrontations with hostile aircraft, cultist troopers, and un-expected organic events and bestial assaults. In an order to commit to hunting, you must not commit to hunting. Hunting is a great alternative to fast travel as you can face many animals on your way to the wanted location. Taking a load off and killing some cultists after killing ten bears is acceptable as one might get bored of the same old same old.

Falagar

He is the founder and editor of Magic Game World. He loved gaming from the moment he got a PlayStation 1 with Gran Turismo on his 7th birthday.

View all posts