What it is
The animals in the hills, forests and fields around the city are not scenery. They see you, hear you and smell you, they keep watch in herds, and each species reacts in its own way when something is wrong. A deer that spots you stares, stamps and then runs with the whole herd; a rabbit freezes and bolts at the last moment; a boar stands its ground. Get it right and you can walk to within rifle range of a grazing herd. Get it wrong and the ground goes quiet for a while.
This page is the fieldcraft: how animals sense you, how to read them, what happens after the shot, and what to do on the rare occasion that an animal turns on you. Licences, tags, seasons, the butcher and the market are on Hunting.
Animals appear out of sight, on ground that has been checked, so they do not drop out of the sky or pop up in front of you. How many you meet depends on how many players are around. A ground that has been shot over empties for a while and then fills up again, and heavy hunting pressure on a ground lasts through a restart, so a hunted-out valley stays thin for the rest of the day.
How to start
Where the animals are. Most wildlife lives on the mapped hunting grounds across Blaine County, the mountains, the Grapeseed farmland and Cayo Perico. There are 52 grounds on the English server and 48 on the Balkan server; the four extra English grounds are below. Crossing into a ground brings up the hunting strip on your HUD. Crows, rats, jackrabbits, feral pigs and cormorants now appear in the wild too, and a troop of monkeys lives on Cayo Perico.
-780.00, 5760.00English server only. Deer and rabbits come out at dawn and dusk
380.00, 6540.00English server only. Deer at dawn and dusk, rabbits, pigeons and crows, coyotes at night
150.00, 5500.00Mule deer, coyotes and the odd mountain lion. One of the 13 new grounds
Ground | Server | When to go |
|---|---|---|
Paleto Bay forest edge, south-west | English | Deer from 05:00 to 09:00 and from 18:00 to 22:00 UK time, coyotes from 21:00 to 05:00 |
Paleto Bay fields, east | English | The same hours |
Mirror Park lake (cordon) | English | A few coyotes roam from 21:00 to 05:00 UK time, only while the Los Santos evacuation order is in force |
Los Santos Golf Club (cordon) | English | The same |
Mount Chiliad upper west slopes and north face, Mount Josiah, Zancudo River bend, Grand Senora Desert north and south, San Chianski foothills, Alamo Sea north-east reeds, Galileo Park woods, Great Chaparral east, Tataviam Mountains north ridge | Both | Deer are up at dawn (04:00 to 09:00) and dusk (17:00 to 23:00) UK time; boar, coyotes and lions move at night |
No mountain lions live on the two Paleto Bay edge grounds or in Galileo Park.
Reading the HUD. Inside a ground the hunting strip shows what the animals are working with:
On screen | What it tells you |
|---|---|
Noise meter | How loud you are right now: Silent, Quiet or Loud |
Wind | Where the wind is coming from and where your scent is drifting |
Tracking mode | Press H to switch it on. Animals you can see show their state: alert, frozen, fleeing or wounded (and stalking, from tracking rank three). Prints, droppings and beds show up to inspect |
Rangefinder and scope | The distance, the species, whether it carries antlers and whether it is in season |
No-shoot outline | A red outline on anything you may not shoot: protected animals and animals out of season |
Spook notice | When animals run because of you, you are told why: they saw you, heard you or smelled you, or a shot, your vehicle or your dog spooked them |
Tracking mode only switches on when you are on foot, outdoors and away from town, and footprints follow the path the animal really took.
Step by step
- Check the wind
Before you leave the vehicle, look at the wind on the HUD. Your scent drifts downwind, so plan to come at the animals with the wind blowing from them to you. The wind shifts slowly and gusts, so check it again as you go.
- Leave the engine behind
A running engine can be heard from about 50 m and a moving vehicle from 90 m or more. Park well short of the ground and walk in.
- Approach from downwind, crouched
Crouch and use cover: trees, rocks, a hunting blind or a tree stand. A crouched stalk carries about 6 m, walking about 16 m, jogging about 35 m and sprinting about 60 m. Standing still makes no sound at all. Keep one eye on the noise meter.
- Move while heads are down
Grazing animals take turns: heads down to feed, heads up to scan. They see far less with their heads down. Move then, and freeze when a head comes up.
- Take the shot
Heart and lungs or the head, broadside, inside your weapon's comfortable range. A miss is heard: a rifle sends nearby animals running and puts the rest on edge hundreds of metres away. A suppressor cuts that to around 150 m.
- Wait, then follow the trail
A clean shot drops the animal where it stands or after a short dash. After a gut or leg shot, wait before you follow the blood (see Wounded animals below). Then switch on tracking mode and follow the trail.
How animals sense you
Sense | What gives you away | What helps |
|---|---|---|
Sight | Walking in the open, moving while a head is up, standing on a skyline. Bigger herds have more eyes and spot you sooner | Crouching, standing still, cover, blinds and tree stands, moving only while heads are down |
Hearing | Walking (about 16 m), jogging (35 m), sprinting (60 m), engines (50 m running, 90 m or more moving), gunshots (hundreds of metres, including misses) | Standing still (silent), a crouched stalk (about 6 m), a suppressor (about 150 m for a shot), rain and a strong wind covering some of your noise |
Scent | Being upwind of the herd: your scent drifts downwind to them | Keeping the wind in your face, scent cover spray, rain |
After a scare an animal stays wary for a while and runs sooner. A ground that has been shot over goes quiet for a while and then fills up again.
Herds and species
When a herd runs, it runs together and away from you, not towards you. Every species has its own way of doing it:
Animal | How it reacts |
|---|---|
Whitetail deer | The herd bolts together. At night a deer caught in your headlights freezes |
Mule deer | Runs, then stops and looks back at you |
Boar | Stands its ground and huffs at you. Wounded or cornered, it may charge |
Sow and feral pig | Runs, but a sow with her group, or a cornered pig, may turn on you |
Cottontail rabbit | Freezes and only bolts, in a zig-zag, when you are almost on top of it |
Jackrabbit | Hesitates, then runs a long way in a zig-zag |
Pigeons, crows, gulls and cormorants | Take off together as a flock |
Coyote | Shy. Runs if you walk towards it. Bites only when cornered, or near its den in spring and summer, and barks first |
Mountain lion | Avoids people. Hunts when it is hungry and guards its kill |
Calls. /animalcall deer, predator or bird plays your animation and the call's own sound, and called animals come in from downwind of you. A call in the right season works better, and calling from upwind of the herd works worse.
Wounded animals
Hit | What the animal does | What you do |
|---|---|---|
Head or neck | Drops where it stands | Walk up to it |
Heart and lungs | A short dash, then down | Follow the short blood trail |
Gut | Runs a long way, then lies down if nobody follows. Push it and it gets up and runs again | Wait about 30 minutes before you follow the blood |
Leg | Limps and beds down sooner | Wait about 15 minutes |
You are told to wait after a gut or leg shot. A wounded animal is not lost just because you walked away to fetch your truck: it stays where it lay until its bleed time runs out, and the carcass waits at the end of the trail. A carcass stays where it fell until it rots, even when nobody is nearby and even across a restart, but one that rots after bleeding out unrecovered costs you reputation with the rangers.
A clean one shot kill shows no wounded notice and leaves no blood trail.
Predators and attacks
Predators hunt when they are hungry, not all the time. A mountain lion makes one kill, feeds on it and guards it, and crows gather at the kill a few minutes later. Kills made by a lion or any other animal are never credited to you.
Animal | When it may attack | Warning |
|---|---|---|
Boar | When you have wounded it, or when it is cornered | Huff |
Sow and feral pig | Wounded or cornered, or a sow protecting her group | Huff |
Whitetail buck | Cornered at close range during the rut | Stamp |
Coyote | Cornered, or within about 15 m of a den from April to August | Bark |
Mountain lion and the Cayo Perico panther | Guarding a kill or cubs. At night (19:00 to 07:00 UK time) a hungry lion may stalk someone who is alone | Growl |
At night a coyote may also go for a small dog (a Westie, a pug or a poodle) that strays near it. Keep a small dog close in the hills after dark. On the English server, a coyote at the edge of Paleto Bay at night may come close and follow someone who is alone for a little while; walk towards it and it runs.
Self-defence kills
Killing an animal that is attacking you, or someone next to you, is recorded as self-defence, not as a hunt. The usual hunting rules (licence, tag, season, weapon, bag and protected species) do not count against you for that kill. The Cayo Perico visa rule still applies.
The kill toast reads: "Self-defence kill of a boar recorded. Report it at a ranger office. The carcass belongs to the state and must not be sold." Carry the carcass to a ranger office, or drop it within 10 m of one, and press E at the office to file the report. Reporting earns a little reputation with the rangers. The ranger offices are listed on Hunting.
Animals in the wild
Crows, rats, jackrabbits, feral pigs, cormorants and a troop of monkeys on Cayo Perico now appear in the wild, so crow and rat pest control contracts can be completed. Rats come out at night. Cormorants and the Cayo Perico monkeys are protected: photograph them, do not shoot them.
Only the city's own wildlife lives out there, with no stray animals from the base game, and panthers stay away from the Cayo Perico landing beach.
On the English server, a few coyotes roam the two cordon grounds in the empty city at night while the evacuation order is in force. See Los Santos evacuation.
See also
Hunting for licences, tags, seasons, the ranger offices, the butcher and the market.
Weapons for the rifles and shotguns sold at Ammu-Nation counters.
Pets and K9 for hunting dogs and keeping a small dog safe.
English and Balkan servers for what differs between the two servers.
Tips
Related commands
/huntingEveryoneHunting handbook and hub: /hunting [section|rep|licence|tags]
/animalcallEveryoneUse a call: deer, predator or bird
/scentcoverEveryoneApply scent cover
/blindEveryonePlace or pick up a hunting blind
/treestandEveryonePlace, climb or pick up a tree stand
/rangerofficeEveryoneOpen the ranger office panel, or get directions to the nearest ranger office
/safariEveryoneToggle wildlife photo mode
Worked example
It is 06:10 UK time on the English server. Freya Lindqvist parks her pickup on the coast road well short of the Paleto Bay forest edge, south-west of town, and walks the last stretch. She holds a game licence and a doe tag, and the rifle is slung.
The hunting strip comes up as she crosses into the ground: Paleto Bay forest edge, south-west. The wind arrow says it is blowing from the treeline towards the sea, so she swings round to keep it in her face.
/me crouches behind a fallen pine and glasses the treeline.
Three does are feeding at the edge, about 140 m out. Her noise meter reads Quiet. She moves only while all three heads are down, and freezes each time one comes up. At 100 m the lead doe lifts her head, turns and stares. Freya holds still; the doe stamps once and goes back to feeding.
She rushes the next shot as a head comes up. The shot goes high. The whole herd bolts together, away from her, into the trees, and a line on screen tells her the shot spooked them. The edge goes quiet.
/do The echo of the rifle rolls up the valley and fades.
She does not follow. She walks back towards the road, circles north with the wind still in her face, and waits twenty minutes at a new spot on the fields' edge. Two does walk back out of the trees. This time she waits for a broadside, settles on the chest and squeezes.
Heart and lungs: the doe makes a short dash and goes down within sight. No wait needed. She switches on tracking mode with H, follows the short trail and finds her.
What you see: the wind arrow and noise meter on the HUD, the herd lifting and lowering their heads, a stare and a stamp before they settle, a missed shot emptying the edge, and the clean kill toast on the second approach.