Grizzly bear

Grizzly Bears are large predatory animals, found throughout the western United States at the time of Red Dead Redemption. John Marston can hunt Grizzly Bears and obtain furs, claws, Teeth, hearts, and meat which can be sold to merchants for cash. Grizzly Bears are the most valuable animals.

Grizzly Bears are imposing foes and can easily kill Marston. They are highly unpredictable and if not careful of surroundings, bears may attack him at first sight. The only location of the grizzly bear is in the snow-capped, forested wilderness of the West Elizabeth territory and Nekoti Rock mountain in West Elizabeth, territories that are historically accurate. When traveling around these areas on foot or horseback, always look left, right and behind, as bears can attack from anywhere at any time.

Due to their size and aggressiveness, Bears are arguably the toughest and most challenging animals to hunt and kill in the game, although some claim cougars are more difficult due to their speed. Best idea is to use Dead-Eye and get a head shot with a powerful rifle or a shotgun in short range. Bears are slow however, use this to your advantage by getting distance from the bear, and placing a well aimed shot to the head.

Location
thumb|300px|left The only location of the Grizzly bear is the snow capped, forested area in West Elizabeth and Bearclaw Camp. Also a spawn point of the bear can be found just West of "Wreck of the Serendipity" before you get to the road coming from Thieves' Landing.

There spawn location near the Aurora Basin cabin. When at the cabin, head towards the slope that leads to a rock face, Grizzly Bears will spawn there frequently.

Also found near the east of Manzanita Post.

Using the Springfield Rifle
When hunting grizzly bears, reality takes a backseat. In reality, Grizzly bears are territorial, yet in Red Dead Redemption, when you kill one grizzly, chances are, another three or five will show up to avenge their fallen bretheren. A sound strategy that has been tested is to find yourself a wide open area in their territory on foot, and scan with your eyes, but listen carefully with your ears. Bring your horse, but leave it roaming freely close by. It will make plenty of noise and run away from the bear, giving you an idea of where the bear is coming from. Your horse is likely to survive, but may be killed by the bear just the same. It's a chance, like anything you hunt. Listen carefully if your horse isn't around; for such a large and dangerous animal, it doesn't make a lot of noise. But after a bear charges you a few times you'll easily recognize it's huffing grunting growling sound. This means it's close, so hope you have a real powerful weapon. Turn to it, hit aim, go into dead-eye, and just for good measure, put two bullets in it's forehead.

A slightly cheaper method of hunting grizzlies consists of climbing on top of a boulder, where bears (and cougars or any other animals) cannot attack you. Killing smaller animals, such as deer or wild boar, or applying bait some distance away from the rock will help ensure a grizzly bear shows up in a timely fashion. As mentioned above, bears usually appear in waves, so don't leave the safety of your rock until you're confident you've dealt with them all.

Melee killing a bear can be challenging, but is necessary to advance your Master Hunter rank. While on horse, shoot the bear once in its leg to weaken it. Ride up to it very quickly and one well-placed melee slash on horseback should kill it. Or if you're on foot, pull out your pistol, and put a shot in it's head, it won't die, but it will bring it's health down considerably. Chase it down, maybe shoot it in the butt as it runs away. When you turn your back to it, it will charge again. You can run circles around it, and you will chase it far on foot, but by now, you should only need to slash it two or three times to kill it.

If you are struggling to melee kill a bear for the master hunter challenge, be aware that there are 3 separate missions in West Elizabeth (At Home with Dutch, For Purely Scientific Reasons, and Spare the Love, Spoil the Child) that involve facing off versus a bear, and all of these missions checkpoint you right before the bear. So you can play through one of these missions and use the checkpoint to face the bear multiple times, until you get it right. This is significantly easier than starting over each time at Manzanita Post and needing to search for a bear each time.


 * Weapon recommendation: Buffalo rifle, Henry Repeater, Springfield Rifle, Carcano Rifle or Semi-automatic Shotgun.


 * Wait to skin your kills once the four plus bears have been dealt with. Likely once you've slain them, you'll probably get two skinnings in before another grizzly shows up.


 * For the Sharpshooter Challenge, use a Buffalo rifle, and Dead-Eye to hit the bear in the head when its dangerously close.

Trivia
When skinned the bear has the exact same model as other large animals like the cow and the buffalo

Achievements/Trophies
There are two available achievements/trophies involving the hunting of Grizzly Bears.
 * Bearly Legal: Kill and Skin 18 Grizzly Bears.
 * Unnatural Selection: Kill one of every animal species in the game in any game mode.