Master Hunter Challenges

 are gameplay challenges which entails players hunting and skinning specific animals in Red Dead Redemption.

Rank 1: Kill and skin five (5) coyotes.
Coyotes can be found in most areas of New Austin, with abundance in the western half, and Nuevo Paraiso.

Rank 2: Kill and skin five deer.
Deer can be found in most areas of western New Austin and the central region of West Elizabeth. Bucks do not count as Deer.

Rank 3: Kill five wolves with your melee knife and collect five wolf pelts in addition to those you already have.
Wolves can be found in most areas of New Austin, Nuevo Paraiso and Tall Trees in West Elizabeth. Remember to utilize the roll or Dead Eye when attempting to take on an entire wolf pack. Remember, shooting an animal first, then knifing it works too. Sometimes when you skin a wolf after killing it with your melee knife, you will not collect a wolf pelt. You may have to kill more than 5 to collect all the pelts.

Rank 4: Collect five boar tusks and three armadillo carapaces in addition to those you already have.
Boars can be found in the southern region of Tall Trees in West Elizabeth. Armadillos can be found in the central regions of both New Austin and Nuevo Paraiso. In order to be able to take the carapace from the armadillo, it must be killed with a pistol or revolver. A rifle or shotgun decimates the animal leaving no remains, and Boars do not always give you tusks, so kill more than five to get the challenge.

Rank 5: Kill two cougars with your melee knife and collect two cougar pelts.
Killing two cougars with just the knife is not easy. Instead, lure one with bait in an appropriate area. After laying the bait, find a spot where the cougar can't bulldoze you from behind. It will rush in to attack, at which time you can go into deadeye mode and use a pistol to sweep its front legs (ideally, tag them each once). Thus wounded, the cougar will stop attacking you and totter off much slower than usual. After you give the cougar a few yards of chase, it will sometimes get disoriented and walk in circles. Now is your chance to knife it. Check your surroundings to make sure that there isn't another cougar waiting to get revenge on you before you skin it, as they quite often hunt in pairs. Cougars can be found south of Blackwater near the river, East of Plainview on the road to Nuevo Paraiso, in RIo Bravo, and north of McFarlane's Ranch. Any camp or residence that appears inexplicably deserted (as indicated by a scripted comment Marsten makes upon arrival) is also ideal, as its abrupt depopulation is a sure sign that this is some predator's hunting ground.. Silent Stead is one notable example.

Rank 6: Collect five raccoon pelts, five fox pelts, and five skunk pelts in addition to those you already have.
Just north/northeast of Thieves' Landing and north/northwest of the Wreck of the Serendipity is an area bordered by roads on three sides and the river on the fourth. On the map, a this area is drawn under a picture of the fox. By nightfall, there is an abundance of foxes, many raccoons, and quite a few skunks.

These animals can also be found at Beecher's Hope and north of MacFarlane's Ranch (where the picture of the Boar is on the map) after 6 PM.

Additional locations

 * Raccoons can be found scattered throughout New Austin at night.
 * Foxes can be found near the San Luis River on the Nuevo Paraiso side, and also near Beecher's Hope and around nine o'clock south of Armadillo they are in abundance.
 * Skunks can be found in the northeastern quadrant of Nuevo Paraiso or in central New Austin at night, and, just like foxes, south of armadillo at hours of 9-12
 * Many skunks can be found in Diez Coronas at night.

Check the skunks page for the Armadillo skunk and raccoon trick, which works most of the time.

Rank 7: Collect five elk meat and five bighorn skins.
Bighorns can be found in Tall Trees in West Elizabeth, and the area north of Cholla Springs in New Austin. Elk can be found in Tall Trees in West Elizabeth, and around Bear Claw camp and Tanner's Span, Both can be found frequently in the north east part of Tall Trees by Nekoti Rock. Don't be fooled by the name "bighorns" as the goats are simply mountain goats.

Rank 8: Kill a grizzly bear with your melee knife and collect a bear pelt.
Grizzly Bears can be found in Tall Trees in West Elizabeth. They will be found more frequently when the player is on foot. You can use the same technique used to kill the cougar, though it takes three or four body shots to weaken a Grizzly. You can also lasso Grizzlies after several body shots. When you let it go, the bear will run from you, just like a horse. This will give you the opportunity to knife it without being attacked, though the bears are fast making it difficult to chase them on foot. Try to use a horse for extra speed. When bears run from you they can run through other animal spawn points, bringing even more bears, wolves, boars, or other dangerous animals which may either attack you or kill the wounded bear. Once one of these other animals attacks you, the running bear (previously confined by your lasso) will stop running and attack as well, so be quick about the knifing.

Grizzlies do not turn quickly, and usually will only hit you if they are charging straight toward you. By staying on foot, sidestepping a lot, and knifing the grizzly from the side or from behind, it is possible to kill them with little risk (although it is still advisable to shoot them a few times first).

A good method if you get charged by a bear (or just to take it down in general) is to shoot it 10 times in the front legs/paws with the LeMat Revolver, which only needs to be followed by a single knife thrust. Alternatively, shoot it 1 time in the side with a buffalo rifle and and 2-3 times anywhere with a mauser pistol. You can also shoot it once in the head with the Henry Repeater. It will then be weak enough to kill with a knife.

In the mission At Home With Dutch, you'll encounter a bear as you climb the mountain. This is a good opportunity to take on the bear. To make it even easier, just keep dying every time you meet the bear. You'll be given the choice to restart at the checkpoint. Eventually, you'll die so many times (maybe seven) that the game takes pity and gives you the choice to skip this checkpoint. Do not take that option. Select to restart the checkpoint. At this point the bear's health is seriously lowered. More than three shots can take it down, so shoot it three times and then go to town with your knife.

Another effective method in the same mission is when climbing onto the plateau the bear is on, climb as far left as possible. This puts you behind some rocks in which the bear cannot get directly to you, this causes it to go onto its hind legs leaving its belly open and giving you an easy opportunity to get a few shots in to weaken it.

In the mission For Purely Scientific Purposes, your party will be attacked by a bear. If you know when to hang back, the others will be firing at it and it will be distracted, offering you a perfect opportunity to kill it from behind.

After you have killed a Grizzly, be aware. More will often show up shortly after you skin the first one.

Notes:

 * You do not have to skin the same bear you killed. As long as you have one in your inventory anytime you have Master Hunter - Rank 8, it will count.


 * If a Random Stranger encounter happens where a bear is chasing a fellow, and you kill the bear with your Melee Knife it MAY count towards the Challenge. Normally however it will not but there are confirmed cases of this working. This would be an easy way to earn this as the bear will not attack you, but keeps chasing the stranger allowing you to ride up next to the bear and slash away with your Melee Knife.

Rank 9: Search Ojo Del Diablo for “Khan” the legendary jaguar and kill him then collect his pelt.
Use a bottle of bait to search for Khan around the Ojo Del Diablo area. If you don't have any bait, kill the local wildlife to draw him out. Draw him out by using bait and use Dead-Eye to finish him. Nothing fancy is needed, just a few shots to the head.

===Rank 10: Search Aurora Basin, Stillwater Creek, and Nekoti Rock for “Lobo” the legendary wolf, “Gordo” the legendary boar, and “Brumas” the legendary bear and collect their pelts.===

Lobo is easy, you should have little problem killing him if you stay on your horse. Gordo is the easiest, once again, stay on horseback and keep shooting the waves of boars that come. Brumas is the hardest. This time get off your horse then shoot him in the head in "Dead-Eye".

The easiest way to kill these animals is to wait until they appear on your minimap, advance slowly until you have them in sight, then go into Dead-Eye using a weapon with high ammo capacity/rate of fire and empty most of a magazine into them. Single-shot weapons, even very powerful ones, may not do fatal damage, as all of them have an abnormally large amount of health.

If you are using fast travel to a waypoint near their location, make sure you set the waypoint outside the animal's actual zone. Otherwise you may have to ride out of their zone and then back to get them to appear. (Or use bait, which is somewhat riskier since they can appear very close to you.)

Rewards (Single Player Master Hunter Challenges)
Successful completion of Master Hunter: Rank 5 will unlock the Buffalo Rifle for purchase from a Gunsmith. (Price varies with the players Honor level)

Successful completion of Master Hunter: Rank 10 allows creation of Vittles after skinning an animal.

Trivia

 * Lobo the Legendary Wolf was a real wolf in New Mexico around the 1890s. The wolf was considered an outlaw, and required a bounty hunter to capture and kill him.
 * Khan the Jaguar shares his name with the jaguar from Tarzan and the main antagonist, Khan the tiger, of the book and Disney animated film The Jungle Book.
 * Brumas the Legendary Bear shares its name with the first polar bear successfully born and raised in Britain. She was a national sensation that generated a huge jump in zoo attendance in the 1950's.