Master Hunter Challenges



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

Successful completion of Master Hunter: Rank 5 will unlock the Buffalo Rifle for purchase from a Gunsmith. Rank 10 allows creation of Vittles after skinning an animal.

Starting Point
This challenge will be initiated simply by finding a coyote, killing and then skinning it.

Rank 1: Kill and skin five coyotes.
Coyotes can be found in most areas of New Austin, with abundance in the western half, and Nuevo Paraiso. This cannot be done in the Bonnie MacFarlane mission "New Friends, Old Problems".

Rank 2: Kill and skin five deer.
Deer can be found in most areas of western New Austin, or towards the east, near Hennigan's Stead, and the central region of West Elizabeth. Bucks do not count as deer.

Rank 3: Kill five wolves . One of them must be killed with your melee knife.
Wolves can be found in most areas of New Austin,  Nuevo Paraiso  and  Tall Trees  and some of the  Great Plains  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. But be careful! Five wolves can take a while to skin and more wolf packs will spawn if you are not fast.

The easiest way to complete this challenge is while riding your horse. You can kill a wolf by one slice of your knife, and when you are on your horse you can't get attacked by them, making them easy targets because you can attack them with your knife as you are sitting on the horse.

Rank 4: Collect five boars tusks and skin three armadillos.
Boars can be found in the southern region of Tall Trees in West Elizabeth and north of MacFarlane's Ranch in Hennigan's Stead. The best place by far to find them is south of Blackwater. Armadillos can be found in the central regions of both New Austin and Nuevo Paraiso or of course outside the town of Armadillo. A great boar spawn is on the Hennigan's Stead side of Tanner's Span railroad bridge, but be careful: it is also a cougar, wolf and fox spawn. Just use your bait and an effective close-range gun like the semi-auto shotgun. They also tend to only appear in the early morning and the mid-afternoon. It is very rare to have them appear at night. Note that while the in-game description says five tusks are required, you really only need to kill and skin five boars, even though the tusk doesn't always drop (as with some items such as the wolf's heart or cougar's fang).

Rank 5: Kill 2 cougars with your melee knife and skin them for 2 cougar pelts.
Cougars have the nasty ability to knock you over when they attack, which can be very troublesome as the cougar only needs two strikes to kill you. After knocking you down, the cougar can quickly position itself for the second attack and because the challenge requires you to use the knife to make the kills, the problem presented by the knockdown is greatly increased. An effective way to deal with the cougars is to use the roll when "aiming" with your knife, jumping or sprinting out of the way to dodge the cougar's initial attack. After you dodge the first attack, the cougar tends to be facing in the wrong direction for it to attack again &mdash; this is when the cougar is vulnerable and you will have a few seconds to run up behind it and slash at it with your knife. It only takes around two knife swings to kill the cougar, so you should only need to do this once, but keep some medicine on you just in case the cougar catches you off guard or you mess up the dodge. You can also use your knife on horseback, so your horse dies first and you can kill the cougar. Although the knife attack is slow, the cougar health is relatively low. It only takes two knife slashes to kill the cougar, so trying to use the "weaken the animal with a gun" technique might cause you to accidentally kill the cougar and then you'll have to search for another one. Just remember to roll to dodge the cougar's attacks.

The easiest way to complete this challenge is to use a revolver, enter dead eye, and shoot the cougar twice in the rear. After the cougar is hit, it completely ignores John and starts running away, making it easy to chase down and kill with the knife.

An easy way to complete this challenge is in New Austin. Just ride around in the westmost part near Silent Stead and wait for the random event where a person is being chased by wild animals; in that area, the animals are often two cougars. Note however that you will probably fail to save the hapless person and also that it is a fairly dangerous area; wolf packs often do spawn there, so watch your back. You may also have luck finding them on the hill in Hennigan's Stead. Drop some bait and start running for your life, always checking your back, running in circles and rolling like a mad man. By doing this and dodging the cougar attacks you should have the most luck.

Another tactic you might want to use is to hunt from horseback, as you are able to use the knife while riding. One good way to do this is to take one shot with a pistol then switch to the knife and finish it off while you run it down on horseback.

After completing the Master Hunter 5 challenge, the Buffalo Rifle becomes available for purchase from any Gunsmith.

Rank 6: Kill and skin 5 Raccoons, 5 skunks and 5 foxes.
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, this area is drawn under a picture of the fox. By nightfall, there is an abundance of foxes, a raccoon here and there, and quite a few skunks. Be careful, though, because this is also a prime spawning point for wolves, cougars and boars, all of which will attack you. The best place to find raccoons is at Beecher's Hope during the early morning hours before daybreak.

These animals can also be found at Beecher's Hope and north of MacFarlane's Ranch after 6 PM. At Beecher's Hope, you can find all 15 animals during the course of one night to the east of the house inside the fence. Walk around and you will probably see them all walking in a northerly direction. Be careful though, on top of the hill north of MacFarlane's Ranch and the railroad tracks is constantly spawning cougars and wolves.

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, in and around Tall Trees and around nine o'clock south of Armadillo they are in abundance.
 * Foxes can also be found near Beecher's Hope at the streets.
 * The most common area to find foxes is Tall Trees, especially the western area next to the river.
 * 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.
 * Many skunks can be found in Diez Coronas at night.
 * There is a possible skunk spawn point in Diez Coronas. Head for the rock formation under "Diez" on the map and patrol the slope between the "i" and the "e" of Diez.
 * Skunks and raccoons also appear behind the General Store in Armadillo, especially during dusk and night.
 * There is a great fox spawn at and around Riley's Charge, south of Armadillo.
 * There is an area midway between Blackwater and the Wreck of the Serendipity where all three animals spawn.

Rank 7: Skin five Elk and five Bighorn.
Bighorns can be found in Tall Trees in West Elizabeth and are more commonly found in the mountainous regions in Mexico. They are also found in and around the area north of Cholla Springs in New Austin. Elk can be found in Tall Trees in West Elizabeth and around Bearclaw Camp and Tanner's Span, especially at night. Keep alert, however, because bears and cougars frequent the same areas. Both can be found frequently in the northeast part of Tall Trees by Nekoti Rock.

Bighorns can also be found along the rock face south of Tanner's Reach at night. They are plentiful enough to take out all five in a matter of a few minutes.

Rank 8: Kill a grizzly bear with your melee knife and collect a bear pelt.
Use the same technique used to kill the cougar, though it takes three or four body shots to weaken a Grizzly. Then, lasso the bear after several body shots. When letting it go, the bear will run. This will give 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, they can run through other animal spawn points, bringing even more bears, wolves, boars, or other dangerous animals. So hurry with the knifing.

You can hang out outside Beecher's hope and set bait for a bear. Once it arrives, shoot it once in the head with the Henry repeater and jump the fence. Walk along side the fence and it will follow you. Eventually, you will reach a gap in the fence, where its side will be vulnerable.

One easy way to melee them is to go into dead-eye and target the front two legs (similar to melee killing cougars), then the bear will charge. Quickly melee it, and then it will turn slightly. Melee it again. It will start to run away, so hop on your horse and chase and kill it with one last knife. Go to Tanner's Reach and put out some bait, then stand inside the cabin door. Shoot the bear three times in the rear from inside the cabin. The bear will run off but will come back to attack you. Still standing in the door of the cabin, simply cut the bear. A good method if getting charged by a bear (or just to take it down in general) is to shoot it ten times in the front legs/paws with the LeMat Revolver, which only needs to be followed by a single knife thrust. Alternatively, shoot it one time in the side with a buffalo rifle and 2-3 times anywhere with a Mauser pistol. 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, there is a bear when climbing the mountain. This is a good opportunity to take on the bear. To make it even easier, just keep dying every time meeting the bear and you will be given the choice to restart at the checkpoint. Eventually, dying so many times (maybe seven) the game takes pity and gives 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. To make it even easier, go to the checkpoint where the cougar is and let it kill you (or toss yourself from the mountain). Then select restart from last checkpoint. Then you will start from the "cougar checkpoint" again, but go back where the bear was and it's alive, but he will ignore you even if you attack it, making the perfect opportunity to complete the challenge. Also when you jump on one of the rocks, the bear won't be able to hit you even if you jump on the small one, making it easy to hit, and the funny thing is when it's low on health, it will run away. 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 Marston behind some rocks, in which the bear cannot get directly. This causes it to go onto its hind legs, leaving its belly open and giving an easy opportunity to get a few shots in to weaken it. Another method that requires excellent timing is when the bear is charging straight. Just when it’s in arm's length, swipe the hunting knife, and if done correctly, it'll slash the bear's face, killing it. It's neither the smartest method nor the easiest, but it definitely is one of the most satisfying. Although the easiest way to do it is probably to make a bear chase you, then run up the mountains over Tall Trees to the cave where you find the Rank 10 treasure chest. With the bear still chasing you, get inside the cave. It's just small enough for the bear to not get in, so instead it will start running around outside, eventually glitching and getting stuck between the cave opening and a rock, making it possible to slash at it without getting eaten alive.

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

Once the bear has been weakened, it's still no easy job to knife it. However, the most popular way is when it is charging towards you &mdash; target it with your knife and then roll out of the way once it gets too close. This is also a good way to kill other animals with a knife. Also if possible when you're are trying to knife the bear, hang back a bit and it will soon go onto its rear legs and stand up. This means that it cannot turn around as fast, which then gives you the opportunity to go behind it and slash it. Shoot the grizzly once in the body with the Buffalo Rifle, then wait for it to come to you. Slash it once more with the knife and it should start running away, knife it a couple more times and it's dead.

It is also possible to attack the bears with your knife on horse back, allowing players to continuously "drive by" and slash the bear without being harmed. If the bear kills the player's horse, Marston will roll to a safe distance if riding fast enough.

A simple and safe way is to use bait in the west of Beecher's Hope. By doing this it will make a bear spawn (it could spawn far from you or a little closer). First try to shoot the body of the bear with the high power pistol 7-8 times or shoot with the buffalo rifle one time. This would make the bear attack you (and make him weaker). Let it get close to you, and when he is in arm's length, swipe your knife. If he's still alive, swipe again and he will die. Note: Be sure that you are not near or in Broken Tree, or a cougar will come instead of a bear. And sometimes, the bear will be so far away that he won't notice you or he won't spawn. You will have to place another bait somewhere else. Be sure not to place the bait near your ranch, because wolves will come instead of bears. And also, if you kill that bear, no other bear will spawn.

Eight shots in the leg with the Evans repeater and one hit with the knife will drop a bear.

If you are lucky enough to encounter only one bear at a time, lasso it when it is near to you. The bear will be temporarily stunned, allowing you time to switch to your knife via the start menu and slash its side a few times. Rinse and repeat until the beast is felled.

Notes:

 * If a Random Stranger encounter happens where a bear is chasing a fellow and you kill the bear with a 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, but keeps chasing the stranger allowing the player to ride up next to the bear and slash away with a Melee Knife. One way to ensure you get the kill is to hack away until its health drops slightly, then wait for it to kill the stranger and then kill it.
 * It's been said by a few people on other forums that the Throwing Knife has counted for them in this challenge. It may be a glitch or it could be that since it says "Kill a bear with a knife" the Throwing Knife counts due to wording so that may work.

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 the player doesn't have any bait, he should kill some of the local wildlife to draw him out, or just wait for a while. Once the player has drawn him out, he should use Dead Eye to finish him. Nothing fancy is needed, just a few shots to the head.

When you have found Khan (or he finds you) he will appear as a red mark on your minimap. So watch the minimap for a specific location.

(It is quite easy to kill the legendaries using the LeMat Revolver and Dead Eye. When it is running directly at you, take aim and mark it in the head area with all nine rounds and fire away.) Another option is to use one precise Throwing Knife to the head, again Dead Eye may be helpful.

===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.===

As you approach any of the Legendary Animals, they will appear as a red mark on your minimap. So don't worry about missing them; as long as you are searching the right area their specific location will be shown eventually.

A single tomahawk to the head kills all of them. Using Dead Eye will help with the accuracy.

Lobo is easy, there will be little problem killing him if staying on a horse. Gordo is the easiest &mdash; once again, stay on horseback and keep shooting the waves of boars that come. Brumas is the hardest. This time get off the horse, then shoot him in the head in Dead Eye. Another good tactic (especially for Brumas) is to try and stay on a stagecoach or wagon while killing the waves of animals as they can't attack you.

The easiest way to kill these animals is to wait until they appear on the minimap. Advance slowly until having 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 using fast travel to a waypoint near their location, make sure set the waypoint outside the animal's actual zone. Otherwise the player 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.)

A good way to kill these legendary animals is to use the Evans Repeater and Dead Eye. First, have full 22 ammo capacity. Second, activate Dead Eye. And third, keep tapping RB (Xbox 360) or R1 (PS3) on their heads until Marston starts firing. This will certainly kill it. You can use the Buffalo Rifle to shoot the heads of Gordo the Boar, Khan the Jaguar and Lobo the Wolf and it will usually kill them.

Sometimes Lobo is stuck in the water, but you can still shoot him and get in the shallow water to skin him.

If you had an unsuccessful search for Lobo the Wolf, go and search for Brumas on Nekoti Rock, then come back at midnight. Lobo should now be present when you enter the area. If you are thinking of using bait, be aware that it will attract bears and not the legendary Wolf. Brumas requires one shot to the head with the buffalo rifle, so if you have a clear shot on him, try to get a headshot.

Gordo the Boar is found (in Single Player) near Thieves' Landing in the Stillwater Creek area. Players should take caution when Gordo is in water; if he is killed in water, he can't be skinned, however some people have had him skinned automatically,

A very easy way to locate and kill the legendary animals of Rank 10 is to use fast travel (from a campsite) from another location on the map to the area the animal is located in, you can succsessfully locate and kill Brumas, Lobo and Gordo in under 15 mins for all three, whilst using almost no ammo. From just wandering around in the area after spawing there from fast travel, within 30 seconds the animals appeared on the map, and were easily killed with no waves of animals appearing.

When using the Mauser Pistol firing a full magazine into the head or body of the legendary animals is usually enough to kill them.

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 player's Honor level.)

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

Trivia

 * Lobo the 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. Lobo is also the Spanish and Portuguese word for wolf.
 * Khan the Jaguar shares its name with the main antagonist, Khan the Tiger, of the book and Disney animated film The Jungle Book.
 * Brumas the 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.
 * Gordo is a Spanish and Portuguese word for fat.