American Buffalo

The  is an animal found in Red Dead Redemption. The buffalo is a very large, fierce-looking animal that roams the Great Plains in large herds. Like all animals, buffalo can be hunted with one exception. If you kill too many buffalo, the population will deplete. After overhunting, the species will go extinct. The plains will forever be empty of these magnificent beasts.

Despite its name within Red Dead Redemption, what is known as the American buffalo is scientifically an American bison (Bison Bison) - only distantly related to the buffalo. In fact, true buffalo never entered North America. In the time Red Dead Redemption is set, the American Bison was commonly known as a buffalo, but today it is acknowledged by its correct name.

Location
Buffalo can be found in the Great Plains, most commonly to the West of Blackwater out in the wide open land. Also rarely east of Aurora basin. There buffalo are grouped in herds, consisting of many buffalo. The herds are startled easily and they disperse when any shots are fired, so using the Dead Eye targeting system and aiming for multiple headshots is recommended. The herd automatically regroups after an in-game day. Waiting prevents the player from having to search all over West Elizabeth and kill each Buffalo one by one. The Buffalo Rifle is also effective against Buffalo (hence the name) because it takes less shots to kill than with a normal rifle or repeater does.

Unlike other animals in the game, Buffalo do not respawn. Killing all of the buffalo which would be twenty, grants the player an achievement/trophy, but there will no longer be Buffalo in the Great Plains, possibly a reference to the Great Wildlife Slaughter of the 1880s, where the Bison were hunted to near extinction.

Tips and Tricks

 * There is no need to worry about skinning the fallen Buffalo when trying to earn this achievement/trophy, players can save the game prior to hunting the Buffalo and when they have obtained the acheivement/trophy they can reload the save and take their time to skin each kill as the Buffalo will have respawned but the player will already have earned Manifest Destiny. This is also a good way to obtain the Manifest Destiny achievement/trophy in single player without permanently destroying the herd.
 * There has been known to be a very rare encounter where a shopkeeper is seen chasing a buffalo. After killing it, the shopkeeper becomes upset and stares at the body. This event can occur after getting the achievement for killing all 20 buffalo in the herd. This has been confirmed.
 * Using throwing knives against the Buffalo is very effective. One throwing knife will kill a Buffalo unless it hits its feet, which make throwing knifes extremely useful for quick kills against the herd if the player does not want them to disperse.
 * A Buffalo Mount can also be unlocked in Multiplayer, which allows the player to ride a buffalo instead of a horse. This mount means that the Unnatural Selection trophy can be unlocked in Multiplayer, by way of a player killing their own, or someone else's Buffalo Mount.
 * Since the Buffalos don't respawn, it is highly recommended to save every time before killing a buffalo to avoid a buffalo being accidentally killed by a train. This will stop the player from gaining the Manifest Destiny achievement/trophy. Also, since buffalo won't respawn once the Manifest Destiny trophy is unlocked, it is also recommended to skin any buffalo that have been encountered, as their provisions are quite valuable.
 * Also, players can put off attaining the Manifest Destiny trophy until later in the game, and wait until the Legend of the West Outfit is available, as it will be easier to hunt buffalo because it gives double the Dead Eye bonus. Simply approach the herd from the rear as in a herding task and, use the Buffalo Rifle (Mostly One-Hit-Kills) and Dead Eye to kill most/all of the visible Buffalo Herd. Players can use Chewing Tobacco, Snake Oil or Moonshine to help maintain the Dead Eye. Return to get the rest of the Buffalo, and after collecting the valuable skinnable materials from all the Buffalo save via camping. If there are none when leaving the camp, leave it a day and then return to the area again.
 * Be sure not to rush when hunting the Buffalo. Take time and be sure to skin the ones killed.
 * It is sometimes possible to kill buffalo after they are extinct. Sometimes a random encounter in the Great Plains spawns a NPC hunter who is hunting a buffalo. After players or the NPC hunter kills the buffalo, it can be available to skin for materials.
 * You can use the Expert Hunter Outfit to acquire double the provisions obtained by skinning them.
 * After the "Manifest Destiny" achievement was earned it is still possible to see buffalo by using bait in Cochinay (rare).
 * Buffalo, (like all wild animals) will flock towards you if you have the beastmaster cheat on. Although this will render the achievement useless, you can still kill and skin the animals for their items.

Trivia

 * The Buffalo is unlocked in multiplayer at legendary 2 level 50
 * The Buffalo mount in multiplayer, when summoned, will run away from the player, frightened, to the nearest field and graze there (this is their generic, scripted behaviour in the game), which can be a real pain in a dangerous, hit and run situation. The only way to prevent this is to stand still and allow the Buffalo to approach you. Thus making it one of the most disliked mounts in Multiplayer.


 * The Buffalo mount has no sound effects for moving along traintracks or the ground outside of the Great Plains region. This is because in singleplayer the animal can only be found in the Great Plains, thus not needing sound effects for any other area. This also counts for other legendary mounts such as Bonzo the Super Bull.
 * When replaying missions it is possible that the buffalo can appear, however, killing them does not add to the single player total.
 * The Buffalo cannot be be lassoed; rather the lasso just goes through the animal.
 * Even if you already got the Manifest Destiny Achievement, If you put bait in a certain area on Nekoti Rock a herd of Buffalo can appear but it may take a few baits for them to appear as Bears, Wolves, Foxes, Coyotes, Deer and Bobcats seem to be attracted to the Bait up there as well.
 * Buffalo can be seen being hunted by a trio of hunters riding on horses while traveling to Cochinay during the mission "At Home With Dutch".

Achievements/Trophies
The player must kill a to successfully complete the following Trophies/Achievements:

Bisonte