Bounty Hunting



 is an activity which the player can take part in during the game Red Dead Redemption. To unlock Bounty Hunting, players must complete the Leigh Johnson mission "Political Realities in Armadillo".

Description
Outlaws with bounties on their head can be found throughout the land in various locations. These bounty hunting opportunities can be accepted from Wanted Posters that are usually found in towns near a local Telegraph Office or train station. Available Wanted Posters will appear as a white skull icon on the players map. If the player accepts the bounty from the poster, the location of the target will appear as a red skull icon on the map.

An active bounty does not have to be completed within any sort of time period, players can continue free roaming until they decide to go after the criminal. However, if another mission is started while an accepted bounty is outstanding, the bounty will no longer be available when completing the mission. Also, if Marston assaults or kills a lawman, the bounty will no longer be available. If a crime is committed while returning the bounty, you will be unable to obtain your reward until your wanted level disappears.

Players may find taking up bounty hunting as a highly profitable activity. The bounty reward varies, depending on whether the player has chosen to capture or kill the outlaw. Capturing the bounty alive awards the player twice the amount of money compared to killing the bounty although, judging by the suggested methods of other players, it is a little known fact that injuring the target - either by you or pursuing gang members while on horseback - actually decreases the total reward. The resulting deduction depends on the amount of injury inflicted on the bounty.

If the player has a bounty on their own head, it will be subtracted out of the reward and eliminated.

Marston can also have a Bounty placed on him, if he is observed committing crimes. The Bounty for Marston depends on his actions. If he has a Bounty himself when turning in a Bounty target, his own Bounty will be deducted from the reward. Along with the law, bounty hunter gangs will also go after Marston to collect on his Bounty.

Unaffiliated Criminals
There are three different nameless bounty hunter gangs, one in each region.


 * New Austin: The gang that uses Tumbleweed for a hideout is also the same bounty hunter gang that goes after Marston.


 * Nuevo Paraiso: Los Banditos chase after Marston.


 * West Elizabeth: An African-American posse hunt for Marston.

All three gangs are a part of the Unaffiliated Criminals group under stats in the game menu.

List of Bounty Targets
This is a list of all Bounty Targets in the game. The towns are not the Wanted Poster locations, but where you need to take the Bounty to. Wanted Posters with a question mark are of targets already completed. However, the Bounty location may be different (which is what the game counts for completion). There are 8 Nuevo Paraiso locations, 8 New Austin locations and 4 West Elizabeth locations. Game completion progress is determined by the location of the Bounty, not the bounties themselves, hence you do not need to kill all of the bounties in the game to achieve 100% Completion.

List of Bounty Locations
This is a list of all locations in which the player must kill or capture a bounty in order to achieve 100% game completion.

New Austin
Pick up bounty at Armadillo, Rathskellar Fork, or MacFarlane's Ranch
 * The Hanging Rock
 * Rattlesnake Hollow
 * Mercer Station
 * Rio del Lobo
 * Silent Stead
 * Repentance Rock
 * Brittlebrush Trawl
 * Mescalero

Nuevo Paraiso
Pick up bounty at El Presidio, Escalera, or Chuparosa
 * Plata Grande
 * Sepulcro
 * Barranca
 * Ojo del Diablo
 * Rancho Polvo
 * Primera Quebrada
 * Laguna Borrego
 * Hendidura Grande

West Elizabeth
Pick up bounty at Blackwater or Manzanita Post
 * Bearclaw Camp
 * Nekoti Rock
 * Aurora Basin
 * Tanner's Reach

Multiplayer
In Red Dead Redemption multiplayer, bounty hunting is a challenge system than earns players experience. A player who decides to fight the NPC lawmen in Free Roam mode, or break the laws, will have a bounty posted on their head, similar to single player mode. Any player who amasses a bounty of $1000 will be shown on the minimap as a public enemy and an experience bonus will be awarded to any player who kills him. Players who gain bounties and survive bounty hunter attacks will complete Outlaw Challenges. A player that reaches Public Enemy status in a multiplayer won't be able to use Transport spots for fast travel, so bounty hunters have some advantage in order to tracking and taking him down.

Members of another posse can locate these players and kill them to collect on the bounty, as well as earning themselves experience.

Tips

 * In order for a bounty to become available in a town, be there long enough for the sheriff to come out of his office and post it. Bounties are usually posted between 7:15am and 11:15am each day. Seemingly if you start a boxing match in town, the sheriff will come out of his office, and the bounty poster will be posted. Just be careful when beginning the fight that you don't hit the wrong person or pull out a weapon, as people will likely become hostile with weapons towards you.
 * To capture a live bounty, it is usually a good idea to disarm him first in Dead eye mode. Shoot him in the legs to make it easier to lasso him. Before hogtie the bounty, call a horse so that it's at hand. Sometimes reinforcements show up as soon as the bounty is hogtied. Also don't be squeamish about shooting his horse out from under him if he is trying to make an escape, but if you are you can always shoot the bounty in the foot or the leg as this will cause him to fall off the horse.
 * A full guide to how to capture a bounty alive to gain a full bounty, which is know can be very helpful in the game. can be found here thumb|300px|right|Double Click To View On Youtube
 * Camping is unavailable when having a live bounty on a horse, and the only way is to travel back to the town to hand the criminal over to the authorities. Throughout the way back, accomplices of the bounty will approach. It is possible to just ride faster and evade them without shooting them. When near a town, the accomplices will turn in the other direction and ride off. Also, if a gang of accomplices come, kill all of them except one and just outrun him. If he falls back far behind, wait a bit for him to catch up. This will avoid another gang of accomplices coming after and will make the journey back much easier.
 * Save after the bounty is accepted. If autosave is turned on, the game will do this.
 * Be careful, as bounties who are trying to escape will attempt to get on any nearby horses. A bounty on a horse can easily escape, and killing an owned horse will cause to lose honor. If a bounty does make it to the owned horse, attempt to lasso him before he rides off, or take a non-lethal shot with Dead-Eye. Whistling for a horse will cause it to buck off anybody that tries to steal it.
 * Most bounties will attempt to escape after being shot once, however some may pull out a gun at attempt to shoot Marston. Always have medicine ready, just in case.
 * It is fairly easy to sneak up on a bounty's last known location by crouching. But, will not attract attention unless very close or until shooting. This can easily allow to pick off the first enemy or multiple enemies using Dead eye.
 * Try best to survey the area around targets' hideout. When out in the wilderness anything can and will happen so be on guard for things such as snakes and cougar attacks.
 * The enemies that pursue after the bounty is killed or captured do not get off their horses unless they're shot off or their horses die.
 * Even with a bounty on his head, Marston can still do bounty hunting missions and will count towards lowering the amount of bounty on your head by the price rewarded
 * Bounties are posted from approximately 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Saving and continuing will advance the game time 6 hours and as long as in the time range (7-9), a new bounty should be posted. (It takes about a minute for the sheriff to actually post the bounty so the bounty will not automatically show up as soon as you continue)
 * When going after bounties who are affiliated with a certain gang (which can find out easily from looking at the wanted poster for that bounty), dress in their gang attire (such as the mexican "Bandito" outfit or the "Bollard Twins" outfit) and this will make the bounty target and his fellow men not attack so that can go in for a close kill/capture. However, make notice that after given away by firing or killing/hogtying the bounty, reinforcements will still come to try and stop the players on the way back to the jail to turn the bounty in/show evidence of his death.
 * Many bounty locations can easily be dealt with by simply sitting quite a ways off from the location and taking out the entire gang with a sniper rifle. Just get into a good position, pull out a sniper rifle, cap the first goon in the head and the rest will start running directly. With a little bit of dead eye, it can easily take out their whole squad one by one before a single one of them gets anywhere. Be careful using this method if intending to turn the bounty in alive as it is easy to accidentally kill the bounty target instead of one of his goons. Also be aware that the bounty might make a run for it in the opposite direction of your attack.
 * If worried about the pursuing goons coming while loading the tied up bounty onto a horse, it is possible to just lasso the leader while he is alive, and drag him to a nearby settlement or city where the goons won't enter, and then proceed to tie him up and load him onto a horse. Bounty targets seem to last longer while being dragged from a horse than normal NPCs do.
 * The bounty target and his gang are only roused when the first gang member is attacked. Shoot all nearby horses before beginning assault and the gang will not react. Once all the gang's horses are dead, there is less chance the bounty target will be able to ride off.
 * Sometimes the bounty target may attempt to flee on horseback and may accidentally commit suicide by riding into deep water or jumping off of a cliff
 * Even when your bounty is lying across the back of your horse, he can still still be inadvertantly shot and killed by pursuing gang members. Keep a good distance ahead or kill pursuing gang members as they approach your steed if you want the bounty alive.

Trivia

 * All of the men wanted for a crime in bounty hunting can be found in gang hideouts in multiplayer.

Achievements
Two trophy/achievement are associated with completing bounty hunting missions: