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 (5) coyotes.
Coyotes can be found in most areas of New Austin, with abundance in the western half, and Nuevo Paraiso. This can 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 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 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. Sometimes when skinning a wolf after killing it with a melee knife will not collect a wolf pelt. Kill more than 5 to collect all the pelts. But be careful! 5 wolves can take a while to skin and more wolf packs will spawn if you are not fast, this is not always a bad thing though as wolf pelts, hearts, and meat sell for really high in armadillo

The easiest way to complete this challenge is to travel to the Aurora Basin with some bait, put some just up from the cabin, and jump on to the porch roof. you can then pick off any bears safely, and jump down to kill the wolves.

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 and north of MacFarlane's Ranch in Hennigan's Stead. The best place to find them by far, is south of Blackwater. Armadillos can be found in the central regions of both New Austin and Nuevo Paraiso. Boars do not always give tusks, but the challenge counts the number of boars skinned not the number of tusks collected. Not to be done from horseback. 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.

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, this is when the cougar 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.

When killing the cougar you should only need to use the knife because of how fast the knife attack speed is and the relatively low health of the cougar. Once again, 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 accidently kill the cougar, then you'll have to search for another one.

An easy way to complete this challange is in New Austin, just ride around in the west most 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 probabily fail to save the happless person, also that is a fairly dangrous area and wolf packs often do spawn there so watch your back.

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

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, 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. Be careful, though, because this is also a prime spawning point for wolves, cougars, and boars, all of which will attack you.

These animals can also be found at Beecher's Hope and north of MacFarlane's Ranch 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, in and around Tall Trees, 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.
 * Many skunks can be found in Diez Coronas at night.
 * Skunks and raccoons can also be found just south of Twin Rocks at night.
 * Skunks and raccoons also appear behind the General Store in Armadillo.

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 northeast part of Tall Trees by Nekoti Rock.

Elks can be found very commonly at tanner's reach, especialy at night. But be aware of bears and cougars, because they are commonly found there too.

Rank 8: Kill a grizzly bear with your melee knife.
Grizzly Bears can be found in Tall Trees in West Elizabeth. They will be found more frequently when the player is on foot. Use the same technique used to kill the cougar, though it takes three or four body shots to weaken a Grizzly. Also, lasso Grizzlies after several body shots. When letting it go, the bear will run, just like a horse. 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 which may either attack or kill the wounded bear. Once one of these other animals attacks, the running bear (previously confined by your lasso) will stop running and attack as well, 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 said 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 cabin and put out some bait, then stand inside the cabin door. Shoot the bear 3 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 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 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 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. the 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 even if 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, probably the easiest way to do it is 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 job to knife it, however the most popular way is; when it is charging towards you, 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 your are trying to knife the bear hang back a bit, and it will soon go onto it's 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.

The way I personally did this is, I went in circles on horseback shooting the bear in the feet with the buffalo rifle 3 times and when it started to run away I got off my horse and chased it around and probably stabbed it 4 times. You might be able to shoot the bear 4 times in the feet which would require a lot less knifing.

After killing a Grizzly, be aware. More will often show up shortly after skinning the first one.

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 players horse John 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 1 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 wont notice you or he wont spawn. You will have to place another bait somewhere else. Be sure not to place the bait near your ranch, because wolfs will come instead of bears. And also if you kill that bear, no other bear will spawn.

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

Notes:

 * If a Random Stranger encounter happens where a bear is chasing a fellow, and 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 untill its health drops slightly then wait for it to kill the stranger THEN kill it

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.

===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, there will be little problem killing him if staying on a 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 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 whilst killing the waves if 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), R1 (PS3) on their heads until Marston starts firing. This will certainly kill him. 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 1 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.

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 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 word for wolf.
 * Khan the Jaguar shares his 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 the spanish word for fat.