American Buffalo

''This article is about the American buffalo. For the albino mount, see Albino Buffalo.''

The  is an animal found in Red Dead Redemption. Like all animals found in the game, the can be hunted and skinned for profit or sport, but unlike other animals in the game, the Buffalo can be completely wiped out.

Location
Buffalos can be found in the Great Plains, most commonly to the Northwest of Blackwater (see map below and to the right for help). There is only one herd of Buffalo in the game, consisting of exactly 20 buffalo and they quickly disperse when shots are fired, so using the Dead Eye targeting system and aiming for multiple headshots is recommended. However if you don't kill them immediately they re-herd every day or two. This will stop you 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 would.

Buffalos can also wander out of their standard area. They can sometimes be spotted in Thieves' Landing or just south of Blackwater, but this a rare occurrence.

Unlike other game Buffalo do not regenerate. Killing 20 will grant you an acheivement but there will no longer be buffalo in the Great Plains.

Tips and Tricks
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.

The Evans Repeater is one of the best guns to use when starting to kill Buffalo because it is very good in Dead Eye mode and it can also hold 22 bullets in one magazine. A good technique is to move in the front of the Buffalos and use dead eye to put two markers on each Buffalo's head. This way the player can take down 11 of them in one dead eye burst.

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 someone else, or their own Buffalo Mount. (The mount will be unlocked at level 50 of Legend tier 1. Please refer to the table of Mount Unlock Requirements for more information)

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 to not rush when hunting the Buffalo. Take time and be sure to skin the ones killed.

If in Free Roam, it isn't possible to hunt buffalo unless killing a mount or someone else's mount first.

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.

Trivia

 * 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.


 * 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 or 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.
 * Another and more common name for the buffalo is the "American Bison" or "American Buffalo", since there are more than one type of species of buffalo.

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