User blog comment:Birchman34/Red Dead Play through/@comment-3455248-20120222023013

Turn off the mini-map - makes gang hideouts and bounty hunting (among other things) much more challenging. With bounty hunting if you don't keep track of your target they can easily escape and you'll have no idea which way they went.

You could also set a rule for yourself that if your horse dies you can't whistle to get a new one, you have to steal another one, rope a wild one, or do a horsebreaking job.