Need more cash in Red Dead Online? Hunting is one of the most surefire ways to start rolling in dough. The process is nearly identical to the way you head out looking for pelts in the Red Dead 2 single-player campaign. There are, however, a few key differences in Red Dead Online that you should know. Here’s how you can master the hunt in the online portion of Red Dead Redemption 2.
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How to Hunt in Red Dead Online
The first thing to concern yourself with when hunting is how to approach each animal. You can use animal droppings, tracks, and even remains to kick off a hunt. Although it can be a particularly slow process. You want to hunker down for a lengthy encounter, if you’re ready to start grabbing animal pelts.
Once you target a potential hunt location, search the area for droppings, tracks, and any other potential leavings from an animal to make sure you can follow it to wherever it’s hiding. When you’ve locked onto something to track, enter Eagle Eye mode (not to be confused with Dead Eye) by pressing in both sticks. You should be able to see any tracks.
Now press R1/RB. You can now follow a glowing path that will lead you to the animal you want to take out. You need to be wary of every sound you make while tracking your prey, though, so make sure you quieten your footsteps by clicking the left analog stick.
Combine these tactics with various Cover Scent Lotions. You can purchase them to help hide your scent temporarily. Although you have to stand up and holster your gun to do so.
Finally, if you’re going to hunt in Red Dead Online, you’re going to need a lot of patience; that much should be clear up front. With that in mind, don’t be discouraged if you don’t secure your spoils the first or even the second time. It can be a difficult thing to master.
How to Get Perfect Pelts, Skins, & Hides in Red Dead Online
To maximize your money-making potential, you need to keep a few important factors in mind when hunting in Red Dead Online. Just like in the single-player portion, the quality of your carcasses determines how much money you get. The butcher will decide how much each pelt is worth based on which weapon and ammo you use, how you dealt the killing blow, and the animal’s quality.
Animal quality is determined by its health and status. To check this, you can press R1/RB while hunting to see the animal’s condition. If you come across a skinny or sick animal, that means you won’t get perfect pelts out of this one. Without these negative qualifiers, though, you can safely proceed. You can see the rating on the bottom left of the screen. One star is Poor, two stars is Good, and three is Pristine. If you find Poor prey, you may as well abandon that particular hunt and look elsewhere. Save yourself the time!
Of course, you also need to account for what kind of weapon and ammo you use when hunting. You can get a “Perfect” kill with any weapon, but it’s easiest and most economical to use your Bow or Throwing Knife if at all possible. Your Bow has plenty of flexibility, for one, in the form of Small Game Arrows, Regular Arrows, Poison Arrows, and Improved Arrows. You’ll get a fatal hit easily on smaller prey using Small Game Arrows, as well as Critical and Fatal hits on medium to large creatures with all manner of ammo.
The way you take down your prey is important, too. You can get three different categories of kills: Poor, Good, and Perfect. This is important, because a Poor kill on a Pristine animal still nets you a Poor carcass. You will need a Perfect kill to bring home a Pristine pelt. That means you need to hit critical organs like the lungs, stomach, heart, or brain for Critical and Fatal damage. You can use your Dead Eye ability to make this process easier, but it will mostly come with time and practice.
Once you gathered a few prize pelts, take them to a butcher to sell for a good amount of cash. You can find the vendors marked on your map with a cleaver icon. Any butcher will work! Obviously, the cleaner, “Perfect” 3-star pelts will net you more cash. So make sure to achieve those tougher kills whenever you can.
It can be difficult to bring home the bacon in Red Dead Online, but there are other ways to make money, too. You can fish, for instance, and farm cash and XP in a variety of other ways. At the very least, this should get you started down the right path so you can become a seasoned huntsman in no time.
