Hunting and wildlife

Animals

Every wild and feral animal you can hunt, heaviest first. Sight is how far it picks out a moving person in daylight; smell is how far downwind your scent carries to it. Clean-kill energy is what a vital hit must deliver.

Animal	Behavior	Group size	Male weight	Female weight	Sees you at	Smells you at	Goes on alert at	Runs	Clean-kill energy	Meat of live weight	Meat	Hide
Black Bear	Shy: bluff-charges up close, attacks if surprised or on a kill	1	154 to 353 lb	99 to 220 lb	180 ft	1,312 ft	230 ft	722 ft	2,400 J	32%	Raw Meat	Black Bear Hide
Feral Cattle	Flees	2 to 7	1,213 to 1,764 lb	882 to 1,323 lb	197 ft	394 ft	115 ft	230 ft	2,400 J	40%	Raw Beef	Cowhide
Tule Elk	Flees	3 to 12	397 to 551 lb	331 to 430 lb	328 ft	722 ft	361 ft	853 ft	2,000 J	40%	Raw Venison	Elk Hide
Feral Hog	Charges when cornered	2 to 8	121 to 331 lb	77 to 220 lb	131 ft	623 ft	180 ft	394 ft	1,600 J	42%	Wild Pork	Hog Hide
Feral Pig	Flees	2 to 6	176 to 353 lb	132 to 287 lb	115 ft	525 ft	98 ft	197 ft	1,600 J	45%	Wild Pork	Raw Hide
Bighorn Sheep	Flees	3 to 10	132 to 243 lb	77 to 132 lb	591 ft	459 ft	427 ft	558 ft	1,350 J	40%	Raw Mutton	Raw Hide
Mountain Lion	Stalks, then attacks	1	117 to 159 lb	75 to 106 lb	427 ft	394 ft	197 ft	394 ft	1,350 J	40%	Raw Meat	Mountain Lion Pelt
Mule Deer	Flees	1 to 6	121 to 220 lb	88 to 154 lb	312 ft	558 ft	279 ft	525 ft	1,350 J	38%	Raw Venison	Deer Hide
Feral Sheep	Flees	4 to 14	154 to 243 lb	110 to 176 lb	197 ft	328 ft	98 ft	197 ft	900 J	40%	Raw Mutton	Sheepskin
Gray Wolf	Predator: may attack	2 to 6	79 to 121 lb	66.1 to 99 lb	394 ft	984 ft	312 ft	722 ft	900 J	35%	Raw Meat	Wolf Pelt
Feral Dog	Territorial	2 to 5	62 to 106 lb	48.5 to 84 lb	230 ft	591 ft	148 ft	197 ft	450 J	35%	Raw Meat	Raw Hide
Coyote	Predator: may attack	1 to 4	24.3 to 44 lb	19.8 to 35 lb	361 ft	656 ft	230 ft	459 ft	400 J	35%	Raw Meat	Coyote Pelt
Feral Cat	Flees	1 to 2	7.7 to 13 lb	6.2 to 9.9 lb	164 ft	131 ft	66 ft	131 ft	60 J	35%	Raw Meat	Rabbit Pelt
Desert Cottontail	Flees	1 to 3	1.8 to 3.5 lb	1.8 to 3.7 lb	148 ft	131 ft	59 ft	148 ft	40 J	50%	Raw Rabbit	Rabbit Pelt
Double-crested Cormorant	Flock	1 to 5	3.3 to 5.5 lb	2.6 to 4.9 lb	230 ft	0 ft	82 ft	394 ft	20 J	30%	Raw Fowl
Red-tailed Hawk	Flock	1	1.5 to 2.6 lb	2 to 3.3 lb	525 ft	0 ft	148 ft	656 ft	20 J	35%	Raw Fowl
American Crow	Flock	3 to 10	0.8 to 1.3 lb	0.7 to 1.2 lb	230 ft	0 ft	82 ft	394 ft	15 J	35%	Raw Fowl
Feral Chicken	Flock	3 to 8	4.4 to 7.1 lb	3.3 to 5.7 lb	82 ft	0 ft	33 ft	115 ft	15 J	55%	Raw Fowl
Western Gull	Flock	3 to 9	2 to 3.1 lb	1.8 to 2.6 lb	197 ft	0 ft	59 ft	328 ft	15 J	30%	Raw Fowl
Norway Rat	Scavenger	2 to 7	0.6 to 1.1 lb	7 to 14 oz	39 ft	197 ft	26 ft	98 ft	10 J	30%	Raw Meat
Rock Pigeon	Flock	5 to 14	10 to 13 oz	9 to 13 oz	115 ft	0 ft	39 ft	262 ft	10 J	40%	Raw Fowl

A person standing still or moving slowly is only picked out at 30% of the sight distance, crouching cuts it to 60%, and at night animals see 45% as far unless you carry a light.

A gunshot panics wildlife out to 2.2 times the distance the shot is heard.

When animals are about

How likely a group is to be up and moving in each part of the day. At 0% the animal is holed up and you will not find it.

Shot placement

What a hit does, by where it lands, for a standard round. Energy needed is the share of the animal's clean-kill energy the round must still carry when it arrives. Meat kept and hide damage are per hole.

A heart or lung hit carrying at least 2 times the energy the animal needs has a 25% chance to drop it on the spot, rising to 60% for heavier rounds.

A round carrying less than 60% of the clean-kill energy only wounds on a vital hit. More than 12 times a small animal's clean-kill energy shoots the meat to pieces.

A crossbow bolt kills by bleeding, so vital hits take 1.6 times as long, and a bolt barely marks the hide.

Walking within 115 ft of a wounded animal that has bedded down makes it get up and run again. Give it time.

Calibers on game

The energy each caliber's standard round carries at the muzzle and what is left of it down range. Compare it with an animal's clean-kill energy and the share a hit needs (the tables above). For buckshot the energy is the whole shell: each pellet carries its share.

Caliber	At the muzzle	Pellets	At 164 ft	At 328 ft	At 984 ft
.338 Lapua Magnum	6,560 J		6,380 J	6,205 J	5,553 J
7.62x54mmR	3,450 J		3,329 J	3,212 J	2,785 J
7.62x51mm NATO / .308	3,350 J		3,232 J	3,119 J	2,704 J
12 gauge 00 buckshot	2,475 J	9	1,076 J	467 J	17 J
7.62x39mm	2,030 J		1,907 J	1,791 J	1,395 J
.50 Action Express	1,950 J		1,721 J	1,519 J	921 J
5.56x45mm NATO	1,700 J		1,608 J	1,521 J	1,218 J
.44 Magnum	1,375 J		1,205 J	1,057 J	624 J
.357 Magnum	750 J		650 J	564 J	318 J
9x39mm subsonic	690 J		617 J	553 J	354 J
9x19mm Parabellum	520 J		440 J	373 J	191 J
.45 ACP	490 J		410 J	343 J	168 J
Broadhead crossbow bolt	130 J		115 J	101 J	61 J
.25 big-bore air slug	80 J		57 J	41 J	11 J
Collated framing nail	60 J		26 J	11 J	0 J

Loads on game

How the kind of bullet changes a hit, against a standard round. Expanding rounds dump their energy in the animal; armor-piercing rounds pass straight through.

A subsonic round carries 60% of the standard round's energy.

A 12 gauge slug is one projectile carrying 3300 J. It kills in 70% of the time and drops game on the spot 1.4 times as often.

Birdshot is 30 small pellets that lose their energy within a hundred feet or so. It is made for birds and small game and never ruins their meat by overkill.

Dressing the carcass

How long each step takes with a knife in your hands, and how fast a carcass spoils if you leave it.

Hide grades: Pristine from 80%, Good from 50%, Poor from 0%.

Meat quality: Prime from 90%, Good from 70%, Fair from 45%, Poor from 0%.

Calls and scent

Tools that bring animals to you or hide you from their noses.

Item	What it does	Heard within	Wait between calls
Grunt Call	Sounds like a grunt and bleat. Draws mule deer, tule elk.	853 ft	25 s
Predator Call	Sounds like a rabbit in distress. Draws black bears, coyotes, feral dogs, gray wolves, mountain lions.	1,050 ft	25 s
Cover Scent	Cuts how far your scent carries to 45% for 20 minutes.
Doe Urine	Cuts how far your scent carries to 60% for 15 minutes. It also draws mule deer.
Scent Eliminator	Cuts how far your scent carries to 30% for 25 minutes.