Hunting, Fishing, Perfect Pelts, Legendaries

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Recommended Weapons for Hunting

• Bolt Action Rifle - Express Ammo
  
• Varmint Rifle - 22 Caliber
  
• Bow - Small Game Arrows
  
• Rolling Block - Express Ammo (just for Bison & Moose)

Check out the tables below to see what weapon best suits your target. While other weapon/ammo combinations may also get the job done, these are the most consistent. Nothing is stopping you from experimenting though! A bow with improved or poison Arrows can also be a reliable alternative to your Bolt Action that's quiet enough to not scare away other animals and poisoned weapons won't hurt the pelt quality.


How to Hunt
To get a perfect pelt, shoot a 3-star animal in the head with the correct weapon/ammo. It's that simple. Can't get something to spawn in a known spawn location? Go to the location, save your game, load that save. Don't need to restart your whole game. This will attempt to refill the spawns (if there isn't already a corpse).


Studying & Info
Study animals and then check their info and the game will recommend a weapon.


The Buck Antler Trinket
For Story Mode, I recommend you hunt the Legendary Buck so you can craft the Buck Antler Trinket. It allows you to make mistakes and still retain a perfect pelt/carcass. If an animal is spawned with 2-stars, it can't be raised to a 3-star, but if you accidentally mess up and turn a 3-star animal into a 2-star by using the wrong gun or otherwise damaging it, you might still get a 3-star carcass out of it.


Falling Birds
Birds that fall from a great height may lose quality as they hit the ground. I've noticed this when hunting Woodpeckers, specifically. Try and kill these kinds of birds just as they take off.


Benefits of using your Lasso
Instead of shooting large non-aggressive animals, you can lasso and knife them. This will not hurt the quality of the carcass/pelt. If you want to move multiple large carcasses at once, you can lasso a large carcass and drag it behind you from your horse to your destination. This will not hurt the quality of the carcass/pelt.


Predator/Herbivore Bait
Don't waste time with bait. It seldom will attract precisely what you want but can't find. Bait doesn't spawn creatures, it can only lure what's already nearby. I've not found a use case for it that was better than just seeking out and chasing down my quarry.


Sizes

• Massive: Carcass cannot be lifted. Pelt can be skinned and stored in the "Large/Med Carcass" section of your horse.
  
• Large/Medium: One large/medium carcass can fit on the back of your horse. A large/medium pelt can fit in the stackable section underneath that.
  
• Moderate: Two moderate carcasses can be hung from the side of your horse. Moderate pelts fit in your satchel.
  
• Small: Small carcasses can fit in your satchel.

Bow
The bow is given to the player in Chapter 1 and the knowledge of how to craft small game arrows will be known by Chapter 2.

Varmint Rifle
Can be bought from gunsmiths at the start of Chapter 2. $72 + upgrades.

Rolling Block
A free Rolling Block is provided as part of the mission "The Sheep and the Goats" at the end of Chapter 2 and won't be available in shops until after that mission.

Bolt Action Rifle
A free Bolt Action is given to the player at the end of "Preaching Forgiveness as He Went" in Chapter 3 and won't be available in shops until after that mission. However, you can get a free Bolt Action even earlier in the chapter 2 mission "The First Shall Be Last", the Sean rescue mission. After Arthur and Javier silently kill the first pair of guards, there will be another pair of guards ahead in the canyon. The guard on the left is carrying a Bolt Action Rifle you can pick up to keep. It's easy to miss if you don't know it's there and cannot be acquired on a replay.

Animal Map[jeanropke.github.io]

• Weight doesn't affect sell value.
  
• Listed Locations are vague. Use the linked Fish Map if you want more specifics.
  
• No hard rules with the Weather. Just increases activity. I wouldn't stress it.

Fish Map[jeanropke.github.io]


Fishing Tips

• You can use Eagle Eye while holding a fishing rod to highlight fish in the water. This might help you spot the fish you're looking for.
  
• Change your accessibility settings to "Hold to Reel" if you don't like the default circular motion controls.
  
• You can reel fish faster if you repeatedly pull back (thumbstick on a controller) and release every second or two as you're reeling. Experiment with the timing.
  
  
  
  
  
  Fish

  Bait/Lure

  Location

  Weather

  Bluegill

  Cheese

  All Rivers, Some Lakes

  Rainy

  Bullhead Catfish

  Corn

  Swamps

  Rainy

  Chain Pickerel

  Corn

  Inland Lakes, Northern Rivers

  Sunny

  Channel Catfish

  Swamp Lure

  Kamassa River, Lemoyne

  Overcast

  Lake Sturgeon

  Lake Lure

  Southern Lakes/Swamps

  Overcast

  Largemouth Bass

  Crayfish

  Southern Lake/Rivers

  Rainy

  Longnose Gar

  Swamp Lure

  Swamps

  Overcast

  Muskie

  Lake Lure

  Northern Lakes

  Overcast

  Northern Pike

  River Lure

  Northern Rivers

  Overcast

  Perch

  Bread

  Rivers/Lakes

  Sunny

  Redfin Pickerel

  Bread

  Southern Rivers

  Sunny

  Rock Bass

  Cheese

  Clear Rivers/Lakes

  Sunny

  Smallmouth Bass

  Crickets

  Southern Rivers

  Rainy

  Sockeye Salmon

  River Lure

  Northern Rivers

  Overcast

  Steelhead Trout

  Worms

  Southern Lakes

  Rainy

• Story Mode only.
  
• There is no Legendary Channel Catfish.

Legendary Fish Map[rdr2map.com]


Fishing Tips

• Special Lures are available from the Lagras Bait Shop after starting A Fisher of Fish (Chapter 3+) by talking to Jeremy McGill.
  
• You can use Eagle Eye while holding a fishing rod to highlight fish in the water. This might help you spot the fish you're looking for.
  
• Change your accessibility settings to "Hold to Reel" if you don't like the default circular motion controls.
  
• You can reel fish faster if you repeatedly pull back (thumbstick on a controller) and release every second or two as you're reeling. Experiment with the timing.
  
  
  
  
  
  Legendary Fish

  Lure

  Location

  Notes

  Bluegill

  Special Lake

  Scarlett Meadows

  Bullhead Catfish

  Special River

  Sisika Penitentiary

  Chain Pickerel

  Special Lake

  Dakota River

  Channel Catfish

  -

  -

  does not exist

  Lake Sturgeon

  Special Lake

  SW Saint Denis

  Largemouth Bass

  Special River

  San Luis River

  Epilogue

  Longnose Gar

  Special Swamp

  Lagras Lake

  Muskie

  Special Lake

  Van Horn

  Northern Pike

  Special Lake

  O'Creagh's Run

  Not required for achievements.
  Obtained during The Veteran side missions.

  Perch

  Special Lake

  Elysian Pool

  Redfin Pickerel

  Special River

  Stillwater Creek

  Epilogue

  Rock Bass

  Special Lake

  Aurora Basin

  Epilogue

  Smallmouth Bass

  Special Lake

  Owanjila

  Sockeye Salmon

  Special Lake

  Lake Isabella

  Steelhead Trout

  Special River

  Willard's Rest
  
  

• Story Mode only.
  
• It does not matter what weapon you use against a Legendary Animal. You can't damage the pelt.
  
• If you lose the pelt/carcass for whatever reason, the crafting items you would have harvested will magically be at the fence/trapper.

Legendary Animals Map[rdr2map.com]





Other Trinkets
You don't get these from Legendary Animals, but I thought I'd include them for those trying to collect them all.

• Story Mode only.
  
• Animals must not be broken down or skinned. They are required to be full carcasses.
  
• Animals stored in your Satchel never lose quality. Animals stored on your Horse might, so save them for last on each request.
  
• Request #5 can only be completed in the Epilogue, so don't bother pre-collecting those animals.

Animal Map[jeanropke.github.io]

Request #1

Request #2

Request #3

Request #4

Request #5 (Epilogue Only)

This is a list of the total number of pelts needed for all of the satchel upgrades, along with the recommended weapon for a perfect kill. Turn them into Pearson to make them available for satchel crafting.

• Story mode only.
  
• Pelts must be perfect.
  
• Each Satchel upgrade is permanent. Currently equipped satchel is cosmetic only.
  
• You will need to build all of the other satchels before it lets you craft the Legend of the East.

Animal Map[jeanropke.github.io]

This is a list of the total animal parts needed to upgrade all of the camp equipment, along with the recommended weapon for a perfect kill. These upgrades supposedly affect the NPCs moods, but I've never noticed any difference.

• Story Mode
  
• Pelts and Carcasses must be perfect.

Animal Map[jeanropke.github.io]

This is a list of the total animal parts needed to unlock all of the clothing available at the Trapper, along with the recommended weapon for a perfect kill.

• Story Mode
  
• Pelts must be perfect.
  
• More feathers drop off of higher quality birds.

Animal Map[jeanropke.github.io]