Finally on to the last hunting request for Mrs Hobbs (have completed the Algernon Wasp shopping lists). Need a bat and yet another beaver. I wonder if spending so much time in this game hunting beaver is some kind of meta commentary by the writers.
Any future play through will involve me loading up on a lot of this shit earlier on. Which means prioritizing the Legendary satchel. Of course, the best place I found for hunting small birds is in New Austin, so that’s only available in the Epilogue.
What was so amazing about the site I went to, was that I needed robins, and there was a fucking squadron of robins. There are three just sitting on the ground every morning that fly up when you approach so, if you’re quick on the draw, you can bag almost all the feathers and carcasses you need in one dead eye.
It’s the creek across the road from Beecher’s Hope, where you take Jack fishing and the dog gets bitten by a snake. Where the trail crosses the creek, it’s a veritable turkey shoot with robins, orioles, cardinals, songbirds, blue jays, sparrows, woodpeckers, ducks, loons, crows, ravens and vultures.
There’s a rock on a sand bank in the creek where a small bird will spawn every minute or so. Just harvest whatever is perched there, reset and wait for the next one. Rinse, repeat. A robin is maybe every tenth bird.
Re-thinking things, it might be worth leaving the Mrs Hobbs hunting requests until the Epilogue, because all the birds can be had right here. It’s “John-friendly”, in that the water is at worst waist deep.
To complete the Trapper items I need two Moose, one Bear, one Black Bear and a veritable Hamlin of Rats.
Really struggling to find any of it, but I did find the white Arabian horse on my travels. Oh, and I have broken 6 of the 9 horse breeds, so I almost have the last remaining challenge completed.
I have two Del Lobos’ camps to clean out, but I’m saving those for a spectacular ending.
There are rats that run out from the wharf in Van Horn toward the street.
There’s also a side mission in St Denis that involves clearing a bunch of rats. Small game arrows.
Many rats in the cave behind the Elysium Pool falls but most are mangy. Bats galore there too.
Moose: near the lake where the white Arabian is/was (on the same side, approach from the SW (from the hanging dog ranch path).
The cattail pond above valentine too. There’s a spawn point high in Ambarino sort of near the witches brew cabin.
And if you are desperate enough: Lake Owanjilla, on the shore near the dam, spam 6-8 potent herbivore baits. Run back up the hill (looking away) and turn around to see what spawns. I’ve gotten horses, Bison, and moose there.
ETA:
Spoiler
There’s also a rat that runs out in front of the cabin just before that shit stain Micah steps out in American Venom. Doesn’t help you in your quest but it’s a delicious detail. Fuck Micah.
On the rat front (actual, not Micah), I did the Saint Denis saloon clearing ages ago, but didn’t keep the pelts, or even try for perfect kills, because I never imagined that they would be needed. I need 14 of the little fuckers now, and 3-star rats are hard to find let alone kill with a bow.
It’s one of the myriad of “mistakes” I’ve made while playing, because you don’t get a lot of help from the game itself. E.g. I am two talismans (talismen?) short because I need one gold and one silver earring. I have “acquired” dozens of each earring during my play through, but selling them to the Fence just means they’re gone. You have to save them for crafting the talismans, which is the complete opposite of how the Trapper works.
I sold everything as I acquired it because that is what I thought I was supposed to do. Next time I’m going to prioritize - as everyone says - the legendary satchel and then harvest the shit out of anything I find…and keep it!
Also, taking on the challenges and hunting requests much earlier should make life easier. As long as it doesn’t require a sojourn into New Austin, there’s no reason not to get the majority of it done as Arthur.
All dinosaur bones found and now I’m at 98.5%. The only craftable items left to get are the rat pelts and a silver earring.
I’m just now realizing that I never got the squirrel statue for completing the collection of animals for the wildlife exhibition. I hope I haven’t blown the chance to complete that mission…
Yes, and I couldn’t understand why the wildlife mission stayed on there. I am not getting any prompt to visit Mrs Hobbs, but I now know where she lives…