Make Scenthounds Better

Share your dog-related ideas and suggestions here
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WolfLQ
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Re: Make Scenthounds Better

Post by WolfLQ »

TheSheWolf wrote:Good on you for good work! I used to volunteer in the field, was a very rewarding experience. And yeah, I used to train dogs in both Schutzhund and SAR, not to titles and on an ENTIRELY hobby basis, but what you say is true. A dog isn't going to just lose a trail, which is one of the things that really irritates me about the in-game one. Like, you have an animal REEKING of adrenaline and smelling of blood plowing through long grass, and you can't smell it?! Are you a dog or?! Dogs can be used to find missing pets (which likely have a somewhat stronger odor, granted, that might stand out in forests) over miles, missing people over busy city streets, dead people several meters under running water, oil leaks at a few parts per billion, and more. The game kinda undersells their abilities.

Unrelated side-note, one of the best moments of my life was as a kid, having trained a pet dog for tracking. Neighbors' kids had lost their 13-year-old cat, who ran outside in a heavy storm, and this cat (a total housecat) had no idea how to survive outdoors. Me, being just a kid, offered to try to track the cat. Given a small blanket she slept on for a source, the dog went off and led me on what I thought was a casual walk through the woods, into another part of the neighborhood, and started sort of idly sniffing about the road. I left, thinking she didn't grasp what I wanted. A few days later, the cat had been missing for 11 days now, and I offered to give it another shot. ELEVEN DAYS, an uninjured CAT. Started her on the trail and she took the exact same route. This time, the kids were walking with me. The dog stopped at the same spot on the road, sniffing about, and I still tear up today remembering the little boy's voice squealing out "THAT'S MY CAT!" Look down, there's a gutter opening there, I got down on my hands and knees and sure enough there's eye-shine down there. We got some neighbors with a crowbar to pop out the grate, and the sight of the cat's owner running down the road toward us in tears to collect her alive (if very hungry) cat after her kids went to tell her their pet was still alive was--well, very rewarding.

Dogs truly are amazing animals. This is one of many anecdotes you'll find out there that should attest to their amazing skills!
Amazing story... definitely a testament to their skills! Thank you for sharing and for helping save the boy's cat! Now to get the devs to see this. :lol:
(Not a newbie! Back after a few years hiatus.)
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xOEDragonx
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Re: Make Scenthounds Better

Post by xOEDragonx »

Seifer wrote:What is a failed track?
My definition is the same as TheSheWolf's. When I say a failed track, I mean a vital track that the dog can't or won't follow, regardless of how many times I tell it to track again. It will often get to a single point, sometimes the first blood track and sometimes the fifth or sixth blood track into a lung shot animal's trail, where the dog will simply freeze/stand/pause in place and NOT give the "?" response but will simply wait there until I give it another command or it will continuously give the "?" at the same track on a vital hit trail. Telling the dog to track a trail again when it gets sidetracked is a normal thing that I expect to do... often with a low level dog and even now and then with a very high level dog. That wasn't what my complaints were in reference to.
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Seifer
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Re: Make Scenthounds Better

Post by Seifer »

Guess I've been very lucky with my dog. Only once has my dog failed to track a vitally wounded animal to it's resting place. My only chief complaints are the collision with the player which is very annoying to me and a sound loop I used to hear after giving the command to stay (I haven't heard this particular sound loop in a while). Sure she's not perfect and I do have to restart a track occasionally but other than that she tracks very well imo plus she makes a great pack mule :) I would like to see her track all wounded animals though, not just bleeding animals.
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Don't mind me, I'm just thinking out loud ;) Mike (Seifer210) ♉
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bk91604
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Re: Make Scenthounds Better

Post by bk91604 »

I noticed another post from around mid-January speaking of these same issues. I posted in that one too. Have these issues been cleared up or are they still acting a bit weird? Mine is level 12 and I have not gotten to some of the maps people are having issues on. Im pretty impressed so far so Im a bit confused as to whether or not this has been fixed.
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VonStratos
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Re: Make Scenthounds Better

Post by VonStratos »

My dog still fail to find tracks at lvl 35, but only with body shoots that cause minimal blood tacks, like an ear shot or leg shot, it bleed 2 or 3 times and then the animal goes back to normal like nothing, i dont put the fault in the dog because if he don't have a blood track..well then he can make a tracking, but lung, intestine or other organ shoot, always end finding them, but so i do, since i learned to track long before the dog were implemented, the thing its that before lvl 20, the scent hound its pretty bad at tracking, and the op is right, it lvl to slow compared to retrievers, i agree with him pretty much their points, maybe don't need be perfect, but after all it takes lvl to 40, cmon, it can fail to track a lethal shot.

By the way: As Seifer said,it make an excellent mule for carrying extra stuff with the backpack, if you can afford it, it could compensate their ineptitude to track in low levels. And about collision, yes the dog usually stumble in the hunter, not a gamebreaking but can be annoying, once it bite my ass(not joking) and my character jumped like 10 meters straight ahead like in cartoons, man i still remember that glitch was so hilarious :lol: , but then again the other day it pushed me against deep pond in the VdB river and i almost drown, that was not fun. :evil:

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"Turkeys...the only animal smarter than man."
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Levado
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Re: Make Scenthounds Better

Post by Levado »

I'm putting mine up for sale, anyone interested?

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Colby777
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Re: Make Scenthounds Better

Post by Colby777 »

I argree my level 11 male dark coat preforms only slightly better then he did when he was level 1.
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rbent23
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Re: Make Scenthounds Better

Post by rbent23 »

I would call it a fail if the dog stands on top of the carcass and gives you the "?" or runs over it and keeps going for a bit and then come back with the "?". I've killed some animals that I could see in the distance and decide to send the dog out just to level him up. I sit back and watch him go in completely different direction from the tracks and the animal until he gets to his max range from me, then he comes back with the I'm dumb symbol "?". If that's not a fail then the dogs should just be removed. I once knew a few old hunters that used to shoot their dogs on the spot for less than that. It's only useful as a pack animal, and an annoying one at that.
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XxStrong1xX
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Re: Make Scenthounds Better

Post by XxStrong1xX »

The scenthound like many other aspects of this game we all love are far from perfect. I get annoyed with it many times as well but unless I have a specific need for the retriever or the pointer I bring it every hunt. Sometimes it gives me the old ? when it shouldn't but it has also found many poorly shot animals that I would have never found otherwise so all in all worth the investment.

Playing off and on since 2010. My original forum profile https://forum.thehunter.com/memberlist. ... le&u=13071
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Sudge
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Re: Make Scenthounds Better

Post by Sudge »

I realize this is an old post however I am new {3 months} at this game. I notice despite the issue being well covered here back in 2018 the programmers have ignored your comments and the dogs are no better. My retriever is good and is already at level 50 after having shot over 5000 geese.
My sent hound is as poor as the comments above and has been well worked to get to level 33 but often simply cannot follow a trail any better than when he was on level 10 or 12!
My pointer is now on level 34 and I have seen him standing one meter beside a Ptarmigan while pointing at another 6 meters ahead! He misses more than he finds.
None the less I enjoy having the dogs hunt with me and believe the programmers have got the foundations of training pretty right. The process is all way too slow. But that too is the same issue with leveling up with a rifle in my opinion. I shot 43 geese with my .17 only to have it improve in level 12 a small 10%! thst means to go from lvl 12 to level 13 I need to shoot 450 Geese!!!! That's simply crazy in my opinion and explains why so few are bothering in continuing in the game.
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