Hello.
I just recieved my VIP code, and the game looks fantastic. I love the survival feel to it, this is my first hunting simulation, and I've never hunted in real life either.
As expected, I'm having a bit of trouble. I found a few deer tracks that I started to track, I followed them for about 2 km before I gave up, as he always seemed to be one step ahead of me. I managed to get very close to him at one point, as the sound bars on my HunterMate went up to 2 and a half bars the last one glowing green, I took a few seconds to look around me, but I couldn't find him. I started running again and he was gone in an instant.

It's harder than I expected, and I realize patience is a must. I only need some simple advice before taking off again. I also have a few questions to ask regarding the line of sight. Is the deer always visible to you? Or does it only appear when you've gotten a certain amount of clues or when you've looked at the spot it's standing at for a certain amount of time, does it kind of "spawn/appear/trigger" in the vicinity then? Or is the animals literally living and breathing, walking around all the time?

Also, does "Anisotropic Filtering" affect how far you can spot animals?

Oh and I forgot to add, when is it appropriate to use the bleat call? I tried using it a few times, and then waiting around, but nothing appeared.

Oh, by the way, is it smart to run while tracking an animal? Do they usually move all the time? Or did it only run away from me cause it could sense/hear me?

Any help is much appreciated! Thanks.

Thanks! Much helpful.

ok your covering alot of ground here so lets get back to basics:
The Hunter is designed to be as real as possible (within reason) and as such you need to consider a few things whilst out and about in the EHR.
First up...when your tracking you need THREE signs to get the reading as to how long ago the animal made the sign your looking at. Unless your real lucky the first sign you find wont be close to the animal that made it! With 3 signs in the HUntermate you will have a ring round the track location to tell you how long ago it was made, the tighter the ring is around the track, the less amount of time has past between the animal making the sign and you finding it. If the animal is close you need to change your stalking/tracking acordingly.
The animals in The Hunter react to sight, sound and smell! one of any of them can blow your chances of a kill. Usually ill run til i find 3 tracks, from there its a case or going to walk until im sure the animal is close....finally its down to a crouch, to either continue moving slowly towards the animal, or to call it in with the bleat or turkey call.

always check wind direction, and always cover yourself with the local flaura. If your in a good enough spot you can even go prone which will increase your chances of getting clsoe even further.

thats stalking, for calling with the bleat call or the turkey call, then its a waiting game. Sit tight, and call every 10 mins or so, quicker if you have sign animals are closing in. I usually call 3 times with the bleat, (one long and two short etc) and quite a few times with the turkey call....normally if your patient you will get a sound from the animal your calling that will give you an idea of where to look and how far away. then its a case of continuing the calling and keepin low and downwind of the animal.

Thanks to you too!

First and foremost when on a trail of a deer never never run , you will spook ever deer with out seeing them.

This is what you do follow trail in a crouch , look very carefully ahead at all times and call ever 2 or 3 minutes and once you get a response and are about 3/8 away from deer on your HM , you do not want to run into him ,fine a good spot with the best view you can get in the direction of deer , now just call him in it can take some time but be patient.
And if you can get to a spot that you can go prone and still see all the better.

Number one rule in real hunting and this game also if you are moving odds are deer will see you first and then you are had it.
If you are motionless odds are you will see him first and that is the key to getting your deer.
Happy hunting.

Yes, the deer always exist in the game world. I have seen several deer at once without ever seeing their tracks.

In this hunt "Which i just paused" i started with tracking 1 mule deer doe (I hunt does aswell just to get some extra tracking and shooting skills) and during the tracking of her i came across 3 other does that i wasnt even tracking.

Thank you SO MUCH for your help guys! I managed to take my newly learned experience into the game for the first time, and managed to kill my first 4 deers! Your tactics works great. I spotted two other deers aswell, however, I was too hasty and missed my shots. Damn trees in the way all the time. I snapped off about 50 pictures during this great hunt, here's first kill, thanks to you guys:

well done! dont forget to take your time and use the space bar when you shooting!