Tracking Hounds

[22SAS_Wimp]

I've always wanted to see dogs in the game and was very happy to see the retrievers added in the latest update, although I was slightly disappointed that they can only be used for birds.

I've always had the idea that Tracking Dogs could also be added (probably a Bloodhound).

The way I would envision this dog working is that, when you've hit and wounded an animal, you select a blood track for your tracker dog to sniff. I would suggest that maybe it would have to be a blood track that's first sniffed, tracks like footprints can't be sniffed first, for the sake of not making things too easy and making the HunterMate obsolete.
Once the tracker dog has the scent of an animal, it will follow the trail of all types of tracks, with an accuracy that increases over time - much like yours does with the HunterMate.
Although I don't think there would be anything wrong with having the dog follow that one animal's trail indefinitely - until it finds the animal dead, whether you have to have to take another shot or not - I also wouldn't be apposed to adding a mechanic where the dog can only follow a certain number of normal tracks (5 or 8 or something) after each blood track, again for the sake of keeping some challenge and interactivity for the player.

PROS:
Using a dog to track an animal that you have already wounded but not killed (immediately) would help to prevent those frustrating moments where the animal continues on for miles and you get to a point along its trail where, for some reason, you just can't find that "next" track and have to abandon the chase.
With the dog following the trail, it would leave you free to scan tracks and calls from other animals along the way without the fear of losing the trail you were on.

CONS:
If the wounded animal being tracked is neither dead nor dying, the dog has a high chance of spooking the animal if it gets too close, unless the player is on the ball enough to give the dog some sort of pause or wait command, making the chase potentially longer than if the player was following the trail alone.

I hope this suggestion of the implementation of tracking dogs is received well.

[xAncalagonx]

I'd like to see different dogs with different functions, as it were.

Retrievers to pick up birds and rabbits.

Pointers to find and guide you at hidden birds (or rabbits).

Trackers to help you find a specific animal (same way you 'lock on' to a specific set of tracks with huntermate), with a bonus to finding them if they are wounded (blood gives away a very distinct smell).

As a solo-hunter you'll be somewhat torn on what dog to bring. You want to bring one that can find (point), track or fetch?

However, when hunting in a group the scenario would be completely different. Someone might have a really good tracking dog, while you have a good retriever, and another friend of yours has a great pointer.

This way it would encourage group hunting even more, and it would give the different functions of the dogs a place in the game. If you have a 4th player he might have a dog he wants to level up so he'll bring a lower skilled fetcher, for instance.

[Andrewz55]

Hello, i was out in hemmeldal hunting moose and i was thinking "wouldn't it be cool with a dog that could be used for moose hunting, or big game hunting in general". So I was thinking about some species that caught my eye, since i was in hemmeldal i started thinking about some skandinavian hunting dogs, and the first one that came to mind was the Norwegian grey elk/moose dog aswell as the steadily dog, these two dog species are pretty simmelar so im going to wirte about them as if they where the same kind of dog(They basically are, sorry for bad grammar btw) This type of dog is used for moosehunting primeraley, but also for some red deer blood tracking. So the way it is used is you would put a GPS on it and you would let it loose and it would go in the woods looking for scent, tracks and stuff like that. When it has lockated some kind of sign that there's a moose nearby it will start running in that direction and look for the moose. When it then has lockated the moose it will start barcking at the moose, and the moose will stand still and the dog would have a "loos" as it would be called in norwegian. To explain what I mean with "loos" it would basically mean that the dog will follow the moose wherever it goes and the dog will constantly bark until... you know, the hunter would walk up to the scene and shoot the moose. But, here comes the best part, after you have shoot the moose, the dog will follow it until it drops dead and that makes the tracking 10x easier. Beacuse you just check your GPS and see where the dog is, walk up and there you go. Here's a nice "film" showing how these types of hunts go down(And yes I do see that guys in the videos aren't using silencers some people choose not to) Anyway here's the "film": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wGhLy6blr0. As you can see you can get close up to the moose without it being spooked. So, some sidenotes and small things i also would like to say. I would like to see the addition of putting a silencer on your rifle being possible IF you have the "moose dog" equiped, and only if you are going to use the dog, the reason for that being: when you go up to the moose to shoot it, you're only gonna be 30-40 meters away from the dog, and if you fire that loud rifle next to a dog, you're gonna make it deaf, well not litteraly but theres a chance, and most people choose to use a silencer. But only if youre using the dog, beacuse i dont wan't there to be the opinion of putting on a silencer all the time, becuse then people would choose away the bow/crossbow for the silcencer. When you have the silcencer the speed of the bullet does get slowed down some, but that dosent really matter at such close distances. Well, you might say "then why do you just not use a bow or crossbow when youre hunting with a dog, because its illegal to do so in Norway and sweden, and thats primearly where these dogs are used. Theres also quite normal to use 2 dogs on these hunts, thats twice the chance of finding tracks. Heres a picture of the steadily dog: And heres one of the norwegian elk/moose dog: Anyway i think this would take theHunter to the next level, and this style of hunting could be used in singleplayer and multiplayer. So yeah i would be so happy to see this inplemented into the game one day . Thanks. If you have any questions i will try to reply as quickly as possible.

[villethx]

Yeah this is good suggestion Id love to hunt big game with dog like in real life

[CreeperAbuse]

I'd like to hunt elk, deer, bear, or moose with a Norwegian Elk Hound... that'd be awesome!

[ZelticGamer]

+1 I really want a dog for big game

[22SAS_Wimp]

+1 xAncalagonx