Subsistence Animal Behavior Guide

1. When wolves first sense you (approx 15m or so) they will usually let out a growl pretty much saying “Hi, how are you? Here I am over here” and will proceed to wag tail at you in a friendly manner.
Wolves have a higher range of detection than bears. Bears you can get to (approx 10m before they can detect you)When a newbie, at the first sound you should stop and crouch, especially if you don’t know which direction the animal is. (Sometimes they are behind large groups of rocks and hidden from plain site but can still be in aggro range)
Once you locate the direction of the animal simply move backwards at a crouch or at least a slow walk, no running at first until you get used to their ranges for detection and attack. If you don’t hear a second warning growl then you’re doing the right thing.2. When they are going to try and attack you.They change from a slow walk to a fast trot after the second growl letting you know that they’re about to come and give you a big sloppy kiss. (Though sometimes they tend to accidentally nip you if you let them get too close)
They will advance until they reach the aggro range and then sprint to attack. You can again choose to walk slowly backwards until/if you can get enough distance to run, or simply shoot them once you have the ammo. Though ammo is precious so i only use the 9mm/arrows on wolves and shotguns/arrows on the rest.

Beware if you stay still once you have heard the second warning, as soon as the animal gets within it’s attack range it will sprint. (Usually approx just past 5m or so) I would not advise to try and outrun a sprinting animal unless you have no weapons (Which is just silly and asking for it) or on the rare occasion it gets stuck on something OR if you are high above them sometimes they can struggle with their path finding and need to go backwards out of aggro range to get to you in which case they stop and reset back to passive stance.

Sprint only enhances their ability to detect you. I rarely ever use it in combat except against hunters when trying to find cover in a chance encounter i have not foreseen. When encountering hunters just use the hunting rifle or magnum. The hunting rifle is rather useless on wildlife compared to shotguns.

Use the shotgun for wildlife. Once you upgrade it to level 2-3 you can start shooting animals with an arrow to lure them then 1 shot them with a shotgun. You can also cheap kill them by luring them to your base. If you stand on the steps of your base and shoot an animal it will run away a decent distance.

Don’t bother crafting medium clothing, go straight to heavy. Helmets are a huge help and once you are fully suited up with heavy clothing, helmet, boots, vest you will easily be able to kill anything.

Animals will only respawn once per day and only at night time.

The mountain lion is tricky without an upgraded shotgun but still easy to kill. They can only be found up in the mountains and there are 3 of them that respawn daily. Try and get 2 arrows into them from a decent distance and you will have time to pull out the shotgun and finish it off. If you require 2 shotgun shots and have not hit it with any arrows make sure you hit the head with those 2 shots. Because a 3rd usually means death. If you’re not sure avoid until you get the first or second upgrades. And literally wait for the animal to put its head against your shotgun. If you are even 1-2 meters away when you shoot, there’s a good chance not all the slugs will hit the head. With a full set of heavy clothing, vest, helmet and boots you can easily take 2 swipes of damage but don’t count on a third depending where your health is at. Once health is maxed out you can take 2 shots easy and heal after if need be. But arrows are easy to shoot and cost next to nothing to make.

The moose can also be tricky early on as he also has a bit more health and can easily break your leg with an attack, which in game means you cannot even jog. Best way to handle, shoot him with an arrow. He will run away after taking an arrow. Repeat the process 2 more times and when you hit with the third arrow he will turn and charge to attack you. So make sure you keep your distance and get the shotgun ready. Always wait until the animals head is pushing against the barrel of the shotgun, then click. If you press too early you will do minimal damage and risk injury and or death.

Gl, once you get used to this behavior you will find the game very easy. Oh and also be very careful chasing chickens, they tend to love leading you straight to a bear or wolf. The best way to pick up a chicken is to use a slight exploit.

Once you get close to the chook, it will sprint for about 10-15m and then stop. If you time it right you can jump right before he stops running. If you can manage to be in midair whilst the chicken has stopped, it will not sprint again until about a second after you land. So basically you can get that last 2-3 m and land right on top of the chook making for an easy pick up. They can only detect you on the ground, not while you are in the air. This saved me so much time once i figured it out. I can now catch them on their first sprint every time.