Introduction
TheHunter has a distance limit at which animals can be seen. In a flat area, animals disappear from your view at a horizontal distance of 220m (~722 ft). This is the so called rendering range or rendering limit. The distance of 220m was officially stated by EW here. Read here why the rendering distance cannot easily be increased.
Note that the rendering distance is
- the same for all graphic settings
- the same for all computers and their performance
- the same for all animals
- the same for all hunting maps
- independent of your skill levels
Excelling the Rendering Range
There are competitions for the longest shot on one or more animals, such as Whitetail Marksman. How can you achieve shots that go beyond this distance? The trick is that you increase the viewing distance by adding elevation.
The following drawing explains the math behind how elevation increases your viewing distance.
As you can see in the drawing, adding height between you and the animals allows for longer shots. Shooting uphill or downhill has the same effect, however it is much easier to shoot downhill, as you can see the animals behavior in the valley much better than on top of a hill.
The following table shows how viewing distance increases with every 10m added to the height difference:
| Height difference | Shot distance |
|---|---|
| 0m | 220.0m |
| 10 m | 220.2 m |
| 20 m | 220.9 m |
| 30 m | 222.0 m |
| 40 m | 223.6 m |
| 50 m | 225.6 m |
| 60 m | 228.0 m |
| 70 m | 230.9 m |
| 80 m | 234.1 m |
| 90 m | 237.7 m |
| 100 m | 241.7 m |
| 110 m | 246.0 m |
| 120 m | 250.6 m |
| 130 m | 255.5 m |
| 140 m | 260.8 m |
| 150 m | 266.3 m |
| 160 m | 272.0 m |
| 170 m | 278.0 m |
| 180 m | 284.3 m |
| 190 m | 290.7 m |
| 200 m | 297.3 m |
| 210 m | 304.1 m |
| 220 m | 311.1 m |
| 230 m | 318.3 m |
| 240 m | 325.6 m |
| 250 m | 333.0 m |
| 260 m | 340.6 m |
| 270 m | 348.3 m |
| 280 m | 356.1 m |
| 290 m | 364.0 m |
| 300 m | 372.0 m |
| 310 m | 380.1 m |
| 320 m | 388.3 m |
| 330 m | 396.6 m |
| 340 m | 405.0 m |
| 350 m | 413.4 m |
| 360 m | 421.9 m |
| 370 m | 430.5 m |
| 380 m | 439.1 m |
| 390 m | 447.8 m |
| 400 m | 456.5 m |
Early Days Guides (2011)
These guides are from the original guide in the forum and described what to do when no fast traveling was available. Although outdated, they describe many of the techniques still required.
Whitetail Marksman Competition
Whitetails appear on all maps. At the time of writing this (Nov 2011) the greatest elevations in the game are at Redfeather Falls, near the waterfalls in the east. However the greatest elevation does not help if there are no animals, i.e. Whitetail Deer in this case. The canyons at Settler Creeks or Logger's Point are much better.
Settler Creeks is the preferred place for Whitetail (as well as Hogs and Roosevelt Elk for that matter) for these reasons:
- It provides greater elevation.
- It has more animals near the canyon.
- Going to the top is muuuuch easier.
What is also important is that the bottom of the hill is rather free of trees, and this is essential. It is really difficult if you do not see the animal walk into the target area. The same is true for the LP canyon though. Here is a good place for long shots for the competition:
A picture from the bottom of this hill:
If you are interested in long range shooting in general or this competition in particular, here are some tips:
- If you set out for this and it looks like a rainy day, restart. There is nothing more nerve racking in long range shooting than when you have just prepared everything perfectly and are ready to shoot, and then rain sets in. You will not see the animal in the target area when it rains.
- Expect 30-60 minutes per animal. Depends on how far you have to lure them from.
- The best time (for all canyons) is around noon. Not because of the animal spawning, but because of the light. You want that prey in the spot light!
- Use urine spray in the target area. The spray lasts quite long (10-12 ingame minutes), and when it stops luring the animal will still come, as if you called for a last time. So you have about 15-20 in-game minutes to get in position.
- When the deer is 100-150m away, place the spray and start going up. This way it won't hear you, and you have enough time.
- Lure females, they rarely spook.
- Lure them from north-east or north-west. Not good from south, as they will be outside the rendering distance and you don't see them come in.
- Wind in the canyon is from south-west. You might consider scent eliminator if the deer comes in from north-east.
- You can walk up on both sides of the canyon. Go up the east side if possible, it is much shorter.
- Lay down for the shot if you can. I have shot them kneeling, but this way I have missed more often than I hit. Since the introduction of multiplayer it is no longer possible to shoot down from trees while prone.
- They will walk in, stop, walk, stop. Make sure to shoot when they stand still.
- Aim at the middle of the lungs, slightly high. Bullet drop is minor.
- There are often elk cows or turkeys in the canyon. They call all the time and you can't get deer calls. Just chase them away or shoot some of them.
- Use the treestand in the shooting area to gain even more elevation. It also helps you to go even further up the hill without losing sight to the target area.
Before you do the final luring to the target area, make sure the deer is in either of the yellow circles. So call them there first, then walk down and call them to the target spot. This way it is rather easy and you can see them come in.
In order to achieve the longest shot, you must find the best combination of
- the highest spot or tree with sight to the bottom
- the lowest spot in the valley, where you can still see the animal
In summary, the one that finds the best combination of these two factors gets the longest shot.
Mule Deer Longshot
Lure a herd of mule deer does (easier) or bucks to bottom of the canyon. Run up on the west side and climb your tree stand.
Longest Kill Shots Known
Longest Bow Shot
There used to be a limit for lowering rifles (this was removed in March 2016). This limitation had limited the longest shots for rifles to about 350m. Even though you could see the animals from further away thanks to a great elevation difference, you could not lower the rifle to hit the animal down in the valley. Smart players overcame this hindrance and used bows. The arrow drop allowed to shoot over all distances.
The currently longest kill shot known with a bow was done with a Recurve Bow by player INTIMID883R in the Whiterime Ridge reserve with its incredibly high mountains.
File:Longest bow shot stats.png
Longest Rifle Shots
After the removal of the limit for lowering and raising rifles in March 2016, it is now possible to make shots over any distance at which you can still see the animals. The longest known shot for rifles and overall is 445.79m. This corresponds to a height difference of about 387.7m. Player Steamboat_Willie used a .300 Bolt Action Rifle (Composite) with 3-9x40mm Scope. The shot was done in Whiterime Ridge.
File:Longest rifle shot stats 2.png
The shot location was established earler with a 444.4m. This corresponds to a height difference of about 385.8m. Player HooCairs used a 9.3x62 Anschütz 1780 D FL Bolt Action Rifle (Engraved) with 12x50mm Rifle Scope.
File:Longest rifle shot stats.png
File:Longest rifle shot map.png
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How Long Range Shooting changed over time
Read below the changes over time and which factors made it easier or harder respectively.
1) Bones and hit detection
NOW HARDER: With the addition of bones such as shoulder blade or skull to the animals it has become a lot harder to kill animals over 250-270m in one shot. For the longest time the record shot was a 272.80m shot from player BraYnex. He used the .30-06 and killed a Roosevelt Elk on Settler Creeks. This is close to impossible now. Along with the added bones the hit detection has also changed and vital organs now appear harder to reach even with strong rifles. Back in the days if you hit the animal with a rifle, it died in most cases. Nowadays many shots fail to kill the animal because the vital organs cannot be hit, or a body shot won't do enough damage.
2) Stands
NOW EASIER: With the addition of treestands and tripods new abilities have risen. Most shots in the old days were done from hilltops or slanted trees. If there was no tree you would have to find a good spot that kept the view into the valley open. Treestands not only solve the problem of objects in the view, but also add a good deal of height which result in longer shots possible. The problem in many places is that you cannot go further up the hill and increase the distance because there is a slight ledge in front of you that breaks the view, or there are trees, rocks and shrubs. This can be resolved with both treestands and tripods, letting you see over that ledge and also adding more height.
3) Multiplayer - Finding good spots
NOW EASIER: How much time did it take to find out if an animal could still be seen in a certain target area when shooting from a hill or slanted tree! Countless hours were required, luring animals to the spot to see where it disappeared. Also sometimes I killed an animal in the valley and then walked backwards to find out when it disappeared from my view. Now with MP this has become incredibly simple. Instead of tinkering with live or dead animals, you simply install yourself at the top and send a friend to the target area that you want to figure out. As soon as the other player (which underlies the same rendering limits as the animals) disappears, you know the max distance in that setting. A place can be completely "measured" within less than an hour which used to take many long nights before.
4) Multiplayer - Luring the animals
NOW EASIER: Before MP the same player had to lure the animal to the target position before making their way up to the shooting position. It was important when and where the animals would start their way down to the target position. If timing or location where badly chosen, the animal could arrive too early, or not at all because the luring effect expired, or they could be spooked by the player sneaking past them trying to make it to the top. Again, countless hours were spent to figure out the pattern for each animal at each location. Now, just wait at the top and let your friend lure the animal to its place. Simple as that.
5) Shot information on the score sheet
NOW EASIER: The original score sheet did not feature a kill map, but only the coordinates where the animal was harvested. When analyzing other people's shots you would have to guess many times where they had executed their shots from and to. In today's score sheets you can see the location of both the animal as well as the shooter. The information is from a rather high level but still accurate enough that you can almost figure out which tree exactly they were using. Copying long range shooting has become a lot easier and more and more people give this a go. Also accusations for cheating have gone down greatly because of this information now being available.
6) Weapons and scopes
NOW EASIER: Some items were added that make certain scenarios easier.
- The 12x zoom scope allows for a better view on the animals in the target position. It can be used for the Anschütz rifles which however still seem inferior to the mighty .300. I also feel they wobble a lot more, but of course the wobbling is increased when using a higher zoom level.
- Shooting turkeys long range was only possible with the .44 Revolver for the longest time. The max range was around 140m. I even had to hit one turkey twice with it in one occasion. After the addition of the muzzleloader player ninashunt found out you could actually kill turkeys over a slightly higher range, about 145m. Then the .223 was added with changed everything. You can now shoot the turkeys up to the rendering limit with this rifle.
7) Fast traveling
NOW EASIER: This is the biggest change by far when playing single player! If you have read everything so far you can imagine how difficult it used to be to arrange the entire setting so that the animal and the shooter would be in the right place at the right time. Now this is all gone. You simply lure the animal from anywhere to the target position. Then you fast travel to a tent right next to your shooting place and look down, and there it is. You can blow it by waiting too long until it detects you and spooks, or when the animal is still too close to the tent. Fast traveling spooks the animals within a certain distance of the tent. The setting where this does not work is when shooting animals near a feeder. A tent must be 400m away from a feeder and if you fast traveled there, the animals would have left the rendering view. However, when using feeders there is no luring needed in the target area. You simply install yourself at the shooting position and look down to see what is already there. Then you shoot animals that walk away from the feeder in the opposite direction from you and towards the rendering limit. After a few trials you will figure out where to put the food container so that the animals are in the right distance to the rendering limit.
Video Guides
| Whitetail Deer Settler Creeks by Vitalxx81 |
276m shots Settler Creeks by AVC2013 |
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| Mule Deer Logger's Point by Vitalxx81 |
Mule Deer Logger's Point by Juagarzo |
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| Coyote Logger's Point by AVC2013 |
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Black Bear Settler Creeks by AVC2013 |
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| Roe Deer Hemmeldal by AVC2013 Part 1 |
Part 2 | ||
| European Rabbit Val-des-Bois by xXErnestoXx |
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Brown Bear Val-des-Bois by INTIMID883R |
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| Brown Bear Val-des-Bois by ronMctube |
Brown Bear Hemmeldal by ronMctube |
