All Master Hunter Challenges & How to Beat Them – RDR2

While Arthur Morgan tells Charles Smith that he’s not much of a hunter at the start of Red Dead Redemption 2, there’s always room to learn, and if players want to complete the Master Hunter Challenges, they are going to need to prepare themselves for the long hunt that awaits and to truly become the greatest hunter of all.

Knowing how to complete every Master Hunter Challenge in Red Dead Redemption 2 is imperative to the experience of earning 100% in the game, and obtaining the Legend of the East set. Not only is it a fun way to experience the open-world and immersive nature of the wild, but it’s a decent challenge that only a few can master.

1

Master Hunter Challenge #1 – Skin Three Deer

• Rewards: Master Hunter Off-Hand Holster

The first Master Hunter Challenge is going to be fairly simple to complete since deer are extremely common and can be found practically anywhere outside of towns. The most common spots for deer are around the forests of West Elizabeth and the South West of Lemoyne, and players just need to kill and skin three of them in total. The quality of the pelt doesn’t matter, so feel free to ride around on a horse and hunt these elegant creatures with a rifle for a quick and efficient kill.

2

Master Hunter Challenge #2 – Collect Three Perfect Quality Rabbit Pelts

• Rewards: 25 Health XP, $5

To complete the Master Hunter Challenge #2, players are going to want to first grab the Varmint Rifle which can be purchased from any Gunsmith for $0. With the Varmint Rifle, players can now get a clean kill on a rabbit, which will provide them with a perfect pelt, as noted by the three stars that appear when looking at or tracking a rabbit from the bottom right of the screen.

Rabbits are also practically everywhere on the map, so just keep your head down and explore the areas around Bolger Blade and Caliban’s Seat around New Hanover and Lemoyne to find a rabbit with 3-stars next to its name, and then get a clean kill with the Varmint Rifle and skin it.

3

Master Hunter Challenge #3 – Track 10 Different Animal Species Using Your Binoculars

• Rewards: Master Hunter Bandolier

Master Hunter Challenge #3 requires players to track 10 different species of animals with the Binoculars, and this does not mean that players have to kill the animal, just that they need to track it while looking through the Binoculars found in the item wheel. To track an animal with the Binoculars, players must have first studied the animal, achieved by holding R1. Then they simply need to click R1 at a distance to track it.

The easiest path to complete this challenge is to start in Valentine and ride to Saint Denis, as along the way, players will find more than 10 animals that they can look at with the Binoculars and track. For instance, these are the animals we found on our path:

• Whitetail Deer
• Black-Tailed Jackrabbit
• California Valley Coyote
• American Red Fox
• North American Raccoon
• Black Squirrel
• American Pronghorn Doe
• Eastern Wild Turkey
• Wild Boar
• American Alligator

4

Master Hunter Challenge #4 – Get a Clean Kill After Calling to an Animal Five Times

• Rewards: 50 Health XP, $10

With Square/X, players can call an animal while they are aiming at them. This provides players with an opportunity to get a clean kill, as the animal will stop grazing at the grass and will instead look up, before quickly darting away. This has a limited window of opportunity, so try to be fast and use an effective weapon like a Rifle or a Repeater.

Players will want to assume some distance from the animal so that they can safely call it without the skittish creature feeling. The best area to do this is around Emerald Ranch, as there is plenty of opportunity to call Whitetail Deer and American Pronghorn Doe, and players just need to get a headshot as soon as it’s been called, 5 different times.

5

Master Hunter Challenge #5 – Skin Three Black Bears or Grizzly Bears

• Rewards: 50 Health XP, $10

Black Bears are relatively harmless due to their small size, so players who want to get this challenge done should search for them near Wallace Station and then get an easy kill with a Rifle shot to the head. Black Bears aren’t the most common, so just roam around on a horse and then save and reload to respawn the area state, as all players need to do is kill and skin three of them, or Grizzly Bears, but they are far larger, rarer, and deadlier. Here’s where to find both:

• Grizzly Bears: Big Valley, South of Strawberry, Guaranteed Spawn at Vetter’s Echo
• Black Bears: Roanoke Valley, Little Creek River, Bayou Nwa

6

Master Hunter Challenge #6 – Kill Five Cougars With Your Bow, Then Skin Them

• Rewards: 100 Health XP, $15

Cougars aren’t too common to find in the early chapters of Red Dead Redemption 2, so players might struggle with Master Hunter Challenge #6. If that’s the case, then just save and reload the save state in a specific area listed below which may help force a cougar to spawn, as players must kill and skin 5 of them with the bow.

• Cougar spawns: West of Big Valley, South of Blackwater, Cholla Springs

Resting or loading a save will reset the world stage, and since players must use a bow, try to keep the horse you are riding calm and use Dead Eye when the cougar has been spotted to take care of it before it leaps and kills you.

7

Master Hunter Challenge #7 – Use Bait to Lure and Kill Both a Herbivore and Predator

• Rewards: Master Hunter Gun Belt

Completing Master Hunter Challenge #7 isn’t as hard as it might seem, as all it requires is for players to use Herbivore Bait (acquired at any General Store, or crafted) on a piece of land out in the wild, for this, we used Big Valley in West Elizabeth. Then, with the Herbivore Bait placed, wait for a herbivore to go over to it and then kill it, then place a Predator Bait, which will (hopefully) cause a predator to eventually roam over to eat the fresh kill, to which players will want to then kill the predator. Doing this consecutively unlocks the challenge, and it might take a few attempts, so just reload the world state if bodies pile up.

Wild Boars will count as predators for this challenge.

8

Master Hunter Challenge #8 – Catch Three Small Fish Without Using a Fishing Rod

• Rewards: 100 Health XP, $15

There are two extremely easy ways to complete Master Hunter Challenge #8, but it’s important to know that the fish players collect are small fish, as noted by their size and the fact that Arthur can fit them in his pocket. Both ways are extremely fast and effective, and they will be listed below:

• Master Hunter Challenge #8 Method 1: Head behind Granite Pass’s waterfall (South West of Fort Wallace) to find fish flopping on the ground that can be picked up.
• Master Hunter Challenge #8 Method 2: Head to Gill Landing and by the shore, shoot any fish that appear with your gun so that they wash to shore and can be collected.

9

Master Hunter Challenge #9 – Catch an Opossum Playing Possum

• Rewards: 150 Health XP, $20

Master Hunter Challenge #9 is quite simple once players manage to find an opossum. Once players do find one, they just have to follow it and startle it until it squeaks, and doing so will see the opossum fake its death and pretend to be dead. At this point, players can shoot and kill it. Here are the locations where one can find an opossum, and remember, opossums usually spawn at night:

• Riggs Station
• North West of Strawberry
• The Heartlands, near the Oil Rig
• Emerald Ranch

10

Master Hunter Challenge #10 – Find and Kill the Legendary Panther “Giaguaro”

• Rewards: Master Hunter Holster

The final Master Hunter Challenge is rather easy once players know where to go. For this challenge, head to the South East area of Bolger Glade, just West of Shady Belle in Scarlett Meadows, Lemoyne, where players will enter the location of a Legendary Animal – the Legendary Panther, Giaguaro.

From here, players will need to activate Eagle Eye to try and track this great and lethal beast by looking for clues in its victims, scraps, and dung piles. Following the track for the Legendary Panther will lead players right to it. Do be warned, if the Panther spots the player it will pounce and nearly instantly kill them, so make sure to come armed with something hard-hitting and fast like a Bolt-Action Rifle, as the gun used does not matter.

Once all Master Hunter challenges are completed, players can head to the Trapper in Saint Denis to purchase the Master Hunter Equipment Set to increase the Level of their Health Attribute.