Chasing Blacktail deer at the Layton Lakes reserve | theHunter: Call of the Wild

Hello, gamers. Welcome back to my blog.

One of the oldest hunting reserves which come with the base game of thehunter: Call of the Wild is Layton Lakes. Today I will be taking you through my little adventure or misadventures. As I stated, it is one of the game's OG maps, and while the colours are slightly dull, it still looks fine. But I have only explored a small part of this massive reserve. I kind of neglected it because it has a good population of deer and they hide very well in the forest and the long grasses. The ground itself is a perfect camouflage for most of the animals.

Each reserve in the game has a campaign split into many story missions but they are not the best part of the game. We also have side missions given by characters who get introduced in the game by those main missions. They will give you missions relating to specific animals only, which will get harder and harder.

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One of the active side missions was to Harvest two male Blacktail deer and earn the quick kill bonus of 50 or higher. I am guessing the instant death (from heart/brain shot) gets a 100-quick kill bonus.

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I was in the centre region of the map where I could see some 'need zones' for Blacktail deer. I searched for them and soon enough I heard a mating call. It was not from Blacktails but from Roosevelt elk. These are much larger than Blacktails or whitetails but not as big as Moose which belong to the same elk/deer family.

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I soon found a feed zone and close to that feed zone was an elk. It was staring right at me but I was standing behind a small bush so I was somewhat hidden. I drew my weapon and took a shot. It was a straight-on shot and I aimed slightly below its neck to hit its lungs and heart, if lucky.

It dropped dead instantly. When I harvested and saw the bullet trajectory, the bullet punctured through the right lung barely missing the heart. But still, the 7 mm Magnum rifle has impressive power that any vital shot will be a quick kill.

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I continued looking for a Blacktail Buck for my mission but all I could see were Does. I used the lure to attract them and one female came close trying to figure out the source of the call. I was watching from a concealed place, hiding under the thick leaves of the trees.

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I waited a little longer to see if another one comes following this female but no one came so I decided to take the shot. It was a close shot so I removed my scope and shot with no scope. I was pretty confident and pulled the trigger.

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Surprisingly it took some time to go down but when I harvest I found out my bullet had gone through the right lung, liver and stomach. I have never seen such penetration before. Sadly, it was a small female and got me no trophy medal.

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Well, I needed a buck so I continued my search again. This time I tried to look for tracks. Once I found some tracks, I started following them, the little informational widget showed that there are 4 deer in this group. I was hoping at least one of them would be a male.

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I was constantly using the deer caller while hiding in the bushes in case anyone comes to investigate those calls. I believe these callers work only up to 150 meters, so I had to keep moving and following the group.

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After following the tracks for some time I finally got a glimpse of a male Blacktail. He was travelling away from me and might have sensed my presence. By the time I drew my weapon, he was gone and the foggy weather was not helping as well.

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I tried to follow the tracks but after a point there were so many tracks going in all directions it became difficult to know which was which. I was so confused and might have picked up older tracks rather than fresh ones. I am saying this because I never saw that buck again.

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I somehow got to the top of a hill and saw a big lake in the distance. This was the time when I was still following a trail. Luckily, I spotted a couple of Blacktails but both of them were females again. I tried to lure them with my caller. It worked as they stopped and looked excited.

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I laid down over a big rock which would help me hide from the vision of those deers. I saw them from the top as they tried to find out the source of that call. They wanted to climb up this steep hill but they couldn't.

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I waited for a little longer hoping a buck would come too but none other than these two came. Well, I accepted it and killed one of them. At least I can get some cash and valuable XP out of those. Both of those were smaller in size and gave me no trophy even after completing all the four harvest checks on those kills.

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I thought I would find some near that big lake, surely one of the groups will be there in the afternoon trying to quench their thirsts...right? It was not too far and I reached there and saw an unfinished hunting stand close to the lake. I completed its construction by giving some cash and I stood on top of the hunting stand and searched the entire area.

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Not only Blacktails but no animal was in sight. This was a little surprising as you find at least one group drinking close to a lake as big as this. But when I thought about it, this reserve is filled with lakes and water bodies. It is even called the Layton Lakes so it makes sense that not every time you will find animals near the lakes, especially on this map.

I got closer and waited under a tree, hidden from the animals. The weather started to change and more fog covered the entire lake. I switched to the in-game camera and captured some shots. Here is one of the shots I took. Loved it!!

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While I was going back disappointed by this massive lake, I heard a thud from rabbits. These were from the Whitetail Jackrabbits, they are supposed to be everywhere on the map but I saw them quite rarely. They hide pretty well in the grasses and go back to their holes if they sense any danger.

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I picked up my rifle even though a shotgun would be a good choice. But I went for the precision shot instead. I have hardly harvested 5 rabbits in the entire game. I need to carry a handgun so I won't lose on the harvest check and get a better trophy out of those.

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I also heard a black bear's warning call. I quickly located the source of the call and found an alarmed bear. Their sense of smell is excellent and no doubt it knew my presence. The wind was also blowing towards that direction.

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When they are alarmed, to assess the situation better they sometimes stand on their hind legs and try to see the danger. This is a great chance for me to make a shot. The bear would not be walking or running, effectively just standing and looking around. So, I aimed at its lungs just below the shoulders.

It was a good hit which went through the right lung and hit the liver as well. Both of those are vital organs and the bear didn't survive for long. Even then I had to track it down and it managed to go as far as 500 meters before finally dropping to the ground.

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This was a good end of the session. Hunting a big predator gives you a lot of XP and cash rewards. Even though I could not find a male Blacktail, I got many kills. This was not a bad session and I got to explore the unexplored part of the map. There are still many lakes to be explored in the Layton Lakes.

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Thanks for reading...

Until next time...