Fresh carcasses are now a wolf homing beacon?


TWM

Recommended Posts

So I've noticed wolves homing in on my position now because I had warm meat on the ground.

The first time, I was harvesting a deer carcass neer the Quonset station. As it was rather cold outside, I lit a fire next to the deer. Boom: two wolves started homing in on me.

Second time I was trying to get back into the dam from the intermediate zone, coming from Pleasant Valley, when I spotted the well known wolf on the lake. Since I had a rabbit in my backpack and some guts on me, I stank of meat, so I thought: okay, if I want to slip by this guy, I need to lose the rabbit.

Boom: immediately, the wolf starts homing in on my position. Tried to get away from it, but it was way too fast.

So what's up with that? Coincidence? Was it me, smelling like a meat sandwich or was it the smell of fresh carcass. I'd like to know, so that I can adapt my playing strategy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what I've observed, wolves should not react to carcasses lying on the ground unless they are already after you and you've dropped it as a decoy.

When harvesting a deer carcass, the wolves leave me alone until I have some of the raw meat and guts on me. Only then they start moving in, so I immediately drop everything on the ground so they lose interest.

I have no explanation for the wolf starting to go after you right after you've dropped the rabbit carcass.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, TWM said:

So I've noticed wolves homing in on my position now because I had warm meat on the ground.

The first time, I was harvesting a deer carcass neer the Quonset station. As it was rather cold outside, I lit a fire next to the deer. Boom: two wolves started homing in on me.

Second time I was trying to get back into the dam from the intermediate zone, coming from Pleasant Valley, when I spotted the well known wolf on the lake. Since I had a rabbit in my backpack and some guts on me, I stank of meat, so I thought: okay, if I want to slip by this guy, I need to lose the rabbit.

Boom: immediately, the wolf starts homing in on my position. Tried to get away from it, but it was way too fast.

So what's up with that? Coincidence? Was it me, smelling like a meat sandwich or was it the smell of fresh carcass. I'd like to know, so that I can adapt my playing strategy.

I am not sure what you are asking exactly?

Yes if you have odor bars (the white wavy bars at the top middle of the screen) then wolves will be able to smell you from further away especially if the wolf is down wind of you and your odor is blowing towards him.

I know 6 pieces of cooked meat equal one bar. I believe one whole fresh rabbit makes a bar. I know raw uncured guts and raw meat fill more bars faster than cooked meat. So any cooked meat, raw meat, whole dead bunnies, uncured guts, quartering bags and I believe uncured hides all add up to how much you smell and from how far away a wolf will start smelling you and looking for you.

So even if you dropped the rabbit and you still had raw guts on you, he could still smell you. Did you drop the rabbit as bait and then back up so he could claim the rabbit and leave? Or did you drop it and just stand there, or even worse approach him.

When dropping bait you have to give the wolf space to get the bait and not feel threatened by you. Like don't stand between him and the bait, or he will still go after you I think.

Personally I would have dropped 1 gut and backed up with the hopes of him taking it and start wandering away. Then I would try to get as far away from him as possible before he resets and wants more bait....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Further to what has been said above, just because no scent bars are lit up, doesn't mean you're not giving off a smell. ANY raw meat, guts or hide in your inventory will increase the range at which predators will detect you. The more you're carrying, the bigger the range. Eventually, if you have enough on you, the scent bars will start lighting up.

When you dropped the rabbit, the wolf wasn't actually homing in on you, he was homing in on the smell of the just-dropped rabbit. If you'd dropped it and moved away in time (maybe crouched as well), you'd have seen him move to the spot the rabbit was, before checking to see if there was anything else of interest in the vicinity.

If you so much as move a smelly item on the ground, without actually picking it up, the wolf will notice the smell coming from that location.

Once you understand the mechanics, you can use them to your advantage.. have a look at this recent video by @GELtaz, in which, amongst other things, he literally leads wolves around by their noses.. heading in turn to each spot where he creates a scent-marker on the ground.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, JAFO said:

When you dropped the rabbit, the wolf wasn't actually homing in on you, he was homing in on the smell of the just-dropped rabbit. If you'd dropped it and moved away in time (maybe crouched as well), you'd have seen him move to the spot the rabbit was, before checking to see if there was anything else of interest in the vicinity.

Thanks for the input, man! It's greatly appreciated. Your post clarifies a lot, including the Wolf behaviour I've noted.

I'll be sure to take a look at that GELtaz video. He's always instructional and entertaining.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, TWM said:

Thanks for the input, man! It's greatly appreciated. Your post clarifies a lot, including the Wolf behaviour I've noted.

I'll be sure to take a look at that GELtaz video. He's always instructional and entertaining.

I just watched it. The smell testing starts a ways in, it was informative and a little frustrating for me. Frustrating mainly because wolves can apparently smell you from pretty far away even with only one smell bar. This shows that you really don't want to butcher anything too far from a shelter where you can drop things off. If you are not near a shelter and you are carrying a lot of guts and fresh meat, plan on having to deal with every wolf on the map coming towards you eventually....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess I didn't explain anything, unfortunately....:S

Lol, back to the game!

I did some testing with various numbers of pieces of cooked meat on me. I crouched in the tests because I wanted to make sure I was testing when the wolf smelled me, and not heard or saw me.

There was a noticeable significant distance between five pieces of meat and six. Six pieces being when the first official bar shows up. In both cases the wolf turned around and started walking straight for me from pretty far away....but it was quite a bit farther with six. Like an extra 25-50 feet. It's hard to guess exact distances in the game.

With two pieces of meat...I got pretty close. I was probably 2-3 car lengths away before he smelled me....he still couldn't see me though, which was odd because I was pretty darn close. I know this because I started crouch walking sideways and to his right, and he was still walking away from me and in the direction of where he first smelled me.

So with no pieces of meat and crouching from behind the wolf, you can probably almost get close enough to pet the damn wolf, lol.

There was little to no wind at play, as I couldn't hear wind blowing. I am sure being upwind of a wolf with meat on you lets them smell you from even farther away. 

I wouldn't recommend traveling far with a scent level of 1 bar or more, certainly not in terrain where you can't see clearly in all directions...because they can definitely smell you if they are like over the next ridge.

When relocating maps, or traveling great distances...like to a new map I would recommend bringing as little meat as possible. Preferably no meat. Traveling far, or hopping maps is probably the best time to eat canned goods, or MREs you have been stashing in your base for a rainy day....

Just hunt some new critters when you find a new base to settle into on the new map.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to keep raw meat outside the door in Pleasant Valley until this update.  First thing that happened when I dropped the meat was two wolves bee lined for me.  Not only did they hang around, but they stole some of my meat as well.  Cooked meat, no reaction.  You can use this to your advantage, its a good way to lure a wolf into a nice little ambush.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.