View source for Hunting Tactics

This page has tips to help you hunt/fight/trap the animals you will need to survive.

== General ==
First learn about the animals you want. Many have a 'weakness'. For instance, almost every animal will hesitate at the entrance to a 1-block wide tunnel. They don't like to be so confined. Some CANNOT pass through this opening. Rhinos are wider than 1 block and just can't fit through this opening. If there's a door in the opening, others may think it's closed to them. But most CAN poke their head through far enough to bite you, if you are close.

It may be a good idea for noobs to practice fighting in harmless mode. The animals will act the same to each other but leave you alone until you hit them. You might save your life if you are prepared to throw out a slab of bacon, or two. (I doubt it works. Moreover, it’s easier to reenter the world to end the chase.) A hungry lion might stop chasing you to get the easy meat. Then you could turn back and attack it while it's distracted.

== Animal Fights ==
If you hear animals fighting, this could be your chance to get some free stuff. Find the fighters and see who they are. If possible, follow them to see who wins. For example, you might be able to jump in and grab the drops from a pack of wolves if they were beaten by an angered bull! The last wolf might even kill the bull and you will get leather and meat!

Or a rhino may have just tangled with a swarm of piranhas and is very hurt. You might just kill it with one lucky blow.

Just (always) be aware of what other beasts may be around. The carnivores will start to come to any meat dropped, so you will need to pick it up and move out quickly.

A pack of wolves may be fighting with the bull in a herd of cattle. If they run from the herd, and they usually do, you can jump in and kill some cows. Then go to see who wins the fight!


==Wolves and Coyotes==
You can get leather from these animals but hunting them is dangerous because they tend to run in packs. There is a way to separate one from the pack, however. It can only be used during the day because they are too aggressive at night. You should have at least a stone club and copper machete is much better. 

Watch the pack from a safe distance and wait until one is a little separated from the rest. Cautiously approach that one until it notices you. Move slightly closer until it feels threatened and it will come after you. Quickly start backing up, do NOT hit it yet. The rest of the pack wiill not be alarmed and you can have it chase you far enough from the pack to hit it without the rest joining the fight. 

Make certain you are far enough away because once it's hurt too much, it will try to run back to the others. You must land the killing blow BEFORE it gets close to the rest. If you think it might be too close, just wait. It may turn back around and come to you again. They often return to the fight before they heal enough to need more than one hit. 
===Fighting the pack===
These animals are braver but stupider in their pack mentality. You can successfully fight a pack if you're prepared for it. You need an iron machete and some flat space to move around in. Make sure the entire pack is in front of you. Just one that sneaks up behind you can mean the end of your hunting career. 

Go up and hit one at the edge of the pack and start moving backwards. Once the pack is engaged, you must keep running backwards. Hit each one as it gets close enough. Once it's sufficiently hurt, it will back off and another will take its place. 

When you hit a new one, the pack defense kicks in and the wounded animals will come back to help it's brothers. Then it will go down with just one more blow. They forget how badly wounded they are when coming to help the others. 

When you're backing up, try to move in a big circle. This can get the wounded ones around in front of the healthy ones, making it easier to kill more before they're all hurt enough to run away. Once all the rest are badly hurt, there will be no more coming at you and you may have to chase them down to finish them off. Don't chase them into a heavily forested area because it's too easy for one to hide behind a tree and then get behind you. 



== Bear ==
You will need to hunt bears for fur if you are to make the warmest clothes. Bears are very dangerous, however, and a new player should not approach one. If you are inexperienced or just don't feel comfortable approaching bears, you have 2 options to hunt:

'''Option 1:'''

Make a trap. You need to make a deep pit, about 3 blocks down, and cover the floor with spike traps, or cactuses. Then make grass traps and cover the hole so animals can't see it. You then must stand behind it, and throw a stone chunk at the bear, or put pumpkins over it for bait. The animal you hit will run right towards your trap and dies because of the spikes. And then, you've got fur!

'''Option 2:'''

Another way is to stand on a two block high tower or a tree, holding a weapon. When the bear comes over, hit it. Keep hitting it until it starts to run away. Then chase it and continue to hit it until it dies. It will be afraid of you, so you can chase it without being harmed. Be careful as you chase it because other dangerous animals may be nearby. Also, make sure you don't get lost while chasing it.


==Hunting for Food==

===Small Bird===
Birds are a meek, frightened animal that will fly away whenever you go near them. But they are weak, so you can kill them with one smack of a wooden club if you could get close enough. Unfortunately, you will likely starve before you can get enough birds this way. Using a bow and arrows is the best way to kill birds. Stone tip arrows are recommended, as they do enough damage to destroy the bird with one hit and are ridiculously easy to obtain as soon as you can find a feather. 
First make a spear to get even one bird for its feather. Even a wooden spear will kill small birds in a single hit. Once you get a feather or two this way, you can throw away the spear and just use the bow.

===Fish===
Fresh water bass, sea water bass and rays will all drop 1 piece of raw fish when killed. Although they swim away, and are pretty fast so you should trap them in a small place and kill them. Bass are harmless but rays can hurt you. Yellow rays deal more damage than brown rays, so be careful when in the water. Rays can also dig into the mud and sand. Brown rays into muddy lake beds and yellow rays into sandy lake beds, making them almost impossible to see. You should move a boat into the water. Then, hold an iron machete in your hand. Then go to the bottom and look for rays, but be careful because they dig. This is not recommended for beginners.

Here's another way to gather fish without any tools, if you find some in water WITHOUT piranha! Dig a trench from one edge of the water, up to 6 blocks. This creates a flowing stream. Swim or wade around the fish and punch it to get moving away from you and guide it into the flowing water. Once it's caught by the current, it's usually trapped. Scare it into the trench and just replace the dirt block to seal off the trench. The water will stop and the fish will die of suffocation. Free raw fish! This trick will also work with rays, just be careful to not step on them.

===Cattle===
Cows can give you two types of food: milk and bacon. When you go too close to cows, bulls will start to attack you. Make sure to kill the bulls first. Then you can milk the cows and kill them for bacon. The black cow regenerates milk faster than brown cows. A black bull will only protect black cows, and a brown bull will only protect brown cows. So given there are no black bulls, you can milk and kill black cows, even if there are brown bulls close by.

==<span style="font-size:20px;">Hunting for Diamonds</span>==

In order to make the best possible tools, you will need diamonds. One way to get diamonds is to kill [[Werewolf|Werewolves]]. Wolves may transform into werewolves at the full or new moon and can drop diamonds when you kill them.

Werewolves are able to easily jump 3 blocks high, run very fast and have powerful attacks, so you will need to be very careful when trying to kill them. They are almost never alone and it's best to trap them rather than hunt them. To hunt them, you might try standing in a tree, or walking backwards and hitting them as you go. This can be effective, but is not for beginners. If you are a new player, I suggest standing in a tree. When hunting werewolves, take only the necessities, nothing you aren't prepared to lose. Once you hit, you can't quit... until they die, or you do. 


===Werewolf Trapping ===

Trapping wolves then waiting for them to transform is effective but can be boring if the full or new moon is days away and wolves turn aggressive if you are too close to them. You may instead have your trap ready then only go to it on the day before the new/full moon. When night falls, wolves and werewolves will scent you and come to get you. If you plan your trap well, they will walk right into it while trying to get to you.

The moon is full or new every 4 days so you can count the days or you could build an [[Alarm_circuit |Early Werewolf Warning Alarm.]] That alarm only needs a [[sign]] , a [[Memory Bank |Memory Bank]], some [[Electric Wire|wires]] and a [[Real Time Clock|RTC]]. The bank must be programmed but the code is provided on the [[Alarm circuit|Alarms]] page. (The Programmable Alarm section.) 

You will need to build a trap for them. Any trap has three objectives: keep the beasts from escaping, keep the character safe and provide a way to kill the beasts. There are many ways to accomplish this and one is shown in the [[User_blog:Stanimus/Circuits_Cookbook|Circuit Cookbook]] world by Stanimus. 

In summary, the trap is a cage with an electric double door. You stand on top of the cage, out of the reach of the werewolves, with the doors open. They will enter the cage to get closer to you. Then you close the doors and activate spikes in the floor to kill off the werewolves. The trap has a way for you to get into the cage safely, to collect any drops (diamonds). This idea can be modified so it can be built into the side of a mountain or on an open plain. You should build it close to a safe house and in an area where wolves are plentiful. 

Remember that werewolves can jump 2.5 blocks alone (so you need 3 blocks high wall) but may jump onto another werewolf and then can jump at least 4 blocks up (so you need 4.5 blocks high wall). When one of them stands on activated spikes and another stands on the first, it can get out of a pit 5 blocks high. Therefore, if you use spikes, to be safe, make sure you have a wall or platform at least 5.5 blocks above the ground. 


===Other Traps===

This is an older way to trap wolves to kill werewolves to get diamonds. Wolves are much more aggressive now and won't let you push them around like this, any longer. 
*'''First''', gather some wolves in a 1 block tall room. I made the walls from wooden fence and the roof is from normal planks. At day time, they[[File:The_"warm"_shelter_-D.jpg|thumb]][[File:Diamonds.jpg|thumb]] aren't hostile, so you can work with them easily. Put some bacon in the room, and then make sure they can't escape.
*'''Then''', you must wait for a full moon/new moon. As you know, werewolves are more than 1 block tall, so this means that they can't survive in a 1 block room. So, they will die. You just have to wait until they die.
*'''Go and collect them :)''' It would be fine if you'd make a path, at least chose an area without many hostile animals, because it's night, and if an animal wants to eat you, all animals around will want. Diamonds will disappear soon, and maybe they'll not last until day comes, so it's the best choice to make a path to your home, or a place you are protected in. 
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