Not to be confused with Rancher.

Hunters are unseen solitary or groups of humans prowling the wilderness in search of animals to kill or populations to cull. They hunt both prey and predator alike to harvest — for trophy specimens, or for survival resources such as food and materials.

In WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition, human hunters are all-weather non-entity NPCs whose position is virtually impossible to pinpoint. They are most featured in and are best associated with the Hellroaring Mountain game world. There are traces of former presence in the expanded Lost River game world.

In game maps where here they are an active threat, a hunter will make their presence known when their first shot at their target rings out, creating a startling noise which some wolves will be reactive to^[1] and dealing significant but often non-lethal damage if at high health and consequently giving away their position by marking themselves on the compass with a red double-exclamation marks icon. This only appears for a short period of time to indicate the source of the disturbance; if inspected, nothing will be found, and the player will have wasted precious time which could have been spent escaping to safety. A player-wolf who is struck by a bullet will see a brief flash of red in the direction relative to the position of where the hunter opened fire confirming they were grazed or hit along with receiving a minor or major injury. This continues at intervals until either the player-wolf escapes by reaching safety (re-entering the park boundaries) or until their wolf is killed.

Although some hunters do train dogs to help make themselves more efficient trackers and retrievers in real life, the hunters depicted in-game do not visibly travel with domesticated canine companions of any description, suggesting they operate independently of assistive working animals.

In WolfQuest: Classic, human hunters make no appearance in-game.

In Legacy versions of WolfQuest, despite false old rumors claiming they exist, human hunters make no appearance in-game.

Yellowstone[]

In the Anniversary Edition, the only human presence in Amethyst Mountain and Slough Creek include signs of hikers and lost and forgotten belongings left behind by tourists. Owing to these maps being well within the protection range of Yellowstone National Park, hunting its wildlife in these locations is deemed illegal. The player-wolf and their pack are afforded complete safety from this threat whilst in these locations.

In Classic, human hunters make no appearance in Amethyst Mountain and Slough Creek. They are completely absent due to the game taking place within Yellowstone National Park, whose wildlife remains protected for as long as it remains within the park, where any on-site hunting for sport is deemed illegal. Although there are vague suggestions that may allude to humans in Lost River, none have remained behind and they are not considered to be a present threat within this game world. No part of the game explores unprotected wilderness, thus there is no need of them.

In Legacy versions, human hunters make no appearance in Amethyst Mountain and Slough Creek. They are completely absent due to the game taking place within Yellowstone National Park, whose wildlife remains protected for as long as it remains within the park, where any on-site hunting for sport is deemed illegal. No part of the game explores unprotected wilderness, thus there is no danger of straying and by extension, no need of this threat.

Hellroaring Mountain[]

In the Anniversary Edition, much of Hellroaring Mountain's terrain is based within the park's protective radius. Only the area to the north of the game map features a visible border on the world map serves as a marker with a clear warning the first time it is passed. All of the land on the south side of this border is Yellowstone National Park — safe land where wildlife is protected and hunting is illegal. However, all of the land to the north of this border is Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness — potentially dangerous land and unprotected wilderness where wildlife is unknowingly not safe if it strays outside of the park, where hunting is perfectly legal and potentially dangerous to all who dare cross over.

It is in this unprotected wilderness where hunters will set up their temporary camp, decoys, and traps during the fall hunting season. They are an active hazard throughout the day. At night, they return to their campsite shortly after sunset, where they will sleep overnight and pose no further danger to the player-wolf and their packmates until sunrise. The player-wolf may find human danger scent spores while exploring in scent view, which will lead to the hunters' encampment site. The hunters' main target may be the leucistic elk belonging to Snowberry herd, though it's not unlikely for them to be searching for any trophy kills they can find... wolves included.

This entity shares some similarities with the ranchers of Lost River. There is a good probability of their coding having been reused and modified. If the player escapes the wilderness and returns to the safety of the park, any hunters in pursuit may continue to fire awhile longer but will not cross the border. They will eventually stop shooting and forfeit their wolf hunt to may move on in search of something else to hunt.

In Classic, Hellroaring Mountain was not developed for this version of the game, nor will it be backported. As such, it does not exist.

In Legacy versions, Hellroaring Mountain was not developed for this version of the game, nor will it be backported. As such, it does not exist.

Lost River[]

In the Anniversary Edition, there are two Lost River maps.

Lost River (Anniversary Edition)

The expanded Lost River is canonically abandoned. No hunters have remained behind and those who knew of this location do not seem to make any return trips to it during the fall hunting season. The only human threat the player-wolf faces here comes from ranchers and only ever when caught trespassing. That said, traces suggesting former hunter habitation can be found in the Midnight Pass Hunting Club lodge.

Lost River (Classic)

Classic Lost River is canonically abandoned and therefore safe in that there are no hunters in this location.

Audio[]

Anniversary Edition Audio

Anniversary Edition • Hunter Audio Clips
Type	Clip
Gunshot
Gunshot

Gallery[]

Anniversary Edition Gallery

Contributions for Hunter from the Anniversary Edition are welcome in this gallery!

Bugs[]

Anniversary Edition Bugs

When the rifle is fired, the sound of it can be heard across the entire game world.

Trivia[]

Wolves tend to avoid crossing paths with humans.
- A common misconception paints wolves in the light of being bloodthirsty and savage.
While it is illegal to kill and harvest an animal inside of the park, it is perfectly legal when an animal leaves the park of its own accord.
- Sadly not all hunters honor or respect this. There are documented cases of Yellowstone's wildlife being shot, killed and harvested illegally. Some of these faced repercussions.

Anniversary Edition Trivia

Dying to a hunter yields a unique death message.
- Hellroaring Mountain is the first game world to explore the possibility of wolves and hunters crossing paths.
The gun fired is a rifle based on the audio clip's stock sample.
Gunfire deals variable damage based on the player-wolf's radius relative to the position of the hunter shooting at them.
- At close range, bullets may deal heavy damage. It will often be fatal at mid-to-low health if the player fails to gain sufficient distance.
- At far range, bullets will only scrape or graze, causing low damage. Low odds of fatality unless at low health if the player fails to gain sufficient distance.
- Out-of-range, bullets may miss their target altogether. Very low odds of being shot once outside of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.
Tip: much life real life, a moving target is harder to hit, but a stationary target is an easy strike. Keep moving and don't hang around in one spot for too long!
Unlike ranchers in the expanded Lost River, hunters possess scent spores found at their campsite.
- The hunters appear to be experienced trappers based on their familiarity with and use of traps to capture and deterrents to lure and ward away predators. Furthermore, they appear to have excellent knowledge of tracking.

The hunter(s) have no 3D model or entity of their own. They are completely unseen across all versions of WolfQuest.

References & External Links[]

↑ 2.0.0, noted under General Improvements.

[1] 2.0.0, noted under General Improvements.

[1]