To survive longer in DayZ, you need to familiarize yourself with some of the game’s essential mechanics. Finding food can be challenging at first, and canned food is not always easy to find on busy servers. Your best source of food is nature itself. As in many other survival games, wild animals are your best chance to obtain rich and tasty food. But how can you hunt successfully in DayZ? Today, we will take a closer look at all the important points on this topic so that you can become a pro and never go hungry again.
Which Animals to Hunt?
DayZ is rich in various animals that you can find and kill. While some are very easy to find, you will have to venture deep into the forests and face significant challenges for others. Initially, you should focus on domesticated animals, but later on, specific hunting in the forest is a better solution.
Domesticated Animals: After the zombie apocalypse, there are still plenty of farm animals that call the world of DayZ their home. In villages, fields, or cities, you can find cows, goats, chickens, pigs, and sheep. They are less shy and therefore easy to find and kill. However, they become rarer the longer a server is online. Cows are by far the best animals to hunt in this category.
Wild Animals: Further away from human civilization, you will find wild animals. These primarily live in forests and are not as easy to hunt. These include wild boars, deer, hares, foxes, and reindeer (Frostline only). Focus on wild boars and later on deer.
Aggressive Animals: Deeper in the forests of Chernarus, you will encounter wolves and bears. Definitely stay away from these two predators! They will attack you and can kill you faster than you might like. Nowadays, their meat is not worth it since it can give you salmonella 50% of the time, even if cooked.
Preparing for a Successful Hunt
Of course, you should not go hunting unprepared, as you might let an animal slip away. The weapons you use to venture into the forest and look for food are particularly important.
Knife: A knife is necessary to gut the animal later. It doesn’t really matter which knife you use. They all work equally well, but they last for different durations. Additionally, knives can be useful if a bear or wolf surprises you.
Sniper: You need a good and reliable weapon for accurate shots. There are many good rifles in DayZ, and you should use the one that suits you best. High calibers are more lethal. An additional attachment for better zoom is also good to see animals from a further distance. The Mosin 91/30 and M70 Tundra are the best options. For the very brave, the crossbow is also a brilliant weapon! But at the end of the day, it’s your decision what to go hunting with.
Efficiently Identifying Animal Locations
The hunt can now begin, but it’s not that simple. Animals spawn only in certain regions and have a limited number. So you won’t find a bunch of deer in one spot. Additionally, animals roam, making it more challenging to discover them. The best spots are abandoned farms for domesticated animals or water sources for wild animals in the forest.
Your ears are your best tool, so it’s best to use good headphones and stereo sound to play DayZ. This way, you can hear the calls and sounds of animals in the distance and follow them. Each animal makes its own noises that you can hear and learn. Study these and try to differentiate them and then follow the sounds. This will likely lead to a successful hunt.
If you still can’t find anything, the iZurvive Map is a good resource for you. Here, all current spawn points for each animal are marked. These are labeled with their respective symbols and can be individually selected in the legend.
Effective Hunting Methods for DayZ
Now you’ve spotted an animal and want to kill it. It’s best to proceed quietly and calmly so the animal doesn’t notice you and run away. Observe the animal for a while and learn how it moves. It might be that you shoot at the wrong moment and the animal moves at that exact time.
We recommend focusing directly on a good headshot. This will kill most animals with one shot and ensure you get the most meat. The rest is a matter of practice!
Efficiently Processing and Utilizing Prey
After a successful hunt, the dead animal lies before you, and you need to gut your catch first. You will receive various items that can help you during your time in DayZ. Hunting provides you with much more than just meat! With a knife or ax, you can skin and quarter the animal. How much you get depends on the condition of your tools.
Be sure to wash your hands afterward or wear gloves. You can learn more in our post about diseases (DayZ: Ultimate Guide to Health and Healing)
Pelt: Can be processed into leather with garden lime, which you can use, for example, to make a leather backpack.
Meat: Suitable for consumption but only if you cook, roast, or dry it (Ultimate Guide: Finding Food in DayZ and Surviving)
Offal: Should not be eaten due to the risk of salmonella. However, it can be processed into ropes and cords.
Fat: Fat can be eaten but also used as a cooking ingredient. Additionally, it is practical for making torches.
Bones: Especially useful early on as fishing hooks or bone knives.
Conclusion: Master Hunting in DayZ
Hunting is one of the fundamental skills you must master in DayZ. It is essential for survival and ensures that you can live without food from before the outbreak. With a bit of practice, you will surely find and gut several animals. You can rent your own server for DayZ with us and roam the forests with your friends to find animals. You can, of course, share the meat!
