Hunter Guide

 

Introduction

Hunting is the art of tracking and capturing prey. In the Hunter skill you will encounter many different methods for capturing many different types of animals. These range from simple bird snares and noose wands all the way up to hunting with falcons and imp catching.

To start with, you will be either tracking or bird catching, so buy a noose wand or a few bird snares. You can buy these on the Grand Exchange, find them inside of a hunter kit, purchase from other players or visit one of the three hunting stores:

• Ayleth Beaststalker's Hunting Supplies Shop (Burthorpe/Taverley) – Located south of the loadstone teleport. Only sells the basic/low level Hunter equitment.
• Aleck's Hunter Emporium (Yanille) - located just west of the Magic Guild. Speak to Aleck to buy your supplies. Leon the crossbow inventor is also found here.
• Nardah Hunter Shop - opposite the bank. Speak to Artimeus.

Read up on the Hunting Grounds section so you know where you are headed (for beginners, the snow area for low level tracking, or the jungle for low level birds). It is much easier to get to the hunting areas if you can use the Fairy Rings. Note: You can also find Crimson Swifts and Polar Kebbits in Burthorpe/Taverley.

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Hunting Grounds

To capture all of the hunter creatures, you will visit many different locations. You will see them referenced multiple times in this guide, so it may be good to familiarize yourself with their locations. For quick access to detailed maps of each hunting region, visit the Special Maps page in our Atlas.

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Prey by Level

For convenience, here is a list of all hunter prey ordered by skill level. It shows the region and hunter method for each, as well as the xp and drops. Bait is in italics if it is optional, or bold if it is required. All underlined words are linked to explanations in this guide.

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Tracking

In tracking you use a noose wand (bought at hunting stores or from the Grand Exchange), to capture the prey that you have tracked. With your noose wand equipped, travel to the region of the animal you want to trap and find a burrow. Follow the footprints and search around where they end to make the next set appear. After doing this for a while you will get a message saying that you suspect that there is an animal. Attack what you searched (it depends on the area you are in) and you will catch the animal and receive the drops. Beware, if you attack the wrong bush you could end up with a smelly pair of old boots. The furs can be changed into camouflage at the Varrock Fancy Dress shop. See the clothing section for more details. Note: A bonecrusher would be useful to save inventory space.

*Penguins are unlocked by completing the Hunt for Red Raktuber Quest.

Raw beast meat can be cooked on an iron spit and earns 82.5 cooking experience. Use a chisel on long kebbit spikes to fletch a neat stack of bolts for the hunter crossbow (see deadfall section for more crossbow information).

Note: Razor-backed kebbits are found directly west of the Falconer. Otherwise, you will end up tracking the lower experience common kebbits.

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Bird Hunting

If tracking small critters just isn't your cup of tea, you can capture birds using bird snares, 6GP at any of the Hunter shops. Set your bird snare below where the birds are flying, then walk around 5 steps away and wait for a bird to land on it. When the bird perches, it will either get caught, or trip your snare and fly away. If the bird escapes, you will notice that the perch has fallen to ground level; take down the snare and reset it. Sometimes, no bird will be attracted to the snare, and it will eventually fall to the ground of its own accord. Should this happen, right click the snare to reset it. If the bird is caught, then check the snare to receive the drops and xp. If you have 39 hunter you can smoke the snare with a torch so the bird can't smell your presence. Note: Access to camouflage, a bonecrusher and scentless potions can help raise your catch rate.

* Wimpy birds are unlocked by the As a First Resort quest. They cannot be snared without luring them with smouldering tansymum.

The feathers can be used for ordinary fletching. All feathers can be sold at the Varrock Fancy Dress shop. Tropical Wagtail feathers can be used by level 38 fly-fishers to catch rainbow fish (80 fishing experience). Raw bird meat can be cooked on an iron spit for 62.5 cooking experience.

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Net and Jar Butterfly Catching

To catch butterflies at low to mid levels, you will need a butterfly net and empty butterfly jar (can be purchased at hunting shops). Wield the net and click on the butterfly to chase after it and catch it. A magic butterfly net will increase your chances of successfully catching a butterfly.

Captive butterflies can be used on other players in multi-combat areas to provide temporary stat boosts. The receiving player must have "Accept Aid" turned on (though a dialog to accept is not used). These can be used in Castle Wars. A captive Ruby harvest is also be used as a secondary ingredient for Summoning.

 

Barehanded Butterfly Catching

If one is particularly agile, butterflies can be caught using only bare hands. No net is required, and caught butterflies are released immediately instead of being stored in jars. Requirements for barehanded catching are much higher and include an Agility requirement, but the experience reward is also higher. It is possible to find a crystal triskellion fragment when catching barehanded.

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Deadfall Traps

Deadfalling involves propping up a boulder with a log and allowing an unsuspecting critter to get smashed underneath it. In order to deadfall all you need is a knife and a log for each deadfall you want to make (a hatchet is good for replenishing your log supply.) With a log and a knife in your inventory click the boulder and you will make the deadfall. You can also put bait out to lure the creature to the deadfall, but it's only required for diseased kebbits. If the animal sets off your trap but escapes, the bait can be reused. You can only set one deadfall at a time. If you have 39 hunter you can smoke the deadfall with a torch so the animal can't smell your presence. Note: Using a bonecrusher, scentless potions and Camouflage gear will increase your catch rate.

* Diseased kebbits are unlocked by completing the As a First Resort quest. They cannot be snared without luring them using smouldering fever grass.

**Penguins are unlocked by the Hunt for Red Raktuber Quest.

Deadfall prey drops are useful in a variety of skills. Level 32 Crafters can apply kebbit claws to their leather or dragon vambraces (5.8 experience) for a +2 strength bonus. Level 35 Fishers will enjoy equipping the barb-tail harpoon, allowing them to carry one more fish. Level 53 Herblorists can use ground kebbit teeth and clean avantoe to make a hunter potion (120 herblore experience), which temporarily raises your hunter level by 3. Diseased kebbit fur can be made into a davy kebbit hat by the general store owner in Oo'glog.

Leon, a strange inventor in the Yanille hunting shop will offer to sell you a prototype hunters' crossbow. Usable by level 50 Rangers, this crossbow offers a +55 ranged bonus and according to Jagex, fires faster than most crossbows (its speed is comparable to Karil's crossbow). This crossbow requires special kebbit bolts, fletched by using a chisel on kebbit spikes (from the prickly kebbit) or long kebbit spikes(from tracking the razor-backed kebbit directly west of the Falconer near Piscatoris). Bring your chisel while hunting these, since the bolts are stackable.

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Box Traps

To trap chinchompas, buy box traps from one of the hunting stores and move to an area where the Chinchompas live. To trap Ferrets, you must complete most of the Eagle's Peak quest. Set up the box, and bait it if you like. You can also smoke it with a torch to remove your scent. Pawya and Grenwall cannot be caught without bait, and frequently steal it. If bait is listed for a Summoning pet, it is required.

* The Summoning skill allows you to capture certain pets using box traps. If you have the required summoning level, you can catch a pet, and then have it follow you, the same as a cat or any other pet. You can only have one of any type at a time, and must feed the pet its favorite food to keep it from running away. Platypus are unlocked by the As a First Resort quest, and can either be kept as a pet or released near the Oo'glog dock for a small reward.

**Penguins are unlocked by the Hunt for Red Raktuber Quest.

Your captive Chinchompa can be used as an explosive Ranged weapon.

Grenwall spikes can be sold at hunter shops or on the Grand Exchange. Alternatively, you can add feathers to them to make ordinary headless arrows. Five grenwall spikes are also needed as the secondary ingredient for making extreme ranging potions (level 92 Herblore required). For more information, please see the Herblore guide.

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Flushing

Flushing prey is done by compelling the animal to flee a hiding place. After the Eagle's Peak quest, trap ferrets using box traps, then use them to flush rabbits out of their warrens. There are two rabbit warrens in the woodlands (Piscatoris) hunting area, each having six openings facing each other. Set up rabbit snare (from hunting shops) directly in front of as many warren openings as your level allows, then use your ferret at another. The rabbit will dart across the open ground and hopefully into your snare. Sometimes you lose your ferret, so bring extras. The rabbit snare can be smoked by level 39 hunters.

Level 37 crafters can string a rabbit's foot using a ball of wool (earning 4 crafting xp). Jagex states that wearing a strung rabbit foot increases the chances of getting a bird's nest while woodcutting. It requires level 24 Hunter to wear.

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Lasso

The Eagle's Peak quest introduced a new type of Hunting, though no experience is currently earned from it. After completing the quest, you can use a rope as a lasso on giant eagles to obtain a ride between four different hunting locations. Giant eagles fly between the woodlands and the jungle, desert and snow hunting areas, and have names identifying their route. The woodlands is the network "hub" where you can change to another eagle and fly elsewhere.

Ropes spawn at the desert and snow locations, but you must bring your own rope to the Jungle and Woodlands areas. Alternatively, using the Construction skill, users can build Rope racks at the Eagle's Peak, Feldip Hills and Karamja locatons. Rope racks provide unlimited rope spawns. For more information, please visit the Construction Guide - Agility Shortcuts

Each destination nest must be unlocked one time to exit/enter it. The nests are all located up hills or cliff faces, not on the ground.

• Snow nest: Located in the north-east corner of the area, across a small bridge; some rocks must be climbed to enter or exit. Climbing the rocks requires level 35 Agility.
• Jungle (Feldip Hills) nest: This is on a hillside, a short distance north-west of the Hunting Expert. Although it's possible to exit the first time, it requires a teasing stick (or a thatch spar from the Tai Bwo Wannai Clean-up minigame) to train a vine to grow up to the entrance. You will receive a message in your chat window when it's done; it takes at least 20 minutes (probably longer) to grow.
• Desert nest: Located east of the desert river, just steps west of the mine north-west of the Ruins of Uzer. It is the most inconvenient to unlock because you cannot fly to it and exit the first time. It must be approached from the outside to push a boulder into the nest and away from the opening. Pushing the boulder requires level 45 Strength.
• Jade Vine Maze (Karamja): Upon completion of the Back to my Roots quest you can use a new Eagle here. Lasso it on its net-like platform.

Once these areas are unlocked, you can fly freely back and forth to the woodlands. This is useful for players without access to the fairy ring network.

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Net Traps

Take a rope and a small fishing net (big nets don't work, nor will the net on your toolbelt) to the hunting location listed below and click on a young tree. You will set up a trap and eventually a lizard/salamander will become caught inside. Bait is not required for catching the reptiles, but at low levels it may make the task faster. Bait for reptiles is made by using the listed herb with 15 swamp tar in a pestle and mortar (earns a little herblore experience). You can use a torch at level 39 hunter to remove your scent from the trap.

*The Summoning skill allows you to capture a pet squirrel if you are summoning level 60. Squirrels cannot be caught without nuts for bait. You can get nuts from the pet shops in Taverly and Yanille. Once caught, you can have the captured squirrel follow you, the same as a cat or any other pet. You can only have one at a time and must feed it nuts so it won't run away.

**Penguins are unlocked by the Hunt for Red Raktuber Quest.

A captured lizard or salamander can be equipped as a two-handed flame thrower. You must equip its favourite bait (see above) as ammunition in your arrows slot (right-click for option). Selectable combat styles include magic, melee and ranged.

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Pitfalls

Pitfalls utilize existing holes in the RS landscape to capture large beasts. This type of hunting requires a teasing stick (bought at a hunting store), a knife, and any kind of logs (a hatchet is a good idea to replenish your log supply.) The pits are depressions at certain areas of the hunting grounds, check the Hunting Locations Maps to find them.

Click on a pit with logs and a knife in your inventory to cover it. After you have done this, poke your target beast with your teasing stick to get it to follow you. Once the animal is chasing you, lure it over your pit. If he isn't caught, you can't lead him across the same trap - but you can lead him to another you've set. Be aware that these animals can damage you, so you may want to bring food (or a tinderbox and iron spit to cook meat dropped by nearby players). Pitfalls can be used by multiple players at the same time. The fur of these beasts can be taken to Varrock's Fancy Dress shop owner to get special hunting clothing made.

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Falconry

Using another creature to do your dirty work, now doesn't that sound appealing? Go to the falconry training ground east of the Woodland hunter area to use falcons to catch kebbits for you. When using falconry you can't have gloves, a weapon or shield/defender equipped. Falconry gloves and the falcon are rented to you by Matthias for 500 GP. You cannot leave the training ground with the falcon. You must have a Hunter level of at least 43 to use falcons.

Use falconry prey fur to make clothing accessories with some interesting properties.

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Imp Catching

The only combat monster that can also be hunted is the ordinary Imp. Imp hunting requires magic box traps, which can be purchased from the hunting shops. Activate a magic box trap near a location known for Imps, such as south of Edgeville, south of Falador, Lumbridge, Varrock, Brimhaven/Karamja, and south of East Ardougne. Smoking the trap has no effect. You can optionally bait the trap with a coloured bead (obtained, ironically, from killing Imps), but they will steal the bead fairly regularly, and can be caught without bait. You can have more than one imp-in-a-box at a time, but they cannot be traded.

The captive imp-in-a-box has unique properties. In addition to engaging in lengthy dialog, captured imps will transport two items (two inventory slots) to your bank in exchange for being released. If the item is a stackable item, it will deposit the entire stack. This works from level 30 wilderness - in wilderness levels above 30, the imp will tell you right away that it can't transport anything for you right now.

You can right-click Bank or go through the lengthy Talk dialog to get to the banking option. This pulls up a small inventory screen. You can select two items to be sent. Each item clicks out to your bank immediately - there is no confirmation, so no second chances on a "whoops" mis-click. If you only want to send one item, click it [it goes immediately and you have Imp-in-a-box(1) left], and just use the X in the top right to close the interface. When the imp is freed, you will still have the magic box trap to use again.

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Charm Sprite Blasting

Charm Sprite Blasting is a hunter training method found south-west of the Gnome Stronghold. Talk to Yaktwee Swinmari Cianta by the cracked dolmen and buy a Yaktwee stick and Sprite Lure to begin.

Catching charm sprites is fairly simple:

1. Target a shaking Neverberry bush to throw the sprite lure.
2. Target the sprite lure on the ground near the shaking bush.
3. Click on the charm sprite/s that appear to catch them and collect charm slices.

Yaktwee Swinmari Cianta can store your yaktwee stick, sprite lure and 15 of each charm slice in her bag. 5 charm slices can be combined to form a charm of that colour, and mystical charm slices act as a wild card - they can be used to form any kind of charm.

Once the player has caught 1000 charm sprites, the yaktwee stick becomes an enhanced yaktwee stick. When equipped, this stick offers a 5% hunter experience boost and also increases the chance to catch creatures when hunting.

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Herblore Habitat

If you want to try out a different training method that offers some of the best XP rates and have the minimum levels of 54 Farming and 70 Hunter you can train at Herblore Habitat. Located at the very north-east side of the Kharazi jungle (south-east of Shilo Village) past the waterfall stepping stones and past the Jungle foresters to reach a climbable vine north-east of Papa Mambo's tent. To get to Herblore Habitat for the first time it is advised that you, purchase a Juju teleport spiritbag for 2000 coins from Bettamax in western Taverly or you can also simply walk there.

Training: To train you hunt the various kinds of Jadinkos by either trapping with a Marasmaw plant, which is a process similar to regular box trapping or you can hunt them by tracking with a noose.

Rewards: Training at Herblore Habitat gives you the ability to make Juju potions. The Juju potions offer great effects that benefit those who Cook, Hunt, Farm, Fish, Mine, and Woodcut.

Check out our Herblore Habitat guide for more information.

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Big Chinchompa

For players seeking yet another alternative to training Hunter, the Big Chinchompa Distraction and Diversion allows a player to play once per hour. You can access the game from south of the Gnome Agility arena. Climb down the hole to play the game. Remember, you can play this game once per hour!

Training: To train in this Distraction and Diversion, you run around the area catching moths which are used to feed to the Plutonial Chinchompa in the center of the area. These moths grant various amounts of XP ranging anywhere between 15xp to 450xp.

Rewards: Rewards from the Big Chinchompa include experience, various items such as flax, swamp toads, swamp tar, and items that grant access to private hunter areas.

Check out our Big Chinchompa guide for more information.

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Clothing

Bring some furs and speak to the owner of Varrock's Fancy Dress shop (located south-east of Aubury's Rune Store) to get some new clothing made.

Two tracking animal furs and 20 GP will get you a top or a bottom that matches the area where you got the fur: polar kebbit, common kebbit (woodlands), weasel (jungle), and desert devil. Wearing these clothes in the related area will make you less noticeable to prey and improve your chances of success using "place and wait" traps.

More dramatic clothing is available using the furs from pitfalls. Any fur from a Spined Larupia, Horned Graahk or Sabre-toothed Kyatt can be used to make a top or bottom for 100, 150 and 200 GP respectively. The best furs (not "tatty" ones) can also be used to make matching headresses. It is 500 GP for a Larupia headdress, 750 GP for a Graahk, and 1,000 GP for a Kyatt one. Jagex states that wearing any of these items will increase your hunting success in the related terrain: spined larupia for jungle and woodland, horned graahk for desert, and sabre-tooth kyatt for polar. Wearing all three pieces of a set in the matching area will maximize your chances.

Falcon-caught prey fur can be used to make items useful outside the Hunter skill. Each item requires two furs plus a small fee. Spotted kebbit fur can be made into a spotted cape which reduces your weight. This cape can be traded, but can only be made or worn by level 40 Hunters. Two dark kebbit fur can be made into gloves of silence* which improve your chances at pickpocketing (which will disintegrate randomly). Two furs from the dashing kebbit can be turned into a spottier cape, which reduces your weight even more.

*Gloves of Silence can be repaired by using one dark kebbit fur on them while carrying a knife, needle and thread. Repairing gloves requires 64 crafting. Wear status is shown when checking the gloves (or 'operating' them when worn). The messages are as follows:

• These gloves are new.
• These gloves are in good condition.
• These gloves are starting to look quite shabby.
• These gloves are starting to need repair.
• These gloves are in need of repair!
• These gloves are about to fall apart!

If you continue pickpocketing after the last message, your gloves will vanish and you will see "Your gloves of silence have worn out."

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Tips and Tricks

There is a Hunting expert in Feldip Hills, where you can purchase the Hunting Cape of Achievement. (A second hunting guide is located in the Trollweiss hunting area.) According to the expert, there are four things that affect your hunting:

1. The bait you use
2. Your distance from the trap
3. What you wear
4. How the trap smells

Strategies for each concern:

1. Recommended bait is listed in the grouped trap tables above.
2. Stepping 4-5 squares away from the trap is recommended.
3. Wearing the clothes appropriate to the area will improve your success at trapping.
4. At level 39 hunter, you can use a lit torch on your traps to remove your scent (bring a tinderbox: the first option on a lit torch is "extinguish").
5. Using scentless potions to remove your scent can be more practical than smoking your traps.
6. Using a bonecrusher can be a useful way of gaining a small amount of Prayer experience as well as saving you inventory slots.

When setting traps and doing other things (such as catching butterflies) keep an eye on your message screen. After a while your trap falls over and you can lose it.

Hunter potion can be made at Level 53 Herblore. It requires ground kebbit teeth and avantoe, and temporarily raises hunter by 3 levels.

Hunter level and Maximum Traps

• Level 1 - 19 One trap at a time
• Level 20 - 39 Two traps at a time
• Level 40 - 59 Three traps at a time
• Level 60 - 79 Four traps at a time
• Level 80 - 99 Five traps at a time

Some trap areas such as pitfalls can be shared, but there can be competition for prey and some hunting fixtures such as deadfalls. Unfortunately there are few strategies for triumphing in these situations. If your trap falls, set a new trap first and then pick up the fallen one. Try to be vigilant for opportunities, keep calm, and/or change to a less crowded world.

If you do not enjoy hunting and are just starting out, you might try visiting a leprechaun at any farming patch and have them teleport you to Winkin Farm. If you purchase Ogleroots, you can feed them to the rabbits to make them disappear and in return you'll receive 30xp per rabbit. It's easy experience if you're not a fan of Hunting.

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Skill Boosts

There are several methods of temporarily boosting one's Hunter level:

The enhanced yaktwee stick from Charm Sprite Blasting offers a 5% hunter experience boost when equipped. It also improves the chance to catch animals when hunting.

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Impetuous Impulses

Impetuous Impulses is a minigame which involves warping to the world of Puro-Puro in order to use your hunting skill to catch various types of implings. The game is mostly used for fun and for the loot the implings provide, since it gives minimal Hunter experience. The implings found in Puro-Puro will sometimes make themselves known to the outside world. Capturing one of these more adventurous implings will give slightly more experience, but the possible loot remains the same. The minigame, however, is far slower for training up the Hunter skill than other methods.

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Cape of Achievement

Once you have mastered the skill and reached level 99 you may want to buy yourself a Hunter Cape from the Hunting expert at her cabin in the Jungle hunting area south of the Feldip Hills. (A second hunting guide is located in the Trollweiss hunting area.) Refer to the Achievement Capes guide for more details.

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Credits

Original Guide by: abomb67

Thanks to: Adamskii, Ardzik, ArtCrazy, blacktaurus, BloodAngel, bop_dravian, Bows, breadmaker40, butterfly939, chanol666, Chartres, Chenw2, daigotsu, Daman422, dan 5454, Darkblade986, DarkSpiruss, dotdotdot, Dragontot, Eiji, Elven Mist, Foodfight13, Ginger Warrior, Gugge, Headnazgul, hotdogcore, Howlin1, inferno_char, Iwatake, jessy87, jim_vierling, jks, junkieman, Kaphias, Lalala7324 Lady_Shahdie, lesjim, liberatedpk, Lood333, masterd99, metoo1000, Micarina, Misplacedme, msiGC, Nirvana05, NukeMarine, Nyosuht, Octarine, oddfaery2, OldKStater, Omnitec, Orccu, Paw_Claw, pokemama, Profins, Rien_Adelric, roguexlegion, SaidinWoT, Salleh, SerpentEye, Shasta_Sms, Sk8erfreak, snpralpha, Speedyshel, SportsGuy, sramrd, Studio1417, Suzanne_Vega, TecMaster532, Vhellcat, Vincent_007, vlad_the_old, walwave1, Warriormonkx, wishkahbanks, wyvren2000, Xaphista, Xena Dragon

Last updated by: Octarine

Last updated on: 30-April-2013

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