The Hunter – Diary of a Hunter Entry #1

3:00am
I have the feeling that today is going to be different. While the coffee was brewing, I packed my gear for the long trip to Whitehart Island. There is a quiet little lodge there called “The Causeway”. It’s a beautiful little place tucked in the north-east corner of the island.

4:30am
When the breeze blows in from off the water just right, the lavender flowers perfume the air so wonderfully. There are two things this area is good for: relaxing and hunting — and I am not here to relax. Whitehart Island is home to a lot of different game, but today I only have one thing on my mind — and that is to catch the biggest mule deer I can find.

I overheard the warden talking earlier this morning (after I arrived on the island) about how Honey Bee is holding a muley deer competition this weekend. I wonder if I have what it takes (being an amateur and all) to win the competition. Heck, it couldn’t hurt. I will visit Honey Bee later today, but first I really should sharpen my rusty skills.

5:00am
I finally got settled in and decided to head out to the forest to hopefully get some hunting done today.  As I was loading my weapons, I had an overwhelming feeling that today might be the start of a good week. I placed all my extra ammo and lures into my backpack and pulled out my hunter’s mate (my GPS) and then headed into the forest.

6:45am
After about an hour or so of walking, I finally found a good spot to flush out mule deer with deer calls from my lure.  As I started to unpack my tree stand and setup, I finally heard what all hunters love to hear the first couple hours into their hunting trip: the sounds of a pretty hefty mule deer calling out over the hill in front of me.

I gently laid down my pack and left the tree stand leaning up against the tree and quickly double-checked my rifle. I grabbed my lure to begin making contact as fast as possible. I quickly marked my location on my hunter’s mate and then let out a few grunts from my deer lure to grab his attention.

As I slowly crept towards the direction of the deer, I soon heard a call back to my lure call from moments earlier. I huddled down between some bushes and waited until I could see a silhouette emerge.

I calmly and very patently stayed as still as possible while I watched the deer through my digital binoculars.

I slowly took aim while not trying to draw attention to myself. I began pacing the mule deer as it slowly strolled through the brush. Once the mule deer finally stopped and took stance, I fired off one round at the lung section of the deer, dropping it instantly . I quickly lowered my rife and pulled out my hunter’s mate and marked the kill spot on my GPS.

I stood up and slung the rifle over my right shoulder. I pulled my .44 revolver from my hip-hostler and proceeded towards the mule deer. Every hunter knows the conduct and rules of hunting: never let an animal suffer. As I approached the deer, I realized its passing was quick and it probably didn’t even know what hit it.

Upon further inspection, I realized the mule deer could easily be an eight-pointer. I pulled out my cell and tried to call someone to help me transport the big muley back to the lodge. Boy, the warden will be surprised by this morning’s catch. ( I can’t wait to see the look on his face). I guess I can just file this one under pure luck.

I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that this morning might be a good day, and I guess that feeling was right. Today will be a good day after all. I better gather up my gear and head on back.

James ‘Daripp3r’ Pittaro

Celebrating our 1-Year ownership of theHunter, this competition will have you hunt Whitetail Deer for an exclusive once in a liffetime trophy.

Prizes:

#1 – 500 em$
#2 – 400 em$
#3 – 300 em$

Join today!

Starts: Mar 4 2011 08:00

Ends: Mar 13 2011 08:00

Weapons: Any ethical for Whitetail
Scoring: Average score out of 3 first
Tie Break: Weight

Status Update time!

We are currently doing the last implementation details of a smaller update we plan to test during the weekend and release during next week. Besides a couple of minor bug fixes the two most significant changes are…

Coyotes:

We’ve added completely new howl sounds of the coyotes that also will register on the HunterMate. Another change have been made to how they react to calls. If a coyote find a call interesting it will now prefer to more quickly trott to the source. We’ve done this change to make them behave a little bit more realisticly but also to provide a slightly different way of hunting. Having them trott to the point of interest does mean they may more easily be attracted, on the other hand the closer they get to the player the more likely they are to spook. Applying some strategy and a steady shot is what it does take.

Ground blind:

A new item will be added – the ground blind! The ground blind significantly reduces the chance to get detected visually by an animal. It will have a lower spook radius than the tree stand when erected, but on the other hand it does not provide the same elevated advantage as the tree stand.

Actually at this time it will not be possible to see the ground blind from the outside since it will work in the same way as the current tree stand implementation. However, adding support for a more permanent world is definitely something that is coming. We want to make it possible to put out a tree stand or ground blind at a spot and then leave it thre. The item will remain at the very same spot the next time you start the game.

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