Catch Dogs 🐗

[safe drift]

Not sure if this has already been brought up, but would really love to have Catch Dog breeds! Doggos, Presas, Apbts, Bulldogs, etc!!! 😊🐗🐕

[buoyant thistle]

It is a personal opinion but I consider hunting with catch or attack dogs to be very unethical.
The level of stress to which the prey pursued by the attack dogs is subjected is excessive, added to the fact that the hunting pressure exerted on the areas where the dogs acted is enormous and it takes months to recover the area for the animals to return.
The hunter does not even need hunting, stalking or shooting skills since the dogs do all the work.
It's not the type of hunt I would like to have in CotW.

[woven jungle]

I agree with you somewhat but hunting behind holders and bailers is an incredibly effective method for controlling invasive species, most notably feral pigs. It’s a method of hunting I’ve used successfully here in NZ for many years and I believe it’s even quite popular in Argentina too from what I’ve seen so shouldn’t be completely written off.

In saying that I’m not sure how well it would fit CotW gameplay-wise. Like would my holder run up, grab a pig and then wait for me to press a button to despatch said pig. I think that may be pretty boring as a mechanic and pretty OP as the dog does most of the work.

What could be cool is just a general bailing dog that could bail pigs or tree black bears and mountain lions but would still require your own shooting ability to finish the animal.

Or also a Swedish-style driving dog could also be pretty fun for setting up driven hunts outside of multiplayer.

[magic tulip]

Hello Delilah Rose,

Thank you for taking the time to share your suggestion with us!

We appreciate your input and enthusiasm for the game. Our team is always eager to hear from our dedicated community, and your ideas play a crucial role in shaping the future of theHunter.

If you have any more thoughts or feedback, feel free to share them. We value your contribution to making theHunter an even better experience.

[rancid kiln]

Ethicality doesn't seem to be an actual major concern for EW, I think as a gameplay mechanic it would be acceptable to tree animals. I think having a short period where the animal is caught before it runs away would be an okay mechanic, and the higher the weight/difficulty the more trouble the dog has. There are ways to make it engaging and fun instead of boring.

You can shoot endless animals, kill hundreds and never pick up a corpse, willingly abuse buffalo with a 22lr and not get punished (kicked from map, given fines, an "invalid target" for 30 minutes on the species you abused), etc.

You waste wildlife, you can't make meals from hunted animals that increase health or stamina or keep heart rate low from said wildlife (like candied Jerky), etc.

[buoyant thistle]

The Harvest Check indicates the penalty the player receives for ignoring the ethical hunting mode..
The sporting measures are applied by the studio but obviously it depends on the player if he wants to follow them or not, the majority do so with the exception of hunting for rare skins in which any caliber is used..
It is a policy of the developers not to include controversial, unethical or prohibited hunting methods, and I believe that hunting with dog packs or catch dogs complies with all that, at least from my point of view and experience as a hunter.

I have no problem with the other Pursuit or Squirrel and Bear dogs since the hunting seasons and laws allow them, I proposed a way to apply them in another thread since unfortunately the graphics engine does not allow the animals to use the trees in normal way..
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[rancid kiln]

Catch dogs are legal depending on the state i.e dogs for pigs in Hawaii, Texas, FL. A small penalty of lost score and less money is a drop in the bucket. If it was a real issue they'd give you a true penalty imo.

Even animals like mountain lions and wolves, bears, lynx, African lions etc are very controversial to hunt and banned in a good handful of places, but the game still maintains them.

[scenic laurel]

Those are all legal game species in the places the maps are set in hence see why they are in-game.

Lions can be hunted in damn near every African country that A. Allows hunting and B. Has a stable lion population and I’m sick of hearing it.

[rancid kiln]

Yes, all I'm saying is that they're very controversial. I am personally fine with them.

[scenic laurel]

They really aren’t that controversial.Clearly hunting is welcomed.

[rancid kiln]

Colorado is trying to ban all hunting of predators.

[scenic laurel]

I saw,and it’s stupid.

Actually,how is that on topic right now.There’s no small predators in SRP.

[rancid kiln]

It's incredibly stupid, what I'm saying is that there's definitely controversy over hunting predator species.

Because Rexio mentioned EW wants to avoid hunting situations involving controversy

[scenic laurel]

SRP has been in the game since 2020 or something.And SRP doesn’t even have any small predators,except for Mountain Lions.

[rancid kiln]

I think you're missing what I'm trying to say

[scenic laurel]

I think YOU are missing what I’m saying.

[rancid kiln]

No, I understand perfectly what you're saying, but it's not really relevant to my argument. Mountain lions are just an example of an animal that has had a lot of controversy in regards to hunting it.

Including before 2017.

[scenic laurel]

And they’ve been in the game,that’s like removing the AR’s because they’ve been banned in a few Blue States at the start of 2023.

[rancid kiln]

Okay, as I've said before, I have 0 problems with shooting mountain lions (and any other predator) in real life or games, and I have 0 problems with ARs. I think the laws around this stuff are incredibly stupid and emotionally based.

I am saying that EW "avoiding hunting situations with controversy" is stupid. There are many things that are considered controversial within hunting, (like catch dogs), even though they aren't wrong (like catch dogs) and lead to a slippery slope argument.

My argument is in favour of catch dogs being added because they are a genuinely useful tool in animal management. I do not consider them unethical. I do not care about controversy surrounding it because there is unwarranted controversy around many aspects of hunting, and it is legal in many states.

From a gameplay perspective, their abilities would look different depending on the map. Retrievers for example are not very useful on SRP because the only class 1 is turkeys.