Floating Animals Should Return to Nearest Shore

[sage fern]

There is nothing worse than waiting for an animal you've just shot to float across an entire lake so you can harvest it.

I feel that if an animal dies in the water it should float to the nearest shore to its current location, NOT the shore at which you were positioned when it was killed. This would greatly reduce the issue described.

[long mist]

maybe downed animals should float in the direction of the wind? i think that would make the most sense 🤔

[sage fern]

Until you shoot an animal on the coast and the wind is blowing out to sea 😂

[acoustic patio]

Byee my Saltwater Crocodile 👋, swim all the way to Te Awaroa 😂😂

[sage fern]

🤣 🤣

[native ember]

No kidding. I shot my first max level Blacktail last night and it fell in the water and floated to an island where I was unable to retrieve it.

[sage fern]

That is a perfect example of why I made this suggestion. If an animal decides it wants to go scuba diving before it dies it shouldn't affect our ability to harvest it.

[jolly marsh]

I thought this morning to create this thread. Good to know that someone shared my feelings on the matter

[tacit wind]

I agree it would be great if they just floated back to the shore where they dropped. But, Jaxy addressed this once, and said there were problems in testing on some parts of the map where the animal could get stuck in a place where you can't reach it, like along a rock ledge. Floating across the lake to you allows their float-mechanic to steer broadly around obstacles.

[tacit wind]

Thinking this through, there are 2 programmed actions involved. First, when you shoot an animal, they go into their I've been shot scramble. That mechanic can take them into the water with momentum. Second, they transition to their I'm dead and floating mechanic. It's possible for them to be in a position where, to get back to shore where they dropped, they would need to make an unnatural-looking steep-angled turn while floating.