Master Hunter Challenge 6 in Red Dead Redemption 2: Killing five Cougars with your bow and skinning them will most likely test your patience. It certainly put ours to the test. We spent hours determining the most excellent cougar hunting location, and in this book, we’ll show you how to find, kill consistently, and skin cougars.
As a bonus, the area we recommend in our Red Dead Redemption 2 cougar guide, the western side of Big Valley, may allow you to cross off several other items on your Challenge lists, taking the sting off of the monotony. That will be covered in the final part below.
Cougar Locations RDR2
There is no super-fast way to hunt cougars, as far as we know. They’re a rare spawn, which means you’ll probably spend a lot of time doing other things in between their appearances. But we can tell you for sure that cougars appear in a specific location in Red Dead Redemption 2.
You may have to wait for them, but when they do, you’ll be in the correct position. A cougar spawning site is located northwest of Strawberry on a road that goes north-south along the western side of Big Valley in West Elizabeth.
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Make your way there, start a campfire, and sleep till daylight. (While we can’t say for definite that cougars only arrive in the morning, that’s when we’ve always seen them.)
The cougar spawning location appears to be just east of the road rather than on it. Cougars, however, cross the street when they mate. We’ve seen enough cougars crossing at the above spot to declare with confidence that you should keep to the location circled in the map above (and shown in the image in the next section below).
How frequently do cougars respawn? Not all that often. Unless, of course, they do. We’ve been waiting in-game for days for one to appear. We’ve also seen one spawn one day after killing another simply by resting (again) till the next morning. So, the presence of a dead cougar carcass does not appear to affect spawns.
We’re telling you to be patient.
Hunting Cougars With Your Minimap
It doesn’t get any more simple than that. Continue riding north and south, hoping to see a cougar () cross the road. Keep a watch on your radar (or minimap) for a red dot, which denotes the presence of an opponent (often a cougar, but also a rattlesnake in this area).
Cougars can catch you off guard, jump you, and kill you in a single attack. Be aware of your surroundings by using your radar. In fact, now is an excellent opportunity to activate the Expanded radar (down on the D-pad, then Square/X) to get a better feel of what’s nearby.
If you spot a red dot on your minimap, use R1/RB to get off your horse and equip your bow with Improved Arrows (more on these below).
How to Find a Cougar Using Arrows?
To fulfill Master Hunter Challenge 6, you must kill and skin a cougar using arrows. Although these are linked requirements, if you kill a cougar with anything else and skin it, you will still receive credit for that component of the Challenge.
To hunt cougars, use Improved Arrows (which deal more damage than conventional arrows). You can take down a cougar with a single Improved Arrow if you hit it in its weak spots (the head and the heart). (For what it’s worth, we also used the Longarm Back Bow.)
Crafting Improved Arrows
The components to construct an Improved Arrow are an Arrow and Flight Feathers. Flight Feathers are obtained by skinning flying birds; however, keep in mind that they are a separate item. You might kill a duck to get its feathers as well as Flight Feathers. You want the latter.
Excellent news! Birds prefer to hang out near water in Red Dead Redemption 2, and there’s a river that runs parallel to the road where you’ll locate the cougars.
If you’re running low on Improved Arrows, walk along the riverbank while using Eagle Eye (push both analog sticks) to seek birds. Kill them with Arrows or the Varmint Rifle, then skin them to get your Flight Feathers.
Gather your Flight Feathers and bring the Triangle/Y to a stop. You can construct Improved Arrows while kneeling, or you can return to your camp if you choose (although it is not required).
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