Holding, hunting and wildlife products
Holding a bird
You can pick up a wild bird and hold it in your arms:
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Pick up | Sneak and punch the bird with an empty hand |
| Put down | Press F (swap hands): it's set down in front of you and runs or flies off |
| Throw | Punch once to start the power bar, punch again to throw. The bird flies off the way you threw it |
The bird sits at chest height, turns as you turn, and now and then flaps to get free. Picking up a bird also records it in your Wildlife Journal.
You can't pick up:
- a bird in flight;
- a swan or goose charging at you;
- someone's pet or carrier pigeon;
- deer, sharks or penguins.
Hunting
Wild birds and animals can be hurt and killed with fists, weapons, arrows and tridents.
| Animal | Health | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pigeon, seagull | 4 | Hit a gull that's stolen food and it drops it |
| Duck | 6 | Ducklings 2 |
| Owl | 6 | |
| Crow, jackdaw, magpie | 4 | Every crow nearby mobs you |
| Goose | 10 | Turns on you |
| Mute swan | 16 | Cygnets 4. Turns on you |
| Squirrel | 1 hit | An arrow landing by one also works |
| Red deer, great white, penguins | Like ordinary mobs | A wounded stag may charge, and a shark bites back |
Most animals flee when hit. Swans, geese, stags in the rut and sharks may fight back instead, and crows gang up on you.
Wildlife is finite (how populations work). A killed animal is one fewer in that area until births or animals from nearby make up the numbers, and some species recover very slowly. When you take one of the last few in an area, you'll be told.
What animals leave behind
| Animal | Drops |
|---|---|
| Pigeon | Raw Pigeon, feathers |
| Duck | Raw Duck, feathers |
| Goose | Raw Goose, feathers |
| Swan, owl, seagull, crow | Feathers |
| Red deer | Raw Venison, Red Deer Hide; stags also Red Deer Antlers |
| Great white shark | Raw Shark Meat, Great White Shark Fin, Great White Shark Teeth |
| Squirrel | Raw Squirrel, a pelt |
| Penguin | Raw Penguin, feathers |
Meat can be cooked as usual and keeps its name: Raw Venison becomes Cooked Venison.
Where did it come from?
Every wild animal product is labelled with:
- what it came from;
- where it was taken (a real place name, e.g. "Taken: Scotland" or "off South Africa");
- when it was taken.
Trophies (hides, antlers, fins and teeth) also carry a unique tag number. That lets a town or nation trace a fin or a pair of antlers back to where and when the animal was killed, for example to enforce its own hunting laws.