Here are some tips I wish I knew when starting out. Took be 12 frustrating hours before I started to get the hang of things! Be aware I am probably missing things and might even have things wrong.

You get easy XP by claiming the camps and doing the Quests. I just prefer shooting things.

The tents and ATV are quite useful additions. Let you move around faster or get back to a good area faster. The tents also let you buy or replace gear when you earn upgrades or need ammo. I bought during the steam sale.

Tracks don't mean an animal passed by recently, it might have been hours ago. When there are droppings you look at them and if they are fresh, very fresh or just now you know they are close. Also if you hear vocalization like a warning call, mating call, ect that also means you are getting close. You can infer direction and distance from you based on loudness and where the call is coming from.

You will never be able to crouch or crawl (prone) up to a walking animal, they move too fast. Those only work if the animal is bedded down, in a feeding zone or a drinking zone.

If you try to walk to an animal when you see fresh stool you will pretty much always spook them and they will run away.

Any time you run you will spook any animal within 150-200 meters. Same for when you use the ATV.

Spooked animals after becoming unspooked generally continue in the same direction they were going before being spooked, sometimes walking back towards you.

You need to watch wind direction because most animals have a good sense of smell and spook much easier if they smell you.

You start with only 2 calls, a bow, the .243 and soft point ammo. The bow is quieter and will not spook animals as far away as a gun does when it fires but is only good up close. You will want to use the gun when starting also because you get gun xp you need to get upgrades.

You get extra points for using the right weapon for each animal and for causing quick kills. For quick kills you want to hit the heart/lungs or spine. At the start your best bet is to go for lungs by shooting broadside 1/2 way up the body and a bit back from the front leg.

For coyotes and foxes you want to use soft point because the expand quickly and do a lot of damage. Once you have unlock them for deer and larger animals do you want to use the polymer tip bullets because they penetrate further and deeper allowing you to hit the more deeper organs like the heart or ideally going through both lungs.

Weirdly enough, so far I have found the highest value animals for money and XP is coyotes and foxes but you really need the caller which costs 6000 to be able to bring them in. Lower value but mutch more common are blacktail deer. Go to Lakemount district. Then just start walking around (not into the wind). Instead of following a random track you are best looking at the animal distribution maps available online and working you way to those areas. If they are far and you don't have an ATV you can run to get there faster but when you hear a grunt or warning call stop and try calling the animal in.

When you are in a good animal area if you have long views use your binoculars to see if you see any animals. Otherwise just walk at normal speed (against the wind) and wait to hear a blacktail grunt/call or see very fresh or "just now" droppings. When you do, use your deer bleat crouch down and wait to see if you attract something. You can use the bleat every 1 minute for 2-3 minutes and if you attract something you will hear bushes rustling. The noise is directional so adjust your direction to face the loudest area. Note that the animals come to where you last used the call and if you are waiting there and they see you they will spook. I find it better to call slightly inside of a clearing then crouch and move backwards 20+ meters downwind and ideally uphill. This way the animals come in to where you last called and they will not see or smell you. Lying prone is best but crouching is ok if the grass blocks your view while lying down. Note that female blacktail tend to travel in groups so don't just shoot the first one, let the group move forward and you might be able to hit a second deer after you shoot the first. Also sometimes a big buck follows behind and they use the females as scouts so let the females move into the open and look behind them to see if you see a buck. If it is not females but males that respond, they sometimes travel in pairs with the bigger buck usually in behind. If in a pair or group, when you shoot the others will spook and run for 50-150m or so. So after shooting start calling again and you can frequently call some back. In some cases finally killing 3-4+.

Once you go to get your animal you go to where you shot them and look for blood. A double lung, heart or spine shot may cause an immediate kill. Less than that are vital hits where you will see a big splash of blood and you can usually find the animal close by. Flesh wounds for larger game can allow then to travel very far or not even kill them at all.

Anyways, main tip for starting is go to Lakemount. Shoot blacktails until you get polymer tips then keep shooting blacktails until you get $6000 to get a coyote/fox caller then target coyote/fox with softpoints while keep taking blacktails with polymer tips as available. Once you get the 270 can start looking at bigger game and go from there.