• Go to lookout points first to reveal outposts and other points on the map. Use an outpost map guide if you directly want to know where the outposts are.
  
• Watch the wind direction, your noise and your visibility to make sure you don't scare animals away. Use the HUD indicators at bottom right. Hide next to trees or in bushes to be less visible.
  
• Avoid running unless travelling between locations. You may still spot low scoring animals but trophy animals will be gone before you know. Running on roads makes less noise than running through vegetation.
  
• There's a shooting range in the far south east of Hirschfelden, follow the road east starting from the outpost southeast Rathenfeld. It's useful to get a hang of aiming from different distances.
  
• The scoring system of harvested animals is explained in this thread. In short kill an animal with a well placed shot using the appropriate weapon and ammo, and harvest each animal you kill.
  
• Check what weapons and ammo will give you 100% integrity bonus in this guide. Don't rely on the weapon class system, it's not reliable. Use the best ethical weapon and ammo you have for optimal scoring.
  
• Focus on male tracks and calls (blue icon = male, pink icon = female), they give you the best scores. Females are a good for easy money and xp in the beginning though.
  
• Don't waste in-game money on building hunting structures in the beginning, focus on buying callers, better rifles and an improved scope first. A store is available at each outpost.
  
• Change reserve by going to the map in the menu (M). In the bottom the key (H) to select a reserve is displayed. Don't start a new game or you'll lose all progress.
  
• Animal population is the largest around need zones. So look out for them, they are time based and will stay marked on the map. They are often located around water and fields. This map guide gives you an indication where you can expect to find each species. Some areas contain loads of animals while others are almost empty.
  
• Animal calls are the best clue you can get, as you know they are close and the general direction. Following random tracks can be both rewarding and frustrating. Fresh tracks don't always mean the animal is still close.
  
• Watch this video guide to know more about the UI, store, skills, perks, weapons, ...
  
• Don't be put off if you have a difficult start. The hunting gets significantly easier when you have all callers and better weapons, scopes, skills, perks, knowledge of the map, ... Focus on exploration (unlocking outposts and other points on the map) and kill small and medium game first to earn money and xp.

• Wearing a backpack will increase your visibility and noise level significantly, certainly the bigger ones. Try not to use them or stick with the small one.
  
• Don't run towards an animal you've killed if other interesting animals are or were close. If well positioned, you might be able to call them in again.
  
• Using callers is very effective, if an animal is within 200m (150m for bleat call). You will often succeed to attract the animal(s), certainly with the "fatal attraction" skill (ambusher tree). If further away the animals may respond with a call, but they will not be attracted. When eating or resting animals are more likely to ignore the call, also when close to their destination (need zone). Be aware that animals with the highest difficulty will be very hesitant to come closer. If the wind is blowing towards the animal, use scent eliminator or they won't come close.
  
• You get a skill point or perk point alternately each level you achieve, from level 36 you receive a point every 3 levels. The max level is 60 with 22 perk points and 22 skills points.
  
• Spot animals to know their difficulty and estimate their score, you need to unlock the approriate skill for this. Try shooting the highest scoring animal first and take in mind the difficulty when approaching or calling an animal. More about animal difficulty in a section below.
  
• Placing decoys in an open area is very effective to lure Geese that are flying over. The more you place, the higher the attraction. About 15 is enough, more than 20 is overkill. If there's already hunting pressure on the spot, the geese will take off immediately after landing.
  
• An ATV is fun and useful for transportation, but it scares everything away. Repair your ATV by going to your garage and reclaim it.
  
• If you scare an animal it will run for about 150-200m and then it will often go in the same direction it was going before.
  
• Watch the wind direction and speed when using a bow, certainly for longer shots. You can use a perk to estimate the speed. More recommendation in this archery guide.
  
• Early morning (5 AM, rest at an outpost to pick a time) is a good time to start your hunt. Night hunting is a bigger challenge due to significantly less visibility, but you can also use it your advantage. Your flash light is required to see the glow of tracks at night, it doesn't affect awareness of animals.
  
• If a wounded animal doesn't die within a few minutes, it's not likely to die without another shot.
  
• Polymer ammo for rifles has better penetration than the soft point ammo, recommended for long range shots.
  
• Be careful when you spot an animal outside or near the border of the reserve. Shots seem to be blocked by an invisble wall when reaching the border.
  
• Photo missions are tricky, you need to be close to the animals and it should be almost fully visible. Some missions to kill a certain animal are difficult because the animal is rare in the assigned area. You might enjoy the game more if you don't concentrate too much on missions, they can be frustrating.
  
• You can crouch and crawl faster (making a bit more noise) by using the run keybind.
  
• Some animals are solitary, they are usually alone and sometimes in pair (e.g. Red Fox, Lynx, Musk Deer, Roe Deer, Whitetail and Bear). Other animals roam in herds but are sometimes alone as well (e.g. Coyote, Blacktail, Fallow Deer, Wild Boar, Reindeer, Red Deer, Moose, Bison and Elk). These herds usually consist of several females and one or two males. Except for Elk, they roam in single-sex herds.

• Hunting pressure (purple overlay) is added on the map when an animal has died, on the spot where you've hit the animal. So if it's not displayed yet the animal you've shot is still alive! Hunt elsewhere to lower the hunting pressure of a certain location. Animals will avoid a location with a high pressure.
  
• The general wind direction in all reserves is South West. The wind will turn every now and then, but going north or east is usually a safe bet.
  
• The distance to an animal is important to know for accurate shots, certainly if long range. You don't have a range finder? The position of spotted animals is shown on the map, put a marker on it to know the distance.
  
• One of the most useful perks is the zeroing perk. It allows you to choose the zeroing distance of your weapons. For rifles you will be able to choose between 75/150/300m, for bows between 20/40/60m. The distance in the middle is the default zero. When the perk is active don't forget to adjust the distance accordingly before shooting.
  
• Instant kills are important for 100% quick kill bonus. For small game (fox, coyote) lung shots may be enough, but bigger game will need spine, neck bone, heart or brain shots. Use the best scope and try to get within 100m for a clean shot. More recommendations for instant kills in this guide.
  
• Keep track of the missed shots number at your hunting profile (codex). It's sometimes the only way to immediately know if you've hit an animal.
  
• You can see animals up to 400-450m (437-492 yards) away. It may differ depending on your settings (lower scene complexity means lower render distance) and your location (more difference in terrain height compared to the animal increases the distance).
  
• Other animals will hardly spook from a shot if they are further than 200m (219 yards) away.
  
• Your progression and settings are saved in the folder Documents\Avalanche Studios\theHunter Call of the Wild\Saves\. You can copy the subfolders to somewhere else as a back-up.

The difficulty of an animal is a very good indicator for the potential score of an animal. Even better than the estimated trophy ratings because that's hard to remember for each animal. You can see the difficulty level when spotting an animal. If an animal has the maximum difficulty for its species, there's a high chance it will be a diamond score with 100% integrity, quick kill and consecutive harvest bonus. For some species the highest level but one also has a small chance to score diamond.

Be aware that a level 3 Whitetail will be a lot more difficult than a level 3 Black Bear because it's the maximum! See table below and try to remember the maximum difficulty for each animal, those are the ones you want to find and kill. They are very rare, have very good senses and will hardly react to calls or scents.

The weight of an animal is always related to the trophy rating of an animal, even if the trophy type isn't the weight! So the highest scoring animals (diamonds) will always have a weight within the highest weight range.

You can use this information to know if you're tracking a high scoring animal. You'll need to level up the track knwoledge skill (stalker tree) to the maximum (3). Then you'll get a weight range of animals based on their tracks. This range is pretty wide, so you'll never know for sure if you're tracking a diamond. If you're tracking an animal with the highest weight range for its species, there's a high chance it will score gold and a small chance diamond (with 100% integrity, quick kill and consecutive harvest bonus). It can also score silver, depending on the species.

So look for tracks that have the maximum weight for its species as the last number of the weight range. When spotting animals look for a trophy rating that has the maximum as last number of the range (or max level for its species).