Hunting is a critical skill for survival in Icarus, providing food, materials, and essential crafting resources. Whether you’re a seasoned hunter or just starting out, these 15+ tips will help you master the art of tracking, killing, and utilizing the wildlife on the planet. Let’s jump right in!

1. Unlock Hunting Tools Through Leveling

Hunting equipment is locked behind level progression, but you can gain experience quickly by gathering, chopping, and mining. Prioritize unlocking:

• Campfire (for cooking)
• Stone Knife (for defense and butchering)
• Bow and Stone Arrows (for ranged hunting)

2. Fishing for an Easy Food Source

Most lakes contain fish, which can be caught using a bow, knife, spear, or even punching them to death. Cooked fish provides a buff to health and stamina, making it a valuable early-game food source.

3. Avoid Dangerous Predators

Forest and Arctic predators include wolves and bears. If they’re in large numbers or positioned in an unsafe area, it’s often better to avoid them rather than risk a fight.

4. Defeating Wolves Without a Bow

If you lack a bow, you can take down wolves with a stone knife. Stay mobile, watch your health, and time your attacks carefully. A well-aimed bow shot can also eliminate wolves before they reach you.

5. Use Stealth for a Damage Bonus

Crouching activates stealth mode, allowing you to:

• Sneak past predators.
• Get closer to prey without startling them.
• Gain a 2.5x damage multiplier on ranged attacks, often killing animals in one shot.

6. How to Safely Kill Bears

Bears (including polar bears and brown bears) are some of the toughest enemies in Icarus. Fighting them in the open is a bad idea. They swim and climb rocks, so old tricks won’t always work.

Best method to kill bears:

• Lure them to a cave entrance.
• Mine out a small crouch space inside the cave.
• Attack from the safety of the cave where the bear cannot reach you.

7. Carrying and Managing Carcasses

• Small animals (raccoons, baby deer) go into your inventory (G-slot).
• Medium animals (wolves, deer) must be carried on your shoulder.
• Leaving carcasses in the wild attracts predators—use this to lure and hunt more animals.

8. Predator Baiting with Carcasses

Place a hunting tower near a carcass and wait—predators will come to investigate. This allows you to hunt multiple animals from a safe position.

9. Fully Harvest Every Animal

Use your knife to gather:

• Meat (for food)
• Leather (for crafting)
• Fur (for insulation)
• Bones (for tools and arrows)

10. Extra Bone Harvesting Tip

After skinning an animal, use your axe on the leftover skeleton to harvest even more bones. These are essential for crafting bone arrows.

11. Use the Skinning Bench for Maximum Resources

Unlock the skinning bench as soon as possible. It provides higher yields of bones, fur, and leather than manual skinning.

12. Raccoon Fur Farming (Bugged Method – Use with Caution)

As of Beta 3, raccoons provided 30 fur when skinned on a bench—this is likely a bug and may be patched soon.

13. Upgrade to Better Weapons Over Time

Weapon progression:

• Bone Arrows (Early game – better than stone)
• Longbow & Iron Knife (Level 10+)
• Recurve Bow & Compound Bow (Late game)
• Aluminum Arrows & Hunting Rifle (Endgame)

14. Choose Hunting Talents Wisely

Talent points are limited, so spend them carefully. Recommended talents include:

• Butcher (More resources from animals)
• Bone Collector (Increased bone yield)
• Bow & Blade Combat Talents (For better hunting efficiency)
• Solo Tree Talents (If playing solo—don’t waste points here in multiplayer!)

15. Cooking Prime Meat Properly

Bears drop Prime Meat, which spoils extremely quickly. To cook it successfully:

• Build a campfire immediately after killing a bear.
• Cook Prime Meat first—if you cook other meat at the same time, the fire may prioritize it over Prime Meat.
• Eat it for high health and stamina bonuses.

Bonus Tip: Hunting Expedition Preparation

Some missions require large-scale hunting (e.g., hunting mammoths in Beta 3). These fights consume far more resources than expected.

Example from Beta 3 Mammoth Hunt:

• 3 Players used:
  • 11 Longbows
  • 1,000 Arrows
  • 20 Shotgun Shells
  • Knives for melee combat
• Always bring more supplies than you think you’ll need!

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Final Thoughts

Hunting in Icarus is about more than just shooting arrows—it’s about resource management, strategic planning, and knowing when to fight or avoid danger. By following these tips, you’ll be well-prepared to hunt effectively, maximize your resources, and survive the harsh landscapes of Icarus.

If you found this guide helpful, stay tuned for more survival tips. Happy hunting, prospectors!