Baiting

Bait is used to attract a large number of animals to an area over a long period of time. In order to bait the player needs to acquire a bait container (persistent item) and fill it with bait (consumable item).

Bait

Bait is a consumable item that attracts animals when put in a bait container. Bait is consumed by animals visiting the bait container. The rate of consumption is constant at 10 units per day no matter where the container is placed.

Simplification (Baiting 2.0)

The baiting system has been overhauled on March 30, 2017 to simplify the process. The developers write: One of the objectives when setting out to rework the baiting system was to simplify it. Not only to make the experience for the players more consistent and hopefully more enjoyable, but to make the system easier to debug, maintain, and further develop in the future. To simplify the system, some important decisions were made which have changed how baiting works now. We understand that some players may have preferred a more complex system which had a lot of unknown variables resulting in unpredictable behavior, but it is our hope that the new system will offer better value without removing all of the challenge from baiting.

Attraction

Attraction used to rely on the location of the container and would slowly grow or lower over time when food was available or depleted. The new system no longer has any concept of attraction, formerly a number between 0 and 100. A feeder now has a status, and this can either be “active”, “inactive”, or “penalty”.

Active: The feeder contains bait and is capable of baiting species.
Inactive: The feeder may or may not contain bait but is incapable of baiting species.
Penalty: The feeder is currently disabled because a baited animal was shot at the site.

Location Attractiveness

The location where a bait container is placed can have a dramatic effect on its effectiveness.
Location Attractiveness affects both the rate at which attractiveness grows as well as Peak Attractiveness.
The maximum attractiveness that a container can reach is 100%.
You can check the attractiveness of your container on the map where you start your hunts.
In a good spot where the attractiveness will grow to 100%, the growth per day is 15%.
- Tip: After placing your feeder and filling it with food, note the time. Check the attractiveness after 24 hours. If it is a lot below 15%, move the container. It is not a good spot.

Peak Attractiveness

Peak Attractiveness is the maximum attraction level that a bait container can reach at that particular location.
You will know that your feeder has reached Peak Attractiveness once the attractiveness no longer grows despite the container holding bait.
Reaching Peak Attractiveness from a newly placed container can take up to a week in a good area.
To check the current level of attractiveness of your container, open the launcher and click Hunt Now. Move the mouse over the feeder icon on the map or in the left navigation where the lodges, tents and feeders are listed.

File:FeederAttractiveness.png

Shooting Penalty

Shooting an animal in the area around a bait container reduces the container's attraction for a time.
The shooting penalty is a drop of 75 points of the attractiveness.
The attraction recovery rate after taking a penalty is 35% per day.
The shooting penalty only applies if the animal that was shot had been attracted by the container.
- For instance, shooting a Black Bear near a Bear Bait Barrel will cause attractiveness to drop, whereas shooting a Moose in the same area will not.
- Chasing animals away from the container, i.e. outside the attraction radius, and then shoot it there will also cause an attractiveness penalty. This was added as an exploit prevention.
- If the baited animal was spooked by another (spooked) animal and it moves outside the attraction radius, it can be shot without taking the penalty.
In multiplayer, only the host will cause a penalty. All the other players can shoot as many animals near the feeders without causing a penalty.
Shooting at any other species will never cause a penalty, no matter where it is.

Food / Bait

You can put up to 50 units of food into the container. Without food, the container will not attract animals.
In an area with perfect attraction, food consumption is 10 units per real day.
Food will be consumed whether or not you play the game.
Once the container has run out of bait, the attractiveness will start to drop.

Moving Containers

Bait containers can be moved during a hunt using the environment interaction menu (default key: E). As soon as the container is picked up, all attraction is lost. This means that attraction for a moved container will always start at zero, even if it is put back in the same spot.

If the container contains bait when picked up, the bait remains stored in it until the container is once again placed in the world. Bait does not decrease when the feeder is not placed anywhere on a map.

Numbers

minimal distance between two feeders: 500m
minimal distance between lodges/campsites/tents and feeders: 400m
feeder attraction radius at attraction level 10: ~150m
feeder attraction radius at attraction level 100: 250m
shooting penalty radius: 100m-250m, depending on the attractiveness
shooting penalty: -75 attractiveness
max growing rate: 15 per day
max growing rate to recover from penalty: 35 per day
food depletion time: 10 units per day at max attractiveness

Equipment

Feeder		Reserve Limit	Bait		Attracts
Bear Bait Barrel		3	Bear Bait
Hog Feeder		3	Hog Bait

Bait Containers can be bought in the store in Large Equipment - Bait Sites section, or in the Bundles section as a package with bait. Buy equipment or check out the bundles.

Bait can be bought in the store in Lures - Bait section, or in the Bundles section as a package with bait containers. Buy bait or check out the bundles.