Red Dead Redemption 2 All Hunting Request Locations (2024)

Red Dead Redemption 2 has 5 Hunting Request Locations. Completing all Hunting Requests is needed for 100% Completion. They count as a type of collectible. This guide explains exactly how to get the perfect carcasses and where to find the animals to finish the RDR2 hunting requests.

The first four are available in chapter 2 (but without the deadeye skill from chapter 6 that marks critical hit spots these are pretty much impossible anyway so don’t bother until having beaten the game). The last one only unlocks in the Epilogue so you must play through the story first to complete them all.

To start them you must find a poster at one of the train stations. The way it works is that you must kill specific animals (ideally with 3-star quality) with the weapon detailed in the below guide. The carcasses must be in perfect condition, meaning it has to be a clean kill (1 shot kill in the weakpoint with the right weapon). 3-star animals are guaranteed to give a perfect carcass on a clean kill. You can also get perfect carcasses from 1-star and 2-star animals, but sometimes they are only in “good” condition. Just kill all animals of the required type and pick up their bodies, take special care with the 3-star ones. Never skin the animals, just pick up their carcass and you should see an update for the hunting request in the top left corner. After you found all that are needed for one hunting request, you can return to the post office to mail a “filled request” to Ms. Hobbs. After sending a filled request back to Ms. Hobbs you must collect her reward from the post office after 24 hours to start the next hunting request. The animals have specific spawn areas but these are all detailed in the guide. First, we’ll go through the hunting in more detail again.

Important: The Legendary Buck Trinket helps with this! It increases animal quality when you collect them. You get it by skinning the Legendary Buck and then crafting the Buck Trinket at a Fence. With this I was able to pick up 1-star and 2-star carcasses and they still counted as “perfect”.

How to Get Perfect Carcasses

1. First, buy bait from a Trapper or General Store. All animals from hunting requests require Herbivore Bait. Stock up on 99 Bait, you’ll burn through it fast (you can buy Legend of the East Satchel from a Fence after the story to get 99 inventoryslots or have Pearson craft it for you during the story).
2. Next, get the Varmint Rifle from a Gunsmith (if you don’t already own it). You can change your weapon at the horse.
3. Grab the hunting request poster and go to the animal spawn zones shown below and place the bait in a remote area (away from roads), but where you can easily see the approaching animal. E.g. place it where there’s not too much grass and walk up a hill where you have a clear view. Crouch and stay still at least 20 meters away from the bait. This does not work for birds, those aren’t attracted by bait!You can also ride / run around the spawn areas and hope to encounter the animal but it can be hard to get a clean kill when they get spooked and run away from you.
4. When an animal comes, use the binoculars to study it (R1/RB). Then it shows the animal name. You can press R1/RB again to view the animal’s rarity (shown in bottom right corner). 3-star animals will always drop perfect pelts on a clean kill – but the rarity is random and a bit like winning the lottery. If they spawn with 1 or 2 starsyou can still get a perfect carcass on a clean kill, especially when you have the Legendary Buck Trinket equipped. When the below guide lists the weapons “Small Game Arrows” & “Varmint Rifle”, it’s better to use the Small Game Arrows as they have a better chance of leaving behind a perfect carcass!
5. You must kill the animal with a CLEAN KILL. That means 1 hit kill. You must shoot its weakpoint which is usually the heart or the head.To see all the weakpoints you must first beat Chapter 6 Story Mission “Goodbye, Dear Friend”. After that mission you unlock a deadeye skill that highlights critical spots. So yeah, you have to pretty much beat the game before hunting challengesare feasible.
6. To get a clean kill you must use the appropriate weapon. Using a caliber too big will damage the carcass. Using a caliber too small won’t kill the animal in one hit and likewise damage the carcass. The appropriate weapon ispointed out in the guide below. For all of them, the Varmint rifle will work – but the Small Game Arrows are best for the tiny animals as it increases the chance for perfect carcasses. You can also see the recommended weapons in the compendium after studying the animal. For birds the Varmint Rifle is easier, for tiny rodents the small hunting arrows are easier.
7. After getting a clean kill, pick up the dead animal and if it’s in perfect condition you will receive a checkmark on the hunting request (you can hold > “Wildlife Art Exhibition” to view progress). Remember to get the Legendary Buck Trinket by skinning theLegendary Buckand then crafting the Buck Trinket at aFence. Itimproves animal quality.
8. Once you have all the perfect carcasses needed for the hunting request,go to a post office andmail them to Ms. Hobbs (hold at post office).You can only send the mail after you got ALL the animals needed to fulfill the request. After sending the mail, wait 24 hours, go back to post office to get your reward and it will start the next hunting request.

Summing up: you have one luck-based factor that’s getting the animal to spawn. Then you must know what weapon to kill it with (pointed out in guide) and then you have a skill-based factor of having to kill it in a clean shot. If you don’t kill it in one shot it’s too late, the carcass won’t be perfect condition and you can look for a new animal. Expect this to take up to 20 hours(or more) for all 5 hunting requests, depending on luck and your skill.

Can’t get an animal to spawn? Try this: Make a Manual Save, Quit to Title Screen, Continue. It will cycle through the animals in the area each time you do this. The game seems to spawn at least one 3-star animal in the area and quitting makes different animals show up. Making a camp and advancing time can also help.

Glitch Warning (Quest not progressing): When completing a Hunting Request (whensending a mail to Ms. Hobbs), make sure you do not have any other perfect carcasses for the next hunting request in your inventory! Otherwise, the game might glitch out and never give you the follow-up quest, thus making it impossible to complete the hunting requests and thus the 100% completion! There’s yet another glitch; when you’ve already gotten a bigger carcass (rabbit, opossum, skunk, beaver) and you saved the game after, but reloaded the save, then the carcass can simply disappear and is no longer checked off in your quest log. It is therefore best to keep these animals for last or to do the entire request in one sitting with no reloads.

Glitch Warning #2 (Posters not available): Some players have reported not being able to find the posters anywhere. This could be because you have the stranger mission “The Ties that Bind Us” active. So if you can’t find the posters, it’s most likely because you accepted this mission, and completing it should fix the issue.

Hunting Request Locations

There are 5 train stations where you can find a poster that starts the Hunting Questline. You only need to get one of these posters, the next quests will trigger automatically. You just do one request and after mailing all animals, the next hunting request gets added to your satchel instantly. So just pick any of these 5 to get started, e.g. the one from Valentine.

Poster Location #1: Valentine Post Office

Poster Location #2:Strawberry Post Office

Poster Location #3:Rhodes Post Office

Poster Location #4:Saint Denis Post Office

Poster Location #5:Van Horn Trading Outpost Post Office

Hunting Request 1

Required Animals: Squirrel, Adult Rabbit.

Squirrel Carcass (Perfect Condition)

Just like rabbits, squirrels can spawn almost anywhere in the northern half of the map. They are found particularly often in the top right edge of the map. They are very small and hard to see in the grass. I found them by putting some herbivore bait on the road and just aiming there from time to time (the auto-aim will kick in and focus on the animal).

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Adult Rabbit Carcass (Perfect Condition)

Rabbits can spawn pretty much anywhere in the northern half of the map. You will sometimes see them running across the road. They are the most common animals in the game.

Weapon: Varmint Rifle

Hunting Request2

Required Animals: Cardinal, Rat, Woodpecker.

Cardinal Carcass (Perfect Condition)

The Cardinal is a bird. Can be sitting or flying. Will fly away when you get close.

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Rat Carcass (Perfect Condition)

I always found a bunch of rats in the cave behind the waterfall of Elysian Pool. Be sure to enter at daytime so that the cave part with the rats is lit. Simply walk through the waterfall. Make sure you equip a lantern (weapon wheel, bottom right under melee weapons) so you can see in the dark. Walk to the end of the cave. At day there’s a lit area and several rats running around. Use Small Game Arrows, with that I even got a perfect carcass from a 1-star rat.

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Woodpecker Carcass (Perfect Condition)

One of the most common birds that can spawn almost anywhere in the northern half of the map.

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Hunting Request3

Required Animals: Chipmunk, Oriole, Robin, Opossum.

Chipmunk Carcass (Perfect Condition)

They look similar to squirrels and are the same size, and can also spawn in overlapping areas. They are rarer than squirrels and have more few spawn zones.

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Oriole Carcass (Perfect Condition)

A very rare bird that spawns only in small specific zones. Stick to the marked zones exactly. Can be sitting or flying.

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Robin Carcass (Perfect Condition)

Another bird that is limited to only a few possible spawn zones.

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Opossum Carcass (Perfect Condition)

Only found in a few distinct places, not found anywhere else.

Weapon: Varmint Rifle

Hunting Request4

Required Animals: Songbird, Sparrow, Toad, Bullfrog, Skunk.

Songbird Carcass (Perfect Condition)

One of the most common birds, can spawn almost anywhere on the map.

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Sparrow Carcass (Perfect Condition)

A common bird that can spawn almost anywhere on the northern half of the map.

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Toad Carcass (Perfect Condition)

Toads only spawn near water (rivers, lakes, islands).

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Bullfrog Carcass (Perfect Condition)

They only spawn in a few places near water. Do not confuse with toads.

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Skunk Carcass (Perfect Condition)

Skunks are found almost anywhere on the map. They are more frequent in the north-east.

Weapon: Varmint Rifle

Hunting Request5

Required Animals: Cedar Waxwing, Bat, Blue Jay, Crow, Beaver.

Cedar Waxwing Carcass (Perfect Condition)

Cedar Waxwing is another bird, can be sitting or flying.

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Bat Carcass (Perfect Condition)

Bats are only found in caves, for example the cave behind the waterfall at Elysian Pool (walk through the waterfall to get there).

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Blue Jay Carcass (Perfect Condition)

The blue jay is a blue-colored bird, only found ina few spawn zones, rare. Stick to the marked spawn zones exactly. It likes to live near water.

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Crow Carcass (Perfect Condition)

Crows are among the most common birds. Can be flying or sitting.

Weapon: Small Game Arrows or Varmint Rifle

Beaver Carcass (Perfect Condition)

Beavers live only at select zones around rivers and a lake. They have small spawn zones but tend to show up there very often.

Weapon: Varmint Rifle

After having mailed allhunting requests to Ms. Hobbs she will send you an invite in the mail after 1-2 days (you can rest at camp to advance time). Read the invite and head to her quest marker. She will give you the Squirrel Statue as a reward. You must put it above the fireplace at beecher’s hope (your farm after the story), then it gets stolen6 times and you have to find it at different locations and put it back above the fireplace. After each time, sleep for 24 hours so it gets stolen again and can be found at the next location. The trophy pops after finding it for the sixth time:

1. Chest in John’s Bedroom
2. Check the Chimney in John’s Bedroom
3. Go to the kitchen where you’ll find a ladder to the loft. It’s in the chest on the right.
4. Outside next to the barn where the sheep are, inside the wheelbarrow.
5. Inside the barn, climb the ladder and it’s in the chest.
6.This one isn’t on the farm. It’s way off in the north of West Elizabeth Region, north of Strawberry, on Mount Shann (Location Screenshot).

That’s all the Hunting Requests in RDR2 and how to get perfect animal carcasses. For all other collectibles and 100% completion check out our full Red Dead Redemption 2 100% Guide.