A sad end to Gunther's chapter | theHunter: Call of the Wild

I have started hunting in one of the harshest environments of Siberia on a map called Medvad-Tiaga and this map is filled with hazards like extreme cold climates, and deadly predators with the likes of Grey Wolves, Brown Bear and Eurasian Lynx. I was given the task to find a missing team member who was lost in the blizzard earlier this week and then all communication was lost. His name is Gunther.

We found some clues about him on one of his campsites and saw a note where he wrote how his ATV met with an accident and his communication device broke and then he had to go hunting.

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We found an injured reindeer and my warden assigned me the task to track down that injured animal and finish it off so it doesn't suffer more with the pain. While I was actively looking for patches of path, I heard some noise coming from nearby.

It was a loud growl and sounded like a Bear was close to me. I hid in the bushes and waited for them to call down.

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I used the distressed call that is used to call in predators like Bears and coyotes. I waited patiently under this tree hidden from the eyes of the bear. Slowly, the growling got louder and I could see some movements in the nearby shrubs.

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I had my Bow equipped with the most powerful arrows and took a shot right on the chest of that Brown Bear. It didn't last very long and dropped just near the spot where I hit it.

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It was a relatively smaller female but still looked heavy in that harvest screen, weighing about 260 Kg and I shot her right in the liver just missing the lower part of the lungs. The arrow pierced right through the liver and hit the Vertebrae which made her drop quickly.

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I was still searching for that injured reindeer but found a campsite and this looked like one of Gunther's camps. There were some reindeer prints on the snow so I followed them.

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It was not one of the injured ones but a completely health one, a male with a huge set of antlers. I followed him for a while until I got a good angle to shoot it down from my rifle.

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This looked like a potential gold but only gave me a silver trophy. I was happy with this reindeer; it was one of the biggest I have hunted so far. Look at its antlers, they are huge and my shot just missed the heart as well but punctured both the lungs so it was an easy kill too.

Around this time I found some blood splatters and assigned my dog to follow the blood trail. He followed the trail which led me to a frozen lake and there it was, the injured Reindeer...standing in the middle of the lake.

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It was facing away from me and I wanted to get a lung shot so I decided to go around to have a better shot but it sensed my presence and fled from there. I should have taken the shot...lol

Well, Sheru, my Dog, was at it again and we followed the blood trail.

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We reached a place where I could build a hunting structure so I did that exactly. It was a hunting standing that gave me a good vantage point. These are some of the best hunting locations on the map.

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I climbed on top and looked for signs of my reindeer and luckily saw it again. It was facing away from me this time as well but I had lost my patience this time and decided to take the shot. No way I was chasing it again for another 20 minutes...lol

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Look at the tracking distance from the harvest screen (2.45 km!!). This has to be one of the longest distances I have tracked a single target. If it was not for a missing I would have given up way earlier.

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At least this finished my current objective and now I can focus on finding Gunther again which should have been the main concern anyway.

So, we found out that the injured reindeer was shot by a gun similar to Gunther's rifle. This was not conclusive evidence but if Gunther is using firearms we have to find Gunther before he hurts more animals in this manner. I was sent back to the campsite.

I was so far away chasing this reindeer that I decided to quickly travel back to the outpost and took out my ATV so I could travel faster.

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I went back to Gunther's Campsite and saw some footprints which led me to a frozen river. What happened here was shocking.

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We saw some dead musk deer on the frozen river, they had no wounds or blood and that suggests that it is a lot worse situation for Gunther than we thought.

The warden confirmed that she had seen something like this in the neighbouring province and it was caused by Anthrax contamination! Just next to those dead animals was a camp of Gunther and there was a not hanging outside it.

Here is what the note said:

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He ate the poisoned meat and had Anthrax symptoms like fever and difficulty breathing. It must have been a painful death. He made it to Day 4. Poor guy, we were thinking he could die from Bears or Wolves attacks or from his fever but Anthrax!? That was a shocker!

RIP Gunther

At least, this chapter came to a close, a sad ending, yes, but still some closure.

I have a lot of questions, where did the Anthrax come from, are there more places that are contaminated or just this one place? Are we safe? I am excited to see where the campaign leads us after this outbreak of a deadly disease.

Thanks for reading...

Until next hunt...