The Crimson Plains of Yukon Valley | theHunter: Call of the Wild Gameplay

There are so many maps/reserves in theHunter: Call of the Wild and each comes with its unique natural wonders but very few can match the aesthetics of Yukon Valley Nature Reserve. Modelled after the Yukon Valley River Basin (Alaska), it features some of the iconic native species to hunt ranging from the smaller red foxes to the big predators like Grizzly Bears.

It has been long since I hunted in this reserve so I booted it up and I spawned on an outpost near the river. I checked on my supplies, added a couple of callers that would help me on this map and decided to go out to hunt whatever I could find. But there was a little problem, the sun was about to set and I hate to hunt in the dark, I love to see the natural beauty in the daytime.

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The problem had an easy solution though, just going to bed and skipping the time to make a refreshing morning!

I checked my active missions on this map and tried to do a side mission. It looked easy, I had to just go to the Crimson plains and spot Bison and Caribou each. How hard could it be...right? And I had never been to that area of this reserve so I was excited.

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I took out my ATV and set out to enter this plains which was at the center of the reserve. But as I was getting closer to the plains I got anxious about my Sheru who hadn't eaten in a while and ran behind my ATV. So, I stopped to feed him.

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Bro almost ate my thumb, I think he was hungry after running behind the vehicle for some time. I continued my journey and the red grassy patches became more spread out and I realised I was into the Crimson Plains!

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I love this area, so bright and colourful. The contrast between the blue sky and crimson earth is just magical. I saw an outpost and drove towards it. Once I was there I unlocked it which gave me access to a resting place, a store and it works as a quick travel spot. So, it was worth the trip. I couldn't resist taking more pictures of this beautiful place.

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This beautiful place almost made me forget why I was here; to spot some animals and hopefully hunt them. I ditched my ATV which makes a lot of loud noise and you will spook every animal within half a mile radius if you use it...lol

I opened the map and saw a few lakes around and picked one of the closest and started walking towards it. But someone tried to stop me in my tracks. A big Grizzly Bear! He was more concerned about his safety and quickly ran away. I think he got my scent and ran away.

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Now I was more careful and walking slowly to not spook more animals. And within a few minutes, I spotted another bear. This time it was a smaller female.

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This one was an easy kill, I used my 7 mm rifle to take this down. It was not the biggest of them but Sheru was happy. He hates those bears, he was complaining to me the other day about how Bear thinks they are superior. It sounded like a classic upper-lower class issue...lol

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Anyway, this was just a small female that only weighed about 200 kg and gave me a Bronze trophy. The good thing was that I didn't have to track it and it died quickly. Also, bears gave more cash rewards so that is a good thing too.

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And I continued my walk towards the lake. I was pretty confident that I would find some animals drinking near the lake. But I didn't find anyone. It was a barren lake, not even ducks!

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Well, at least it looked lovely or I would have been very disappointed. On the western side of the lake was an unfinished hunting structure. Those can be finished instantly if you pay some cash and they will provide better vantage points and less hunting pressure on the area when you make kills sitting inside them. Also, you get better camouflage too. So, of course, I finished the build.

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I spent some time in the hunting stand and waited for something to arrive. Someone got to be thirsty...right? I didn't have to wait for long as I saw a group of Plains Bisons walk towards the lake.

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Spotting only one of them completed half of my object, the other part was to spot a Caribou. And while I had my sights on a fine bison I decided to take a headshot. Heat shot are not the shots you want to take when hunting for trophies as most big animal's trophy organ is their skull and damaging the trophy organ will result in less rewards and trophy ratings.

But I didn't care, I wanted to take a brain shot shot and boom! I saw a big male collapsing to the ground almost instantly. This might be the best ethical way to kill an animal (if you really have to for some reason).

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I harvested it, and that was a big one weighing over 800 Kg. I decided to go towards another lake. On my way, I spooked a few animals as I was literally running towards the next lake. Moose are pretty common in this map and I spooked a few with the noise I made while running.

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But I wasn't giving up on them. I stationed myself under a tree hiding from the eyes of those moose and started calling them with my Moose Caller, which I always keep in my inventory.

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And there she was, a young female coming towards me thinking she found the perfect mate...lol. But her heart only found the end of my arrow (I am such a devil).

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I waited for some time to see if my caller attracted more of those. This was the time it started to snow and the map started to change quickly. All the red started to get covered by the white snow. This is a fascinating change, I love this dynamic weather change which completely changes the looks of the map.

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I collected the carcass, it was nothing special. Didn't even get the bronze trophy this time. I was more focused on the snow and the dynamic map change. In no time, everything was covered with snow. I was at the other lake now.

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More Bisons! Yes, more Bisons at this lake too. Now I was confident that it was their drinking time and I won't find Caribou that easily now.

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Well, I had to kill a couple of them. There were two different groups this time. I killed one from each of the groups. The biggest one was impressive. A big male weighing over 926 Kg with a set of big horns. No wonder it was a gold!

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I left my plan of going to the Lakes only and started roaming carelessly. I was looking for those damn reindeer, where could they be hiding? I climbed to the top of a hill, it wasn't a steep hill but there was a hunting stand and this could be a prime location for hunting. The only issue was there were no animals to hunt...lol

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I moved on and went to the watch tower which I could see from here. A watch tower will unlock the secrets of this place, I thought. There were some Canadian Geese that were flying over my head. One of the flocks decided to land near me.

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That was a bad decision and I killed one of them. With the first shot, everyone just fled immediately. If those were dumb turkeys who take a lifetime before running away, I would have gotten a lot more of them.

I continued to walk towards the watch tower.

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After some tiring walk on loose snow, I made it to the watch tower. I surveyed the whole place and went AFK for a few minutes.

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When I came back, the sun was out and the snow had melted exposing the crimson red color again!

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I can't decide between which of the two I like, the white snow-covered peaks or the crimson-red grassy plain. I love them both! This map is one of the most beautiful and the adventure in the Crimson Plains will be in my memory for so long! LOVE IT!

I will complete the mission next time as I explore more of this nature's paradise. Thank you for taking this beautiful journey with me. It was way less hunting and more sightseeing this time. Hope you don't mind!