Hunting is hardly required in Red Dead Redemption 2, but it makes up a sizable portion of the game's content. Everything from the Master Hunter challenges to crafting better equipment to completing certain Stranger missions requires hunting perfect specimens of different animals found across the map.

Some of these animals, like deer and rabbits, are found virtually everywhere and are easy to hunt in Red Dead Redemption. But others pose serious difficulty in taking down due to their evasiveness, predatory instincts, or sheer rarity. These ten animals number among the most difficult to hunt down in Red Dead Redemption 2, and will require immense luck and patience from players to collect.

10 Brown Rats Are Rare And Hard To Hit

It's Difficult To Lure Out These Small Scavengers

Brown rats are scavengers and typically only show up in areas with fresh bodies to consume. As such, the best way to see any of them is to pile up some carcasses and corpses in a single area, leave, wait, and return to see what has shown up. This strategy is not foolproof, as vultures, ravens, and many other scavengers may show up in their place. On top of that, rats won't appear in just any area; they are much more prevalent near the town of Saint Denis in RDR2.

There are two locations with guaranteed rat spawns during certain quests: the polluted cave near the Elysium Pool and the smaller bar in Saint Denis. However, the rats at the Elysium Pool are all of the lowest quality, and black rats are what show up in Saint Denis' bar.

On top of being rare to spawn in, rats are small and easy to miss during the hunting process. A varmint rifle should be used for the best results, and while it is difficult, headshots help to increase the odds of a perfect pelt. A perfect rat is needed for a certain Stranger mission, and many are required for crafting materials, so learning to hunt these rodents is important.

9 Goats Often Belong To Innocent Civilians

These Animals Are Easier To Hunt For Those With No Conscience

Some animals in the game are domesticated, like pigs, sheep, and goats. Various farmers can be spotted across the map that have domesticated animals on their farms. Despite not being the traditional prey of a hunter, these farm animals are occasionally still required for crafting recipes, which unfortunately means killing someone else's livestock.

Goats are among the rarer livestock types in the game, though they can be found randomly in large fields and in certain enclosed areas around Lagras. Luckily, the actual act of cleanly dispatching these animals is far easier than it is for rats, though finding a perfect pelt remains a problem. Not to mention that killing these animals will usually result in a price on your head, adding another difficulty that most animal hunters don't need to worry about.

8 Cougars Fight Back More Than Most Other Beasts

These Predators Hunt You While You Hunt Them

Some animals in RDR2 are rare, and others own some, but the most dangerous in the game will hunt you back. The apex predators across the map will try to kill you if you enter their territory and antagonize them, but some, like bears and wolves, will leave you alone if you keep your distance. Not so with cougars, which will smell and track you down to go in for the kill. Even a player character with maxed-out health will die to a couple of hits from a cougar, and their speed makes them especially deadly.

Hunting these big cats requires a powerful gun in RDR2 and a quick hand, which makes obtaining a perfect pelt all the more difficult. A clean shot usually requires a high-caliber gunshot to the head, and that's difficult to pull off when your quarry is charging at you with the intent to kill. Cougar hunting is probably one of the riskiest things players can attempt and will result in player death more often than not.

7 Red-bellied Woodpeckers Fly Way Too High

These Birds Are Tough To Spot And Harder To Aim At

Woodpeckers are by no means dangerous, but hunting them is far more annoying than tracking any bear or cougar. These small birds fly about high in the sky, usually near where rivers meet woods and are fairly rare as far as birds go. One might think of spotting a woodpecker in a tree or hearing it hammering against the bark, but neither of those things happen in RDR2, making these birds virtually indistinguishable from any other small bird from a distance.

Anyone who has hunted small birds in this game knows how annoying it is to use small arrows or a varmint rifle to take these creatures out mid-flight and hope it was a clean shot. A perfect woodpecker is required for a certain Stranger mission, and the task of finding and taking one of these things out is enough to make anyone give up on it.

6 Fer-De-Lance Snakes Hardly Ever Produce Perfect Pelts

Skinning These Snakes Takes Some Luck

Snakes are among the more difficult animals to get perfect pelts from, as even headshots from small ammunition can occasionally cause them to deteriorate in quality. They move quickly across the ground, and getting too close can even get a player bit, requiring the use of a health item to cure the venom and stop the health core from draining in RDR2.

Fer-De-Lance snakes are the most difficult to hunt out of this already-strenuous quarry pool since their spawn points are so limited. They can show up in Guarma, which means players can miss them entirely if they leave the island before getting one, though thankfully, they also spawn in a certain spot on the main map. Still, the odds of finding and successfully killing a perfect one are pretty low at that point.

5 Sonoran Desert Toads Only Appear In One Area

Wait Until The Game's End To Find These Amphibians

If you thought the Fer-De-Lance snake was uncommon in its spawn points, you haven't heard of the Sonoran Desert toad. This amphibian only appears in one specific area of the map: in New Austin, along the San Luis River. Putting aside the fact that this area can't even be visited until the epilogue, finding where this toad spawns without a guide is nearly impossible.

On top of that, toads have the same issues as rats when it comes to getting a perfect carcass. They are small, move quickly, and are easily damaged, so a perfect shot with small ammunition is required. It feels bad hunting these toads since their limited spawns indicate they might be endangered, but it is necessary for a 100% completion of the game.

4 Bald Eagles Are Rare And Hard To Take Down

Tough Birds That Take Serious Skill

Small birds are difficult to take down, but large ones pose their own problems. Often, a single shot from a varmint rifle or small game arrow can leave them alive, severely lowering the quality of their carcasses, so higher-grade ammo or a perfect shot is necessary. On top of that, some large birds are very rare, chief among them the bald eagle.

This eagle has an incredibly low spawn rate and tends to stay high in the sky, and even spotting it is quite challenging. This bird of prey is among the toughest avians to get a perfect version of, so players need to keep their eyes open and bag one when they get the chance.

3 The Western Bull Moose Is The Rarest Animal In The Game

Good Luck Even Finding These Enormous Beasts

While the Western Bull Moose doesn't pose the same kind of threat or require the same level of aiming precision as the other animals on this list, it outclasses them all in of rarity. The Moose hardly shows up in the game, with the lowest spawn rate of any creature in RDR2.

The Moose may appear in northern New Hanover and Ambarino areas, but players could spend hours stalking their habitats and never come across one. Once they do, there's no guarantee it will be of perfect quality. But if you are lucky enough to spot a perfect Moose, make sure to use an improved arrow and a headshot to take it down clean.

2 Carolina Parakeets Are Small, Rare, And Evasive

Stock Up On Small Game Arrows Before Hunting These Birds

RDR2's Carolina Parakeet is the rarest of small birds. Hunting one combines the difficulty of a Woodpecker with the patience and luck required to find a Moose. Trying to get a perfect version of one of these little guys is an exercise in frustration and futility.

Killing the Carolina Parakeet will cost the player honor and reveal it is close to extinction. Killing twenty-five of them fully eradicates the species and prevents them from spawning anymore.

One would think that their vibrant colors would give them away, but they blend in surprisingly well with the flora in Bayou Nwa and are difficult to spot as they sit in the tall grass. Like all small birds, they require a precise small ammo shot to get a perfect version. The one saving grace of the parakeet is that these birds often come in groups, making it a little easier to find a perfect one when they do spawn.

1 Panthers Are The Most Dangerous Animals In The Game

The Apex Predators Of The East

Panthers are the worst of both worlds, being highly dangerous and incredibly rare to spot. They exist mainly in Lemoyne and are similar to cougars in of aggressiveness and speed. They deal more damage in one attack than pretty much anything else in the game and will even take advantage of the swampy terrain to hide in bushes and sneak up on the player.

When they spawn, typically only one will show up in a given location, and players will need to leave the area entirely for any new ones to come hunting. This makes the process of farming panther pelts incredibly dangerous and time-consuming. However, some of the best clothes, saddles, and satchel upgrades in Red Dead Redemption 2 use their parts, so unfortunately, it is often necessary.