Hunting in GTA 6: what we know about locations, prey and earnings

Hunting will be in GTA 6: Rockstar explicitly lists it among the activities in Mount Kalaga National Park. According to TGG, who attended a presentation of the game, Rob Nelson also linked hunting to earning money through someone who knows Jason, one of the game’s two protagonists. The complete system has yet to be shown. We have armed hunters, alligators, a woodland scene with deer and reports of tracking rare animals. How these pieces fit together as an activity for the player is only partly known.

The comparison with Red Dead Redemption 2 is natural: Rockstar is again building a large world with varied wildlife. But GTA has its own history of hunting. Familiar animals, a rifle and the word “legendary” do not establish that every hunting rule from RDR 2 will return.

Where Rockstar suggests hunting

Rockstar directly associates hunting with Mount Kalaga National Park on the northern edge of Leonida, GTA 6’s state. The official description places hunting alongside fishing and off-road driving. Rural mystics and radicals who prefer to stay away from the authorities live in the surrounding woods. Rockstar therefore presents the area both as a place for outdoor recreation and as inhabited backcountry with a character of its own.

In one Kalaga screenshot, two men carry long guns through the forest. One wears orange over camouflage; the other holds his gun in front of him. The scene shows the region’s hunting side, but does not reveal whether the protagonists meet these men in a mission, whether they can join them or even who they are.

Hunting has a different look in the Grassrivers wetlands. In an overhead view, a person in an airboat points a gun toward an alligator in the nearby water. Another screenshot shows a group posing with guns and an alligator lying beside them; in a third, a carcass hangs beneath a roof next to an armed man. These are several related scenes, rather than one animal that happened to be in frame.

They still show what local people are doing. The images cannot tell us how a player gets such a job, whether an airboat is needed or where the catch goes afterward. Even the hanging alligator does not prove that this is a future selling point.

For the wider geography, see our guide to the six regions of Leonida shown so far. At present we can name the region Rockstar connects to hunting and examine specific scenes. It is too early to mark verified prey locations on a map.

What the hunter on an ATV shows

Game Informer’s September report added a scene closer to hunting itself. In the published screenshot, a man in a cap sits on an ATV by a forest stream. A scoped rifle is slung across his back. Two deer stand on the other bank, one with its head lowered toward the water.

It is particularly tempting to fill in the sequence here: ride to a watering place, spot an animal, get off the ATV and choose a moment to shoot. The image itself shows only one moment. The man is not aiming, no hunting menu appears, and no prey lies on the rack. We cannot say that he followed tracks to find these deer or that the ATV is required to carry a carcass.

Nor should the image become a list of available targets. Deer and cougars appear in woodland material, while alligators appear in wetland scenes. These are concrete examples of hunting surroundings, but Rockstar has not disclosed the full list of animals for which the player might be paid. Even the reported total of more than 170 species covers all wildlife, including birds and marine life. Not every animal in GTA 6 automatically becomes hunting prey.

How hunting connects to money and someone Jason knows

The most useful detail about the activity’s purpose came from a separate TGG video about side activities. The creator visited Rockstar North and watched studio co-head Rob Nelson demonstrate the game. In his September video, TGG says he also asked Nelson about hunting and fishing.

According to Nelson’s answer as TGG recounts it, hunting brings in money and involves a character who knows Jason. The account does not explain whether payment is for a whole carcass, a photograph, a completed request or something else. This part names neither the character nor the amounts or payment terms.

TGG then speculates that this acquaintance has not been shown yet and suggests that it might be one of the hunters in earlier screenshots. That is where the reported developer answer ends and the video’s author’s theory begins. It cannot establish a particular buyer or promise a meeting with a particular character.

The connection to Jason also leaves open the role of Lucia, the game’s other protagonist. The acquaintance might introduce the activity, but that one sentence does not show that only Jason can hunt. The conditions for each protagonist and the possibility of going out together remain unknown.

Rare and legendary animals: tracking is reported, rewards are unknown

Game Informer’s free report on wildlife explicitly says that some animals can be tracked. They fall into Rare, Discoverable and Legendary categories. The outlet does not identify which creatures belong to each category.

Players will therefore be able to seek out some animals deliberately. How tracking works has not been explained. The word “track” does not establish an interface, highlighted footprints, scent trails, bait or a time-of-day requirement.

There is even less reason to treat a legendary animal as an expensive trophy. The report establishes special categories and tracking, not a mission to kill every animal in them. We do not know what counts when one is encountered: discovery, studying, photographing or taking the animal. A price list for legendary hunting targets would run ahead of the evidence.

Studying animals itself is confirmed. In an IGN interview published in October, Nelson said the Study action lets players collect information about animals as a collectible activity. The mechanic was brought over from RDR 2 so players could engage with nature without necessarily shooting. Learning about an animal and making money from hunting might be separate goals. In this answer, Nelson explains neither payment nor what counts toward the special categories.

The same Game Informer report mentions new hair and fur systems, including coats and animal pelts. This concerns how animals look. The word “pelts” in a graphics description does not mean players can skin animals, store hides in a trunk and sell them.

How hunting could differ from RDR 2

In Red Dead Redemption 2, a found animal could become a tangible load. Rockstar’s official support describes skinning a legendary animal and selling its pelt, and in some cases its carcass, to a Trapper. It is understandable that players expect something similar in GTA 6: many remember that sequence from finding an animal through handing over the catch.

But GTA V already handled hunting differently. Rockstar’s help article for one hunting mission tells the player to send Cletus a photograph after killing an animal. The series has its own precedent for connecting hunting to a character who gives an assignment or receives the result. A promise of money in GTA 6 does not yet let us choose between these models.

There is another important distinction in TGG’s account. Nelson compared fishing specifically with RDR 2 in terms of depth. He then clarified that caught fish cannot be kept: they are released because storing the catch did not suit this game. For hunting, the answer mentions money and someone Jason knows. Extending the depth comparison to every hunting mechanic would be an extra assumption.

The picture is more interesting than simply placing RDR 2 in a modern setting. Nelson confirmed that studying animals carries over from RDR 2, and Game Informer reported tracking animals in special categories. Yet hunting and fishing, in TGG’s account, serve different purposes: fishing offers relaxation and challenges, while hunting produces income. We still have to see what the player must do to earn it.

What is missing before we can write a practical guide

We can now examine the basis for hunting and the places shown, but we cannot give a verified route to making money. Several practical questions still need answers:

• How does the activity begin, and must the player first meet Jason’s acquaintance?
• Which animals have assignments, and do any legendary ones qualify?
• Must the player collect a carcass or pelt, how is the catch transported, and who receives the result?
• What determines payment: the species, shot placement, condition of the catch or assignment terms?
• Can Lucia hunt, can the protagonists hunt together, and does the activity count toward 100% completion?

Separate rules for bows, traps, skinning, crafting, licenses and police response are also undisclosed. That does not mean they will be absent. A list of these possibilities on someone else’s page is simply no substitute for a demonstration or explanation from Rockstar.

We do have a foundation: a named hunting region, several distinct scenes, the ability to seek special animals and an account of a monetary reward. The most useful next demonstration would connect those pieces by showing how a protagonist finds a target, what happens to the catch and what triggers payment. Then we can compare the player’s actual actions with RDR 2.

Sources

• Rockstar Games: Leonida locations and the Mount Kalaga National Park description.
• TGG: video on GTA 6 activities, hunting and fishing from 4:19.
• IGN: Nelson’s direct answer on studying animals, syndicated interview.
• Game Informer: more than 170 species and tracking special animals.
• Official Rockstar screenshots and Game Informer images published by Insider Gaming.
• Rockstar Support: a GTA V hunting mission and the photo for Cletus, skinning and handing over legendary animals in RDR 2.

Information checked October 16, 2026.