The Long Dark – Tips on Jeremiah’s Folly (The Big Bad Bear Hunt)

Wintermute Episode 2. How I figured out how to hunt the bear without getting mauled. Tedious, but effective.

Other The Long Dark Guides:

Gee, What Bright Burning Fur You Have

Please note: all credit goes to Muchthump!

So when I started the mission, the bear is waiting outside for you, right off the bat. Startling, for sure, but not an automatic mauling.

First, make sure your rifle and your flare gun are both loaded.

This next part, I did try a couple different times, different ways, with varied results. The first method is more risky than the 2nd.

First method) Have your rifle at the ready and soon as you exit Jeremiah’s shack, aim and shoot that Big angry Furball. Sometimes he (or she, #feminism) came at me anyways and mauled me, sometimes it reared up on it’s hind legs and when I fired the rifle near point blank range, the bear ran away.

Second method) This method is much more likely to buy you some time, but you don’t get a hit right out of the gate, prolonging your hunting of ‘Ol Smokey. Have your flare gun ready and when you exit, fire at the bear. This will certainly cause screaming and fleeing. I’ve heard that flares can work as well.

Things to look for and watch for!

You need to hit the bear 6 (six) times in order to kill it. You do NOT have to follow Jeremiah’s advice and shoot when it is bearing (see what I did there?) down on you and you can see the whites of it’s eyes. I think Jeremiah read too much early American history or something, but that is horrible advice.

Tip to remember throughout this story line:
If you got a shot in and the bear ran away, check your journal to make sure that you were given credit and it reads (1/6) bear encounters. As you progress through the mission, look for the red blood splatter when you fire from a safe (hopefully) distance and immediately check your journal to make sure credit was given. If not, quit the game and restart.

A Walk in the Woods Doesn’t Have to Be Rushed

Now, you have to go hunt the bear. Look at your map for the likely spots to find it. Pretty much every time I tried it, the bear was next at the spot just above the Trapper’s cabin on the map. I got to the top of the hill, saw Smokey through the trees, crouched, and lined up my shot.

I found that the rifle is most accurate in the first second of aiming, then drifts all over the place. I found I had much better hit/shots fired ratio when I would aim, get the bear in the sights, then re-aim to make sure it lined up. This can be tricky if the bear is moving from side to side in your field of view.

When the bear notices you, it will face you, then rear up on it’s hind legs. The time to aim is when it faces you, then re-aim so you can be lined up when it rears up. Fire, look for the red blood splatter, and if you see it, check your journal to make sure you got credit. If you got credit, Hooray! It only gave me credit about half the time.

Now the bear will charge you. Do not panic! Smoothly switch to your flare gun that’s already loaded, aim and turn Smokey into a burning furrball. The bear will again fleet the scene. I tried switching back to rifle and shooting the bear as it ran away, but never got credit for my hits. Maybe you will, results will vary, I’m guessing.

Move onto the next spot, which for me, is always Frozen Creek. I head that direction, usually hugging the mountain side on the north of the area, till I find the bear and repeat the previous steps.

Aim, re-aim, fire, look for blood splatter, check journal, equip flare gun, line up bear charging you and blast the bear with a flare. Sometimes the bear will just run away when you hit it with the rifle. This saves a couple steps and a flare shell. Consider yourself lucky, and move on.

The game will usually save right before you encounter the bear, so if you notice this, you are probably seconds away from having Smokey in sight, so be ready. This will also be where you will re-start if you mess up and get mauled. Getting mauled isn’t the end of the world, but I hate to ruin my new combat pants and lose all that blood and have to go sleep off the injury.

Volodymyr Azimoff
About Volodymyr Azimoff 15028 Articles
I love games and I live games. Video games are my passion, my hobby and my job. My experience with games started back in 1994 with the Metal Mutant game on ZX Spectrum computer. And since then, I’ve been playing on anything from consoles, to mobile devices.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*