Way of the Hunter: How to Track Herd Fitness on the Hunting Map

Select the animal group on the Hunting Map

Open the Hunting Map and select the animal group whose management you want to follow. The herd-management interface introduced in update 1.26.7 displays fitness information for the selected group. Start with that selection rather than treating a map-wide impression of trophy quality as the group’s recorded fitness. [1]

Steps

1. Select the animal group on the Hunting Map to display its fitness information. [1]

Read the group’s habitat badge

Read the badge attached to the group. It identifies a private, primary or secondary habitat. Keep the badge together with the selected herd’s fitness information when comparing groups; the interface supplies both pieces of context. The release notes do not assign a universal trophy outcome to every badge. [1]

Steps

1. Check the group’s badge for its private, primary or secondary habitat classification. [1]

Check progress through the current in-game year

Use the Hunting Map’s clock to see how much of the current in-game year has passed. This makes the time context visible alongside herd information. The documented clock measures the in-game year; it is not the date of the article’s source check or a real-world calendar year. [1]

Compare fitness after an in-game year

Return after each in-game year to view fitness levels on the map and compare them over time. The developer presents this as a way to track the effects of hunting choices without the earlier manual-note requirement. A single observation is a starting point for that comparison, rather than proof that a management plan has already changed the population. [1]

Steps

1. Revisit the map after each in-game year to follow the herd’s fitness over time. [1]

Read the associated Encyclopedia tutorial

Read the Encyclopedia tutorial for the mechanics behind the map additions. This guide covers reading the documented interface, rather than prescribing an unsupported culling formula. [1]

For the historical genetics problem, the later April 2026 build 189422 supplies a published fix; use that later correction when evaluating older reports that careful management had no effect. [2]