1-99 Hunter Guide

Welcome, fellow adventurers of Gielinor, to this comprehensive guide that will lead you to master the Hunter skill in Old School RuneScape. Hunting is a fascinating and valuable skill that allows you to track and capture a wide variety of wild creatures throughout the realm, from tiny butterflies to fierce dragons. As you train your hunting prowess, not only will you gain valuable rewards and useful resources, but you will also earn experience to ascend from level 1 to the coveted level 99.

In this guide, you will learn step-by-step the best strategies to train Hunter efficiently and effectively, making the most out of each level and gaining insights that will turn you into a skilled hunter. Whether you're seeking economic benefits, completing achievements, or simply enjoying the thrill of the hunt, this guide will provide you with the necessary tools and tips to achieve your goals.

Prepare your traps, sharpen your senses, and embark on an exciting adventure through lush forests, arid deserts, and mysterious corners of Gielinor. Hunting awaits you, so let's begin this journey towards mastery in Hunter in OSRS!

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Recommendations:

We will explore at least two methods to level up the Hunter skill efficiently. Before we begin, it's important to note that certain quests and achievements are crucial to unlocking specific hunting opportunities and areas. Let's take a look at some essential requirements that will enhance your hunting experience:

1. Bone Voyage: Completing the Bone Voyage quest will grant you access to Fossil Island, a location required for bird house trapping and drift net fishing. This island harbors unique creatures and resources that can greatly benefit your Hunter journey.

2. Starting Fairytale II - Cure a Queen: This quest unlocks the fairy rings, an invaluable transportation network that will significantly ease your movement across Gielinor. Fairy rings provide swift access to various hunting grounds, saving you time and effort during your hunts.

3. Eagle's Peak: Before you can catch any chinchompas, completing the Eagle's Peak quest is essential. This quest teaches you the necessary techniques to capture these elusive creatures effectively.

4. Black Chinchompas: If you plan to catch black chinchompas, completing the hard Wilderness Diary is highly recommended. This achievement grants you fast access to the hunting area, making your black chinchompa hunting endeavors more efficient and profitable.

5. Carnivorous Chinchompas: For those aspiring to catch carnivorous chinchompas, completing either the Song of the Elves quest or the hard Western Provinces Diary is strongly recommended. These unlocks will provide essential shortcuts and resources in the dangerous hunting grounds of carnivorous chinchompas.

Required ítems:

1. Noose Wand: To begin your hunting endeavors, equip the Noose Wand. This tool is essential for tracking kebbits and will serve you well during levels 1 to 15.

2. Bird Snares: Opting to catch birds? Bird snares are a must-have for levels 1 to 29. Set these traps to capture various avian creatures effectively.

3. Butterfly Net & Butterfly Jars: For levels 15 to 33, equip yourself with a Butterfly Net and 5 to 20+ Butterfly Jars. These will enable you to skillfully net butterflies for valuable Hunter experience.

4. Axe and Knife: At levels 33 to 47, you'll need an Axe and a Knife to deadfall trap kebbits. Use these tools to set up traps and catch elusive creatures with precision.

5. Small Fishing Net & Rope: At level 29 or 47, equip a Small Fishing Net and a Rope to net trap swamp lizards or salamanders. These creatures offer great experience gains and rewarding hunting opportunities.

6. Box Trap: Once you reach level 53, it's time to employ the Box Trap. This efficient trap is perfect for catching chinchompas, providing significant experience and potential profits.

Let’s do this!

Recommended First Method

Note: Using a Hunter potion just before level 20, 40, 60 and 80 boosts the player over those levels. This allows the player to set an extra trap, increasing experience rates.

Levels 1–9: Natural History Quiz

Completing the Natural History Quiz grants a generous 1,000 experience, instantly propelling you from level 1 to 9. To begin this rewarding quiz, seek out Orlando Smith, located in the museum's basement. By acing the quiz, you'll kickstart your Hunter journey with a significant experience boost, setting the stage for even greater accomplishments.

Levels 9–44/80/99: Bird house trapping

Bird house trapping is a recurring method for training your Hunter skill, similar to Farming in its approach. During a bird house run, you'll set up bird house traps on Fossil Island and fill them with suitable seeds. After 50 minutes, you'll dismantle the traps to gain Hunter experience and loot, and then set them up again for the next run. Four spots on the island are designated for placing bird house traps, indicated by the Bird house site icon.

To embark on this method, you must have completed Bone Voyage to access Fossil Island. It's highly recommended to have numerous digsite pendants for fast transportation to the island. Craft these pendants by enchanting ruby necklaces with the Lvl-3 Enchant spell or the respective magic tablet. To enchant ruby necklaces, first find a clean necklace and show it to one of the archaeologists in the Varrock Museum.

Constructing a bird house requires a clockwork, a corresponding log, a hammer, and a chisel. Having a sufficient Crafting level is recommended, as assembled traps are infrequently traded in the Grand Exchange. When collecting a filled bird house, the clockwork will be returned along with bird nests and feathers. To fill the bird houses, it's advisable to use inexpensive low-level seeds such as potato or onion seeds.

This method offers the fastest Hunter experience, particularly up to level 80. It remains viable even up to level 99, unless rapid level gains are essential. However, at level 44 Hunter, players might want to consider drift net fishing, especially if they also need to train Fishing. For Hunter alone, bird house trapping is highly efficient at lower levels compared to active training methods. Players seeking the fastest real-time Hunter experience will likely find bird house runs most beneficial for the majority of their lower-level experience.

The table below shows the experience gained from a single (full) birdhouse. Multiply this by 4 to calculate the total experience for a full run. Completing one run takes around 73-90 seconds, making it a time-effective training method

Initial bird house run

Items required for the initial bird house run and unlocking three Mushtrees, which assist with transport around the island later:

1. A digsite pendant with at least 3 charges

2. Hammer

3. Chisel

4. 4 logs

5. 4 clockworks

6. 40 seeds of any kind, eg barley or onion (20 if using wildblood seeds or herb seeds Ranarr and above)

7. 1 stamina potion

Doing a bird house run:

1. Teleport to the Digsite using the Digsite pendant. Use the Quick-Travel option on the barge guard to travel to Fossil Island.

2. Run west to the swamp entrance. While running, use the clockworks on the logs to craft 4 bird houses.

3. Place a bird house at the space near the swamp entrance.

4. Use the seeds on the bird house (Needs to be done manually for all bird houses)

5. Run north-east to the hill, and follow the path to the House on the Hill. Climb the stairs until you reach an area with a Mushtree and some machines.

6. Use the Digsite pendant on the southern machine to unlock the teleport option on the Digsite pendant to Fossil Island.

7. Click on the Mushtree north to unlock the Mushtree teleport option to the House on the Hill.

8. Teleport to the Digsite and travel back to Fossil Island (or just walk back). From here, run north-west to the Bird house site  icon at the north-west of the Mushroom forest.

9. Click on the Mushtree nearby to unlock the Mushtree teleport option to Mushroom Meadow.

10. Place a bird house to the spot north of the Mushtree.

11. Teleport to the Digsite and travel back to Fossil Island. From here, follow the coastline south until you see an opening in the north-east. Head a bit north-east and run inside the valley with two Bird house site icons.

12. Place the final two bird houses on the spots in the valley, and click on the Mushtree to unlock the Mushtree teleport option to Verdant Valley.

After the initial run, the items required for a bird house run are as follows:

1. A Digsite pendant with at least 1 charge

2. Hammer

3. Chisel

4. 4 logs or 4 bird houses

5. 40 seeds of any kind (20 if using wildblood seeds or herb seeds Ranarr and above)

6. 1 clockwork (optional but recommended)

It is recommended to bring an extra clockwork, so players can craft the bird houses while running to the next one. This will save a few seconds compared to crafting bird houses after harvesting them.

Another alternative is to get extra clockwork and build birdhouses while storing them in the bank. While collecting your birdhouses you only need a replacement birdhouse and seeds. With this method you won't need to use the hammer or chisel. This method shaves off a few seconds as there is no animation for crafting houses.

Doing a bird house run

1. Teleport to Fossil Island using the Fossil Island option on the digsite pendant, and use the Mushtree to go to Verdant Valley.

2.While running, use a log on the clockwork to craft a bird house.

3. Check and place the eastern bird house, followed by the western one.

4. Use the Mushtree to Mushroom Meadow, and check and place the bird house north of the Mushtree.

5. Run south to the Sticky Swamp entrance, and check and place the final bird house.

Levels 44–99: Drift net fishing

Drift net fishing presents an efficient method to simultaneously train both Fishing and Hunter. However, when focusing solely on Hunter, it's not the fastest option due to split rates. This technique boasts higher Hunter experience rates than Fishing, making it advisable to switch to alternative methods once Hunter training is no longer required.

To engage in drift net fishing, head to the underwater regions of Fossil Island, accessible after completing Bone Voyage. For prolonged underwater exploration, equip a fishbowl helmet and the diving apparatus, obtained from the Pirate Pete subquest of Recipe for Disaster. For faster swimming, equip flippers acquired from mogre kills. Optimal experience rates are achieved by using a merfolk trident or (uncharged) trident of the seas to herd fish shoals into drift nets. Stamina potions are crucial for maintaining run energy during the process.

A few tips for maximizing experience: Chase each fish shoal once and prioritize those nearer to the drift nets. To achieve peak experience per hour, replace the net after 6-7 fish shoals before focusing on fish shoals near the other net.

While banking the caught fish and waiting for the drift net to fill reduces experience rates, it is cost-effective. Each complete net costs 5 numulites. The fish caught offset the drift net cost and scale with Fishing level, with raw lobsters starting to be caught at level 50.

The table below illustrates experience rates based on filling 113 nets per hour. At 50 Fishing and 50 Hunter, each fish shoal yields 56.5 Fishing experience and 72 Hunter experience. Experience scaling continues until level 70 Fishing and Hunter, granting 77 Fishing experience and 101 Hunter experience per fish shoal. On average, players gather 100 full drift nets (1,000 fish shoals) per hour, yielding 77,000 Fishing and 101,000 Hunter experience with 70+ levels in both skills. At maximum rates, filling 113 nets (1,130 fish shoals) grants 87,000 Fishing and 115,000 Hunter experience per hour.

Second recommended method

Levels 1–9: Natural History Quiz

Completing the Natural History Quiz in Varrock Museum awards players with 1,000 experience, swiftly propelling them from level 1 to 9. To begin this rewarding quiz, head to the museum's basement and speak to Orlando Smith.

For levels 1 to 7, players can catch polar kebbits. If the Natural History Quiz isn't an option, you can start by acquiring a noose wand from a hunter shop or another player. Head to the Rellekka Hunter area north-east of Rellekka, where several burrows are found on the north-west corner of the northern island. You can reach these burrows by traveling north from the Keldagrim entrance cave or using the Seers' Village fairy ring (code: dks).

Each caught kebbit grants 30 experience, and you'll need to catch 22 to reach level 7. Despite their lower experience per catch compared to feldip weasels, some players may find it faster to continue catching polar kebbits up until level 15.

Levels 7–15: Feldip Weasels

To achieve the fastest experience from levels 7 to 15, focus on catching feldip weasels. They can be found in the Feldip Hunter area south of Yanille. Access this area by using the fairy ring (code: aks) and running south-west, using a Feldip hills teleport scroll, or teleporting to Castle Wars with a ring of dueling and running south. Two burrows are located east of the dungeon icon near the center of the area.

Catching feldip weasels requires a noose wand. Wearing a ring of pursuit is recommended, as it has a 25% chance to reveal the entire track at once when equipped. Each weasel caught rewards 48 experience, and you'll need to catch a total of 37 to reach level 15.

Levels 15–29: Ruby Harvests + Copper Longtails

For levels 15 to 29, the fastest experience can be obtained by catching ruby harvests and copper longtails. They are located in the Piscatoris Hunter area, just south of the fairy ring (code: akq). Alternatively, players can use a Piscatoris teleport and run south-west to reach the area.

Equip yourself with two bird snares, a butterfly net, some butterfly jars, and a stamina potion. Set up the bird snares to catch copper longtails, and while waiting for the birds to be caught, catch butterflies flying around the area. Using this method, players can gain around 11,000 experience per hour while progressing from level 15 to 29.

Alternatively, players can camp a butterfly spawn location by continuously spam clicking underneath the character. This grants around 9,000 experience per hour and minimizes run energy consumption. You'll need to catch a total of 401 ruby harvests to reach level 29, with each butterfly granting 24 experience.

Levels 29–43: Swamp Lizards

To achieve the fastest experience from levels 29 to 43, focus on catching swamp lizards. They can be found south-east of Canifis in the Canifis Hunter area south-west of alq (south-east of Canifis) or just north-west of Slepe. Trapping lizards requires a rope and small fishing net for each trap. Players can set two traps at levels 29–39 and three traps at level 40 and beyond. Drop the swamp lizards quickly to reduce energy consumption and drink stamina potions if needed. Wearing weight-reducing equipment is recommended to ensure constant run energy.

At levels 29 to 37, players can gain around 20,000–28,000 experience per hour. With three traps, experience rates increase to around 40,000–45,000 per hour. Upon reaching level 37, it's strongly recommended to bring four hunter potions to boost Hunter level and set three traps.

Levels 43–60: Falconry

For rapid experience gains from level 43 to 60, the falconry technique offers the best option for catching spotted kebbits (and dark kebbits at level 57). Find them in the Piscatoris falconry area, located east of the fairy ring (code: akq). Although this method provides higher experience rates compared to catching lizards, it requires more clicks and attention.

To start, enter the Piscatoris falconry area and rent a gyr falcon for 500 coins. To utilize the falcon for hunting, ensure your weapon, shield, and hands slots are empty. Move to the south-eastern area and click on the kebbits to send the falcon towards them. After the falcon captures the kebbit, retrieve the falcon and the loot, then drop the loot promptly. To minimize travel distance, stand as close to the kebbits and their spawns as possible.

Wearing weight-reducing clothing is recommended to conserve run energy, and bringing a stamina potion is a good idea in case your run energy runs low. If you have a bonecrusher, it's worth bringing as it will automatically bury the bones from the kebbits, saving time spent dropping items.

To speed up the process, reduce waiting time by running closer to the kebbit before using your falcon. Failing the falcon's attempt causes a slow return, so minimizing the distance reduces your wait time.

Expected experience rates while training here are as follows:

1. Spotted Kebbits (levels 43 to 56) yield 60,000 up to 70,000 experience. To conserve run energy, focus on their three spawn points located at the south-eastern corner of the falconry area. Spotted kebbits respawn 4 seconds after being retrieved by the player.

2. Dark Kebbits (levels 57 to 60+) provide 75,000 up to 80,000 experience. Spawn points for dark kebbits are spread throughout the edges of the falconry area, with the two closest points located on the west edge. Dark kebbits respawn 4 seconds after being retrieved by the player.

3. Dashing Kebbits (level 69+) grant 85,000 up to 95,000 experience.

While dashing kebbits offer excellent experience rates, they are not available until level 69. Thus, training with them is not as popular since better experience rates are accessible at salamanders, and more profit can be made at red and black chinchompas.

Levels 60–67/80: Red Salamanders

For swift experience gains from level 60 to 66, catching red salamanders offers the most efficient method. Although they become available at level 59, catching kebbits in the Piscatoris falconry area is slightly faster with only 3 traps. However, at level 67, it's recommended to switch to black salamanders. For players who prefer to avoid the Wilderness, this method can be continued to level 80 when they unlock herbiboar.

To find red salamanders, head just south of the entrance to the Ourania Cave. You can reach this area by using the Ourania Teleport from the Lunar spellbook (71 Magic) or by teleporting to Castle Wars and running north. Alternatively, use a spirit tree to teleport to the Khazard Battlefield and run west. When training, it's best to use the trees south of the altar as they are closer together, with four trees compared to the three to the north-east. Additionally, there are no nearby NPCs to accidentally click on. Bringing 5 ropes and 5 nets allows you to reset traps before picking up collapsed ones. Wear weight-reducing equipment, ideally the graceful outfit, to ensure you always have run energy. Drop the salamanders as soon as possible to conserve energy, or consider using stamina potions if necessary.

Players can expect to gain around 80,000–85,000 experience per hour at level 60, which increases to approximately 100,000–105,000 experience per hour at level 67. Before reaching level 60, with 3 traps, players can only gain around 55,000–60,000 experience per hour. If using hunter potions to boost the Hunter level to place 4 traps at a time, you'll need about 10 hunter potions from level 57 to 60, or 2 hunter potions from level 59 to 60 (1 with Preserve prayer).

To achieve higher experience rates, players can break the set-trap animation by selecting another action as soon as the net and rope items are removed from their inventory. Timing picking up your rope or setting a new trap mid-action to break the animation can be beneficial. For those using the desktop RuneLite client, the default left-click action for the net portion of newly-set traps can be modified (using shift-right click) from "Dismantle" to "Walk here," preventing accidental dismantling of reset traps and allowing you to spam-click under your player to cancel the animation.

Levels 67–73: Black Salamanders

For the swiftest experience gains from level 67 to 73, catching black salamanders is the way to go. They can be found in the Boneyard Hunter area located in the Wilderness. The quickest way to get there is by teleporting to the Chaos Temple with a burning amulet and running north-east or using a games necklace to teleport to the Corporeal Beast lair. Although the black salamander hunting area is in the Wilderness, it is not a popular spot for player killers, and if attacked, players can teleport away to safety.

To prepare for this hunting method, bring 5 sets of small nets and ropes when you reach 64+ Hunter. Trapping in the Wilderness allows players to use 1 additional trap than the usual limit (4 at level 60). With this benefit, 5 traps may be active at one time, and players can bring 1 extra set to set up a trap before picking up a fallen one. Additionally, bring Hunter potions to increase your catch rate, and consider bringing harralander tar and lit torches to use on the traps. Using these items together boosts the catch rate by 5% without wasting ticks.

At level 67, players can expect to gain around 105,000–115,000 experience per hour. This rate increases to approximately 115,000–125,000 experience per hour at level 73. With good concentration and at level 79, it is possible to gain up to around 140,000 experience per hour. At level 80 Hunter, when utilizing 6 net traps, experience rates can rise as high as 150,000 per hour.

Levels 73–99: Black Chinchompas

From level 73 onwards, hunting black chinchompas offers the fastest Hunter experience in the game, and it's also highly profitable. However, be aware that the hunting area, located in level 32-36 Wilderness, is a popular player-killing hot spot. To reach the area quickly, you can use a Wilderness Obelisk from your player-owned house or east of the Corporeal Beast's cave to level 35 Wilderness, then run a bit south-east (completing hard tasks in the Wilderness Diary is strongly recommended). Another option is to use a revenant cave teleport and run south. Players with 57 Woodcutting can use a waka canoe from Edgeville to the Wilderness pond. If you have 99 Hunter, you can also use the Hunter cape teleport to reach black chinchompas.

To hunt black chinchompas effectively, use a ranged weapon to shoot stray chinchompas that wander far away from the box traps. Shooting a stray chinchompa causes a new one to spawn, and the newly spawned chinchompa usually enters the trap faster than a stray one, thus increasing experience rates. This shooting technique is best done on an alternative account (shooting alt) but can also be done on the main account, albeit slightly slower.

You can place box traps one tick faster through tick manipulation. Additionally, when timed correctly, it's possible to lay a trap instantly after picking up another (trap resetting). To do this, move to the desired spot on the same tick as laying the previous trap, pick up the next trap, and click it up as soon as possible in the inventory. This will boost experience rates but requires precise clicks. For tick manipulation, it is recommended to use a knife on a teak or mahogany log instead of herb and tar, as it only requires 2 inventory spaces instead of 3.

Using a shooting alt is highly recommended for the fastest experience rates. A crystal bow is the ideal choice for the shooting alt, but a magic shortbow with cheap arrows can suffice if the account lacks the requirement for the crystal bow. The shooting alt can also carry extra supplies, such as box traps (allowing more inventory space for supplies on the main account), Saradomin brews, super restores, and spare logs for tick manipulation in case of mistakes.

Experience rates are shown in the table below, assuming tick manipulation. Long-term rates can vary depending on the player's performance and the number of player killers. At level 99, the maximum possible experience rate caps at around 275,000–285,000 experience per hour when uninterrupted, using a shooting alt, and utilizing tick manipulation techniques.

From level 73, it will take approximately 38,228 black chinchompas to reach level 99 Hunter. Alternatively, from level 80, it will take about 35,075 black chinchompas to achieve level 99.

By hunting black chinchompas from level 73 to 99, players can expect to profit approximately 132,077,740 coins at the current average market value of 3,455 coins per black chinchompa.

Conclusion:

With this, we come to the end of our Hunter guide in Old School RuneScape. We hope that this information has been of great assistance to all those adventurers who seek to perfect their hunting skill and reach level 99.

Remember that the Hunter skill offers a wide variety of methods and opportunities to explore and enjoy. From tracking kebbits in the forests to hunting chinchompas in the Wilderness, each step in this journey will allow you to develop your skills and gain valuable rewards.

While the path to level 99 may be challenging, do not forget to enjoy the process and learn from each experience. Hunting is a versatile and thrilling skill that will provide you with adventures and gains throughout the journey.

We wish you all successful and enjoyable hunts in Gielinor! Until next time, brave hunters!

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