There’s plenty to do in Red Dead Online outside of exploring the wild west, getting into shootouts with other players, and inventing brand new sports. There are also the Frontier Pursuits, which are specialist roles players can choose to take on new gameplay paths. And with Red Dead Online’s big July 28 update, the list of roles grows with the addition of the Naturalist, which gives players a whole new way to interact with the world.
Like the name suggests, playing a Naturalist revolves around the various animals players can find all across the map. Once they meet the requirements to become a Naturalist, players are free to take on a number of challenges that involve interacting with the wildlife in different ways. It’s largely straightforward, but there’s one aspect of the role that players might not get right away, and that’s how to sedate animals.
Where To Get The Supplies For Sedating Animals
One of the ways players can earn Naturalist XP is by collecting samples from different animals. While players can just as easily kill the animals to get the samples, the game encourages them to subdue them with non-lethal options as well, especially since Harriet Davenport, one of Red Dead Online’s new NPCs, punishes players for hunting too much.
As far as supplies go, all players will need to sedate animals are two things: a varmint rifle and .22 caliber sedative ammo. The varmint rifle can be purchased at any gunsmith for $72.00 once players reach level 8, while the sedative ammo can be bought from Harriet at any of her camps. Initially, players will only have the option to buy boxes of 20 bullets for 40 cents, but upon reaching Naturalist level 5, they’ll be able to buy a recipe for crafting them.
How To Sedate Animals
Upon finding an animal, Red Dead Online players need to pull out their varmint rifle and switch to the sedative ammo while the radial menu’s up. From there, they need simply aim and fire, and an audio cue will play if the shot succeeds in sedating the animal. A few shots will usually be enough to put an animal to sleep, except in the case of larger animals like wolves and bears. Players will also have to be careful when trying to sedate smaller animals, like sparrows, as regular sedative bullets will actually kill them.
Also, even after an animal is sedated, it might continue fleeing for a moment before it finally falls asleep, but players will be able to follow its trail with Eagle Eye. At that point, they have a few minutes to approach it before it wakes up, which should easily give them enough time to take a sample and move on to completing tasks for some of Red Dead Online’s other roles.
Red Dead Online is available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.