[Guide] Red Dead Redemption 2: How to Get Perfect Skins

In the course of your adventures in the game world of Red Dead Redemption 2 you'll often find yourself hunting animals so you can skin them and sell their fur. Whether for money or to complete one of the various hunting missions, it is possible that the game may ask you to get a "perfect skin". However, the game does not make it perfectly clear what it consists of.

Let's start by saying that in order to achieve perfect skin, you must follow at least three basic steps:

• Observe carefully with binoculars the animal you are going to kill until the number of stars in its possession is revealed to you. Should your prey have three stars, you are faced with a potential perfect skin;
• choose carefully the weapon with which you will kill the animal;
• target the weak points of your prey so that you can make a clean kill with a single shot;
• skin the animal and get your perfect skin;

In the following sections of this guide, we will go into more detail about the above.

How to get a perfect skin in Red Dead Redemption 2

As soon as your prey is in sight, the first thing you need to do is observe it with your binoculars by pressing the R1 / RB button. After a few moments of waiting, you will see an indicator with stars. If this amount is less than 3 stars, forget about it and look for another animal, because the one in front of you will never give you a perfect skin.

Unfortunately, the number of stars in your animal's possession will be determined at random. For that very reason, you'd do well to prepare for long waits and waste an incalculable number of bait. It is only thanks to the bait, in fact, that you will be able to lure your prey out into the open and make them stay still for the time necessary to analyze them.

Pay attention to the weapon you will use

It may seem like a minor detail, but the weapon you'll be hunting with will make the difference between perfect and inferior skin. The animals you'll hunt will have different sizes and, therefore, you'll have to kill your prey with different weapons. Killing a squirrel with a sniper rifle, for example, will only reduce the animal's mush, irreparably damaging its skin.

Just according to what now written, we will make you a short list of the animals in Red Dead Redemption 2 , grouped by size and size:

• Tiny: Bat, Squirrel, Rat, Chipmunk, Bullfrog, Toad, Snake, Blue Jay, Cardinal, Waxwing, Crow, Oriole, Pigeon, Robin, Nightingale, Sparrow, Woodpecker, Carolina Parakeet, Hen, Duck, Gavia, Parrot, Pheasant, Quail, Crow, Booby, Rooster, Seagull;
• Small: Eagle, Crane, Cormorant, Little Egret, Hawk, Heron, Heron, Owl, Pelican, Spatula, Turkey, Vulture, Condor, Goose, Iguana, Gila Monster, Rabbit, Armadillo, Badger, Muskrat, Possum, Raccoon, Moffetta;
• Medium: coyote, fox, pig, beaver;
• Large: Wild boar, deer, cougar, panther, Big Horn Ram, wolf, deer, Pronghorn Antelope, goat, sheep, sheep, alligator (Small), turtle;
• Giant: Bear, Bison, Bull, Elk, American Elk, Ox, Cow, Alligator (Adult);

Below, we list the most suitable weapons for killing animals belonging to all the categories listed above:

• Tiny: bow with small arrows (the Varmint Rifle may work, but sometimes it can damage the skin of your prey);
• Small: Varmint Rifle;
• Medium: Standard arrows / Repeater with regular ammunition (e.g., Carbine Repeater, Lancaster Repeater);
• Large: Poisoned arrows / rifle with regular ammunition (e.g. Springfield Rifle);
• Giant: sniper rifle with regular ammunition (for example, Rolling Block Rifle);

Hit animals in their weak spots

In order to be able to see the weak points of the animals, you'll need to get a "Dead Eye" ability boost. To achieve this, however, you will need to reach the "Fleeting Joy" mission, which you will encounter during Chapter 5 of Red Dead Redemption 2 . This way, the weak points of your prey will be highlighted in red when you use the skill in question.

In some animals, the weak point will be placed on the head, while for others, it will be at the heart. In any case, by hitting these points with your weapon, you can achieve a clean kill, i.e. with a single bullet. If you are unable to kill the animal with a single shot, you'd better start a new search, as the skin will have been irreparably damaged.

Once this is done, you will only have to get close to the animal, skin it and, if you have followed all the above steps, get your perfect skin. If, on the other hand, you are making hunting requests, you will have to transport the entire carcass and not just the skin.