GTA 5 Hunting Guide: Trevor, Cletus and Every Animal Explained

Hunting in GTA 5 does not open on its own. You unlock it by finishing a short mission chain for Cletus Ewing, a grizzled backwoods hunter in Blaine County, and only then can Trevor Philips head into the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness to hunt elk, boar, coyotes and more for real cash payouts. Here's exactly how to unlock it, where to go, what to bring and how to make every shot count.

Essentials

• Unlock: finish the story mission "Nervous Ron", then Cletus Ewing's two Strangers and Freaks missions, "Target Practice" and "Fair Game"
• Where to hunt: Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness, the elk-head icon in the far northwest of the map
• Best target: elk (deer model), worth the most points and cash on a clean heart shot
• Best gear: a scoped, suppressed sniper rifle for elk; a shotgun for cougars up close
• Core rule: stay downwind and use the Animal Call to draw prey toward you instead of chasing it across the hills

How to unlock hunting: the Cletus Ewing chain

Cletus only appears once Trevor has completed the story mission "Nervous Ron." After that, look for a text inviting Trevor to Cletus's rundown blue house on Marina Drive in Sandy Shore, between Niland and Armadillo Avenue. That first meeting starts "Target Practice", the opener in Cletus's Strangers and Freaks chain, and it doubles as your introduction to the character - if you want the full backstory on Trevor, the complete profile of GTA 5's most unhinged protagonist is worth a read before you dive in.

Target Practice: Cletus's first test

Cletus hands Trevor a sniper rifle and runs him through three drills: shooting satellite dishes off nearby roofs, popping the tires of moving cars at a motel, and finishing with a string of coyotes. For the gold medal you need to hit all three satellite dishes without missing, keep your tire-shooting accuracy above 75 percent, and land a double kill on two coyotes with a single shot. It is optional and skippable, but it is also the fastest way to get comfortable with the sniper rifle's scope before the real hunt starts.

Fair Game: hunting elk in Paleto Forest

Once Target Practice is done, Cletus texts Trevor to meet him at the Bayview Lodge in Paleto Forest for "Fair Game." He is after elk this time, and he spends the walk into the woods teaching the rules that carry over into every hunting session afterward: move against the wind so animals cannot smell you coming, use the Animal Call to bring elk within range instead of stalking them for minutes, and never shoot an elk without antlers, since those are females and are off-limits. Finishing Fair Game is what actually unlocks Hunting as a standalone activity, marked on the map and available any time Trevor is free.

Where to hunt after unlocking: Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness

Every hunting session after Fair Game happens in one place: the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness in the northwest corner of Blaine County, marked with an elk-head icon. Drive up during the morning if you can - wildlife activity is noticeably higher in the early hours, and elk in particular are easier to find before the heat sets in. Walking into the hunting trailer near the icon hands Trevor a free sniper rifle with infinite ammunition and the Animal Call, so you do not need to buy anything from Ammu-Nation before your first run.

Best weapons and gear for hunting

The weapon you use directly changes your payout: precise weapons pay far better than anything that shreds the carcass.

• Sniper rifle with an advanced scope and suppressor - the default and best choice for elk and boar at range. A silenced shot also avoids spooking every other animal in earshot.
• Shotgun - swap to this when a cougar gets close. Cougars charge fast, and a sniper rifle is nearly impossible to land on a moving predator at short range.
• Grenades - genuinely not recommended for scoring; they are handy only if a cougar is already on top of you and you need to survive, not to hunt cleanly.

If ranking every gun in the game interests you beyond hunting, the complete GTA 5 weapons ranking by category covers what else is worth owning.

Do you need Trevor to hunt?

You can walk into the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness trailer as Michael or Franklin and pick up the free sniper rifle just like Trevor can, and the animals themselves do not care who is holding the gun. The catch is Cletus: the cash payouts and the running dialogue are tied to Trevor texting him the kill photos, so if you want the money and the banter that makes the activity worth returning to, switch to Trevor before you start shooting.

Every animal and how much it pays

Payouts scale with precision: a clean heart or headshot always beats a body hit, and heavier weapons always pay less than a rifle round in the right spot.

Animal	Best shot	Relative value
Elk (bucks/bulls only)	Heart shot	Highest - the prize target of every session
Boar	Heart or head shot	High - common and worth hunting whenever you cross one
Mountain lion (cougar)	Shotgun blast up close	Medium - switch weapons before it charges
Coyote	Headshot	Low-medium - plentiful, good for practicing your aim
Birds	Any clean hit	Low - fast and small, more about the challenge than the payout

Never shoot an elk without antlers. It counts as killing a doe, it does not pay out, and Cletus specifically warns Trevor against it in Fair Game.

Hunting tips: wind, calls and clean kills

• Watch the wind indicator in the bottom-right corner and approach from downwind at all times. Animals that catch your scent bolt before you are in range.
• Use the Animal Call (left on the D-pad) instead of walking toward wildlife directly. It draws elk and deer toward Trevor's position without spending time chasing them across the hillside.
• Aim for the heart, not the body. Holding the aim button to steady your shot and picking the heart or head consistently doubles or triples your payout over a lucky body hit.
• Photograph every kill and text it to Cletus. He pays out based on the photo, not just the kill itself, so do not skip that step.
• Leave the explosives at home. Anything that damages the carcass - grenades, sticky bombs, explosive rounds - tanks the payout even on a clean kill.

Hunting challenges and medals

Every hunting session is scored, and your total points translate into a medal at the end: roughly 30 points for bronze, 60 for silver and 90 for gold. Beyond the base activity, Cletus's hunting grounds also host tiered challenges, such as killing several elk in a row without being detected, which reward extra cash on top of the per-animal payout. If you are chasing 100 percent completion, hunting and its challenges count toward it - check the GTA 5 100 percent completion checklist and the trophies and achievements guide to see exactly how hunting fits into the bigger list, alongside the game's other wildlife content like the 27 playable animals and peyote plant locations.

Hunting is a small side activity next to GTA 5's heists and story missions, but it is one of the few places the game lets Trevor be genuinely calm - and Cletus's running commentary makes the two unlock missions worth playing for the writing alone.