The Frozen Wilds adds several new wildlife to Horizon Zero Dawn: Badger, Goat, Owl and Squirrel. The expansion also features maps and carry capacity upgrades that require Badger Bones, Badger Skins, Goat Bones, Goat Skins, Owl Bones, Owl Skins, Squirrel Bones and Squirrel Skins. If you have a hard time tracking and hunting these new animals, then you can check out our Farming Guide below:
Best Badger, Goat, Owl and Squirrel Locations
The best locations to find plenty of Badgers, Goats, Owls and Squirrels in Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds is through heavily forested areas. Preferably, we recommend a place where there aren’t any machine and is relatively close to a campfire. The location we used is the campfire located just to the left of the Scorcher Site in the southeast region of The Cut DLC map.
You should be able to avoid any of the machines if you head west immediately after warping to the campfire. In this small forest region, you should find plenty of Badgers, Goats, Owls and Squirrels.
Recommended equipment
You can use basically any type of weapon to hunt the new animals. For efficiency, we used fire arrows with a bow that has fire modifications equipped. As a result, we were able to kill these animals with just one fire arrow shot. The goat, in particularly, could take multiple arrows otherwise if you use any other type of arrow.
Recommended Skills
The most important skill to have is Expert Carver. This skill, which is added to the new Traveler category in Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds, will increase your chances of looting Badger Bones, Badger Skins, Goat Bones, Goat Skins, Owl Bones, Owl Skins, Squirrel Bones and Squirrel Skins.
We also recommend having the Concentration and Concentration + as these skills will slow down time, giving you a better aim at some of the more elusive targets such as the Squirrel. If you don’t have these skills unlocked, we recommend playing through the DLC and main game to clear missions and level up in order to gain the required skill points to do so to make farming these animal parts more efficient.
Hunting Tips
Using your scanner, which you can do via the R3 button, is a must when hunting. While the Goat is easy to spot, the Badger and Squirrel are much harder as both stick to the ground in the snow. The Owl hangs out in the air and trees, which also makes it hard to spot if you aren’t looking up.
With the scanner, you can easily spot which animal is in the forest. You can then press R2 button to tag your targets so you won’t lose track of them.
Hunting Badgers for Badger Skins and Badger Bones
Badgers can be tricky to spot as they stick to the ground and are often obscured by the snow. Fortunately, you can easily identify them via your scanner. To hunt them for Badger Skins and Badger Bones, make sure to kill them with one shot as they become quite elusive when they sense danger.
Hunting Goats for Goat Skins and Goat Bones
Goats are the easiest of the new animals to track and kill as they don’t sink into the snow like the Badger or Squirrel. Not to mention that they make for a pretty sizeable target. So you should be able to easily hunt them for Goat Skins and Goat Bones.
Hunting Owls for Owl Skins and Owl Bones
Owls stick to the sky; so you have to look up if you are hunting for one. To kill them for Owl Skins and Owl Bones, we recommend attacking the birds when there are perched on a tree branch. If you managed to see one flying around, it is a lot easier to wait for it to land and remain stationary than to hit a moving target.
Hunting Squirrel for Squirrel Skins and Squirrel Bones
The small size of the Squirrels make them both hard to see, even when using your scanner, and hard to kill. To hunt for Squirrel Skins and Squirrel Bones, look closely at the ground to find the creature. Afterwards get as close as possible without alerting it in order to get a clear shot.
If you miss, or don’t kill it in one blow, then the Squirrel will look for the closest tree and scamper up to safety. Thus, it is very important to be as accurate as possible. Thus, having the Concentration skills are important. If you are having a hard time getting a good clean target of the Squirrel, especially if snow is obscuring your view, then you can use an area of effect attack like bombs.
If you don’t see any of the animals you want, you can warp to the nearest campfire and then return to the forested area in order to respawn your targets. With the Expert Carver skill, you should be able to get all the Badger Bones, Badger Skins, Goat Bones, Goat Skins, Owl Bones, Owl Skins, Squirrel Bones and Squirrel Skins you need in no time in Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds.
