Quartering VS Harvesting | How To Survive The Long Dark

Have you bagged your kill only to ask yourself: Which is better? To harvest or to quarter? Quartering VS. Harvesting your kill in The Long Dark is no one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, it's a balancing act of risk/reward and what challenges you face in securing your kill. Are you far from home, and the risk from wolves too great? Perhaps quartering is your better bet. Are you in a good location and more worried about the longevity of the meat's condition? Harvesting may be your route. In this guide, I'll discuss the options between the two and weigh out the pros and cons of each, giving you guys and gals the information you'll need to make the right decision based on your needs. As always, stay safe and stay warm out there, and enjoy your bounty no matter how you secure it!
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Outro music: "Perspectives," by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
#Harvesting #Quartering #TheLongDark #Letsplay #Guide #Tutorial

[@Raccoon12008]

One underrated mechanic is storing meat inside cars, because while inside a car it's possible to be freezing in a perfect condition double bearskin coats layers which means storing meat in a trunk of car can keep it fresh a long time

[@Poeneutral]

When you store your meat. Leave it on the ground outside. That makes it last much much longer

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Yup!

[@ClapperDan]

does it not attract predators?

[@Poeneutral]

@@ClapperDan It does not.

[@memeaddict6712]

@@Poeneutral it sucks going through a loading screen to eat though

[@Poeneutral]

@@memeaddict6712 keep some on your person

[@Dendito1]

It takes 13 hours to harvest that bear because its frozen, if you build a fire next to it untill its fresh again it would take a lot less, like 3 or 4 hours.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

I believe I mention somewhere in the video that lighting a fire reduces harvest times.

[@Kreedogger]

5:43 :)

[@NeoRipshaft]

You can also harvest frozen meat much faster using a hatchet than a knife (I know this is a year old, but meh =p)

[@brotherhoodpaladini9532]

@@NeoRipshaft year isn t that much

[@davethompson3326]

If you cook small pieces while harvesting the next ones on a nearby fire, you can really boost your cooking, harvesting skills quickly, so it can be an advantage for a newish character

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Yup! But sometimes that's not always possible.

[@davethompson3326]

True, but it was something that hadnt crossed my mind till someone suggested it, more for the audience than you @@Lonelywolfofficial

[@rushbnostopp]

Should be noted, if your kill dies close to an object such as rock or tree, there is a very high chance that quartering it will clip some of your items into the item and you won’t be able to retrieve them. It’s very possible to lose two or three bags and the hide/guts when quartering next to an object. Only quarter a kill if it’s downed in an open area!

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Good catch! I wasn't aware of this as I rarely quarter but it is a good thing to know!

[@rushbnostopp]

Thanks mate. Earned a sub from me

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Awh thanks! That means a lot! (I know everyone says this so I don't know how to make it less cheesy. Have some cheese: 🧀🧀🧀)

[@azimuthclark462]

This just happened to me. There was only 3 bags after a quartering. Thanks for the tip

[@anastasiap6253]

“Look, ma! I’m roadkill! Haha!” Get it?

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Hahaha yesssss!

[@rieleyslocum870]

Even carrying a deer from the kill location in real life can be a workout.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Especially the big ones...

[@rieleyslocum870]

Lonelywolf last year I shot a beautiful buck and boy was it a trip getting it out of the woods

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Man sure sounds like it! I've never hauled anything that heavy too far but I can imagine it would be quite the workout.

[@cougar2k720]

@@rieleyslocum870 Some of my clients use ATV instead to save them the energy. Imagine if you shoot a moose, that's could be 800 lbs of meat to haul out....

[@theinternetpolice2078]

I can barely carry more than 3 grocery bags, I definitely couldn't carry a deer carcass

[@davidigleniec2483]

Thanks. Bought it 1 hour ago. I'll play after work. Im psyched. Was on 7 days for years. This is 100% new buddy. Great vid.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Thanks mate! Good luck on your first steps!

[@DerAlex901]

Best decision

[@jensb3946]

David Igleniec Have you played the game yet?

[@Fierysaint1]

Same here! I was going into 7 Days to Die comas for years until I found this game!

[@TheNationalBlade]

1. You don't need a fire to ward off wolves because while you are harvesting you are immune from attack so long as it it processing. Also, if you take cuts of meat in small increments you won't be stuck for long periods if a storm comes up. 2. Making a fire near the carcass causes it to deteriorate faster. 3. If you harvest the meat of a 100% frozen carcass with the hacksaw it goes much faster than the knife on all skill levels except master.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

1. You'll still need a fire in case the speed up ends with a wolf in detection range. 2. That is indeed correct. However, it also thaws it which early on in the game helps a lot, plus if you're playing at higher difficulties, you'll need that fire just to survive for the harvesting period, even if in small increments. 3. That's true, however, everyone's playstyle differs as well as the tools they have available. Especially depending on the difficulty. While all your points are good points, they don't cover the whole spectrum of variables or situations that can have an affect on you while you're harvesting.

[@sirrivet9557]

One advantage to a fire however is of course warmth. So you don’t freeze to death

[@billcipher147]

So, basically, for larger quantities of meat (especially when it's frozen), it's better to start a fire, quarter it, and bring it back to your base piece by piece, but if it's a smaller amount of meat and takes less time, you should probably just harvest it in one go (but also with a fire). Right?

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

It all depends on your playstyle and the variables affecting you. Your described idea can be super great, but other times it's a problem depending on what's occurring. I know, that's not very specific. But that's because your mileage may vary. What works for me and 10 others may not work out well for you. But generally speaking, if it's a long way away and there's a lot of it, quartering can be more beneficial unless you can set up a camp to deal with the entire harvesting procedure.

[@billcipher147]

@@Lonelywolfofficial Alright then, thanks for the quick answer ^^

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

No problem!

[@Abyssal._.]

I ALWAYS need to quarter it because of the wolves near milton farmstead.

[@Fierysaint1]

Thank you! You explained everything better than Steam forum, Reddit, and the wiki!

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Haha well thank you kind sir! I feel I can be a bit rambly but if you think it was great, then it was great!

[@ShadowEcto]

I read about some guy saying that he always left 1 gut in wolf carcasses so they don't respawn so quickly, might be another advantage of harvesting the more dangerous and aggressive animals instead of quartering them.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

If you completely harvest an animal, as soon as you do a scene transition the carcass despawns and a new critter can spawn, albeit depends on some other game rules. If you leave just one bit of SOMETHING on the animal carcass, it will stay there till the carcass reaches 0% condition before despawning.

[@jmwall24]

On interloper, unless the animal died in a very advantageous spot, I almost always quarter. Way safer to be able to harvest the bags indoors as opposed to trying to do it outdoors and have a blizzard blow your fire out.

[@Tibor0803]

I usually choose harvesting over quartering. On a high difficulty like Stalker (what I choose most of the time) it's pretty unnecessary to quarter any carnivore for the reason of parasite risk from their meat, however at Moose cases it's more than useful. If I happen to kill a Moose nearby any shelter-like area, then it's more effective as I can cary all the remains of a Moose carcass and store it one by one kg of meat. As I reach my destination with all the resources I just immediately harvest the meat of the bags and put them outside the shelter. With perfect cooking skills and the cold outside will together help your food keep it's quality long enough to eat all of them safely.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Quartering is good for the big ones but beyond that it's not so useful. Wolves and deer are usually best to just harvest.

[@DragonFrostFires]

Ahh this is video i wanna find for long time

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Glad you like it!

[@knifeforkandaspoon]

8:13 I see what you did there

[@arnaubasulto4448]

I see what you did here. Edit: Forget it, I saw the other comment was more recent than yours.

[@andrewwilliams8331]

If you first harvest all the meat, hide and guts, and then you quarter, you get more experience, even if there isn't anything more to harvest.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Sounds like a weird bug worth investigating!

[@andrewwilliams8331]

@@Lonelywolfofficial Yes it is, and really useful to get more experience and to unlog cave entries.

[@simonnachreiner8380]

Another thing to note. If you aren’t at master harvesting take meat out in the smallest possible increments. Experience for meat is 1 exp per 2.2 lbs item when harvested in bulk. If you take 1.1 items this doubles the experience at the cost of more scent penalties. This also helps with rationing.

[@Ambeaniance]

So it sounds like in Pilgrim mode it usually weighs out better to Harvest since danger is so much less and you can always do it in smaller stretches to get the most out of it.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Pretty much. It's honestly a matter of opinion as to which is better and there are cases where it could be argued that one comes out on top of the other, but again, it all comes down to understanding the way they each function and under what conditions you would consider for each method.

[@cougar2k720]

I am playing on pilgram now, and wildlife never bother you until you decide to attack back. The only challenge is harvesting and hauling the meat back so I tend to shoot bear if it's somewhat close to home base. As for deer and wolf, I will carry everything to home base or nearby shelter.

[@jackr2287]

I suppose at cooking 5 there is little concern over the food condition. So long as you get it back and cook it up, no problemo. Early game, big problem. I've gotten to day ~80, just recently capped cooking. So not having to worry about wasting antibiotics on rotten candy bars is nice.

[@tonya8279]

If the long dark has a star wars dlc GEAT IIN THHAE GUUEEUTS

[@adamoop4398]

You're videos are really insightful!

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Glad you liked it!

[@Aklcorp]

For anyone reading not only it takes less if you have a fire around but also as soon as you cook it the quality will go up to 100% and if you leave it outside it last for up to a month or months depending on the difficulty you are playing

[@TheSalothRpg]

Thx for advice, I never quartered before as I hate wasting any single piece. Got no axe to butcher 2 deers, 1 wolf and 1 rabbit bc everything's frozen;/ But from what I see quartering is kinda faster. Shouldn't have panicked from lack of wood since gray mother gives perma fire so I already broke 2 hatchets but heard about fishing camp or a cottage where i could find the 3rd one

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

As I said in the video, its honestly situationaly dependent. My opinion is that deer and wolves aren't worth quartering ever but go ahead and try it out to see how it differs. Good luck finding a nee hatchet!

[@TheSalothRpg]

Thx, i'm about embarking on new chapter 4 map and hopefully I'll be able to go between maps like in survival mode not carrying or losing all the goodies I gathered at grandma's house

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

As long as you can carry everything you need you shouldn't worry about losing any of it!

[@Liofa73]

Saloth --- Grey Mother perma-fire isn't in survival.

[@TheSalothRpg]

I was talking about wintermute

[@generalamsel437]

Four years later and this video is still useful, just shot a bear on day 14 of my survival playthrough and somehow landed a critical after missing my first two shots, how I missed them I have no idea.

[@S_Black]

I sometimes use it to get my meat to a more sheltered location. But as only really with moose

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

It depends only on what your most important goal is. Max condition meat? Harvest. Max condition on yourself? Perhaps quarter.

[@spencer6104]

Something I believe you may have forgot to mention was that harvesting by hand is a huge benefit to quartering. I would rather use my hands rather than dull my tools.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Depends on the difficulty you're playing at, but totally a good observation!

[@stefanobc1971]

Excuse me I'm a noob and not even a native speaker, so what is the difference between harvesting and quartering, and how do you perform the two actions in the game?

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Harvesting allows you to select small bits in increments of meat, or take the hide or guts separately. This means you can take what you want/need and come back later for more, and is useful if you get interrupted by bad weather. Quartering takes the same amount of time, every time, (depending on animal) and leaves the hide and guts on the ground and then the meat in "bags." You then take the bags back with you somewhere else and harvest the meat out of them from wherever you like, which makes it useful for staying out of inclement weather. If translating this comment is hard, here's the wiki page. I'm sure it has better localization and should be able to answer your question, but don't hesitate to leave another comment if you need! Here's the wiki: thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Carcass_Harvesting

[@trickshotguynoscopemaster7145]

I got a base in the mountainclimber hut its my main base i broke my shoes when i got stuck in ash canyon while trying to get the cramplers and the backpack i would say i was stuck in ash canyon for about 2-3 hours everywhere i went was the same after i found the exit i marked it for next time jesus i almost thought i was gonna lose this 10 day save and btw i climbed twm to get the juicy cargos only to realise out of all of the food i could only get 2 mre cuz of my carry weight and my sleep so yeah that also wasnt really fun since i almost died by fall dmg right at the end i actually think the long dark is a fun game if you know a little bit cuz if you start to play survival/sandbox you dont get the map fully explored you need to explore it yourself with the use of charcoal which you can gather after a fire has gone out 1 hour =1 charcoal charcoal can be used to unlock the map there are 5? Regios i think and if you are up for it you can try to unlock them all with the use of charcoal am playing on custom settings rn just to make the game a little challening cuz there is a problem you can only save by sleeping the game autosaves every time you sleep it doesnt need to be a specific time 1 hour will autosave so unless you got a bedroll or shelter you are on a risk of losing everything untill the last time you slept which could be 1 2 3 4 5 a lot of days ago so be sure to always save before going outside oh and here my last tip if you are playing on interloper i would advice you to get the blackrock ballistic vest with a carry weight of 4kg and a reduced movement speed of 40 so this vest is pretty damn heavy if you dont have any movement slowing clothing your looking at a ok 60 sprinting speed only equip it when ur getting attackes cuz this thing will save your live and because its pretty heavy so its not worth the slow movement speed if your not in great danger thats all good luck ;).

[@slomkaadas9603]

Very useful, thx Sir!

[@Cathras]

Where is the menu for quartering? When I kill an animal, only option in the menu is harvesting....?

[@Lee-ho2cm]

If an animal is frozen beyond capability of quartering, can I start fire and thaw the animal to quarter it?

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Yes! That's one of the reasons to start a fire, I believe I mentioned it in the video. Besides keeping YOU warm and warding off predators, it will also thaw out the carcass so you can harvest or quarter it.

[@scottrushton6154]

Wonder why I'm not able to quarter any meat at all, because I've tried with all tools, hacksaw, hatchet, hunting knife and by hand. Are there other tools I need to quarter it?

[@heckgunderson3833]

Lemme just harvest this Moose and Bear

[@Joe_Real]

i normally do it like this if its a deer or wolf harvest it bear or moose within running distance of shelter i would harvest it if not quarter it take its hide and 1 or 2 quarters

[@thomasmcgraw8778]

I wish you could drag a kill. I killed a bear by a cabin by shooting it and hiding like a bitch and I still need to start a 13 hour fire even though he is at the door

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Haha yeah they do take a while to cook...

[@MagicalHatStudios]

I quartered a bear on the ice near the lighthouse, carried home a two bags each trip, harvested and cooked them in the processing plant, rinse repeat, my cooking skill is 5 so I got perfect condition bear steaks from every bag. Quartering is for chefs it seems.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

That's because you get double skill for it, once for quartering and then once for each harvest action done to the bags. (hence why it pays off to harvest in the smallest increments possible.)

[@MagicalHatStudios]

@@Lonelywolfofficial good to know.

[@jessicabrown8158]

wow never knew quartering was even an option

[@quinlan92]

So do you get the pelt from the bear with quartering? I've always been afraid of quartering so I've never done it.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Yup! All the meat will be in bags that lose 10% condition a day, regardless of indoors or out. The pelt and all the guts will be in a pile on the ground.

[@quinlan92]

Thanks for the reply

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

No problem!

[@undyinglich6326]

It be funny if you harvest a kill and it brings a wolf so you kill it and have other kill to harvest

[@FarrFamily-vx8zv]

Rabbits have one gut and deer has two guts

[@nocturnalrecluse1216]

Is that a #4 Enfield?

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

It's modeled after one yes!

[@scooterdogg7580]

think I'll try luring them to my doorstep lol

[@the.tricky.outdoorsman]

How do I do research to build skills. Can I do the same in story mode? Can you rank up skills in wintermute?

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

You need a research book. look up my skills video, I've got some more discussion there. As far as Wintermute goes, no, not as much. The system is a bit more controlled there but there are some things you can do.

[@cyndaquilgaming8901]

Lmao that bears too thicc

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Thicc hides gild thighs...

[@ImperialDiecast]

Do the quartered meat bags also smell like raw meat?

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Yes they do. Picking up even one will max out your smell meter.

[@campin_sasquatch7740]

Idk if it's just me but quartering seems a lil annoying sometimes. Like I'll quarter a deer get like 4 sacks that have only 2 1 kg of meat however the sack itself weighs like 4 kg so it's doubled the weight. Just for that reason I prefer harvesting personally.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

That's reason to harvest as well, but there's pros and cons and it depends on the situation as to the best method. Preferably always harvest, but sometimes in the higher difficulties you might want to quarter to get the goods to shelter and process them there.

[@agaimless3724]

13 hours to harvest a bear are you joking ive harvest a bear in real life and it didn't take no 13 hours

[@ZollyOverloaded]

Is there summer in this game

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

No

[@memeaddict6712]

@@Lonelywolfofficial it would be cool if they added a season where it's a pinch hotter than others

[@AnimusZen]

Damn, get to the point. Ramble, ramble, ramble...

[@thegemini280]

Why Would They Make The Bags Heavier Then The Meat Inside It. That Don't Make Any Sense... They Should Fix That So You Carry What You Take. How Is A Bag Heavier Then It's Contents... Smh Very Stupid. But Game Looks Nice And Nice Vid bro.

[@ImperialDiecast]

he explained it in the video. the bags contain bone and other unwanted stuff because you havent harvested it yet, so its heavier.

[@antro1194]

in the end long dark is so bs game. to cut all meat from bear takes around 3-4hours also why cant we use livers and heart for food they are good food.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

The game is inherently balanced around gameplay, not real-life comparisons. As to the hearts and livers, mayhaps we can petition Hinterland to add that?

[@antro1194]

@@Lonelywolfofficial also moose antlers fould be used for something over all animals could have more use than meat

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

I think Raph has mentioned he'd like to add more resources and tools to the game but that those considerations will not become front-focused till after story mode is completed.

[@antro1194]

@@Lonelywolfofficial it would be nice i think at this time game dont feel that i want play it all the time as when i first started.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

The game is always evolving, as are you! Don't feel bad if tastes and interests change over time.

[@HU1212ICAN3]

Dude you need to speed up your videos. You ramble on and on.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

I make sure I cover things in detail when it's necessary. Sometimes I could do to speed things up but with every mechanic there can be a lot to unpack.

[@suqmacoknbals4929]

Dont you dare talk trash about lonelywolf. He is the god of the long dark