Best theHunter: Call of the Wild Maps (2026) - Game Scout

Emerald Coast is the one I would buy first. It has the best Steam score of any reserve add-on, and the wiki lists 14 species there with eight found on no other map, including the saltwater crocodile and the eastern gray kangaroo. One Steam reviewer calls it still the best DLC as of 2025 and points to the size and variety of the map, from forest and plains to beaches and cliffs. It costs $7.99, the same as most of the older reserves.

Yukon Valley is the other safe pick, and the one Steam forum regulars name without being asked. In a July 2022 thread asking which map to buy, three separate replies are just "Yukon" or close to it, and another says many players will agree it is one of the best reserves.

Two things to check before paying:

• The newest reserves cost more. Sundarpatan, Askiy Ridge, Tòrr nan Sithean and Intisuyu are $11.99 each. Of those four, only Askiy Ridge is close to the top of the table.
• You can try before you buy. The wiki says a paid reserve is playable in multiplayer as long as the host owns it, and the game's store description says the same for any member of your hunting party. Forum replies give the same advice again and again: join a session, see which map you like, then buy.

A high score is not a clean bill of health. Revontuli Coast sits fifth, yet its most upvoted recent English reviews are about mission bugs, so read the latest reviews on any reserve before you commit.

Start on Layton Lake District, which you already own. In a June 2020 Steam thread from a player picking a map for a brother who had just bought the game, most replies say Layton: the deer are easy to call, there are many lakes that draw animals in, and you have the deer caller from the start. The same replies carry one warning, which is to leave the moose, elk and bears alone until you can afford a heavier rifle.

When you want a paid reserve, Silver Ridge Peaks is the chill choice. A Steam reviewer describes it as maybe the easiest reserve to hunt because of its sight lines, and as very friendly to beginners. Forum replies say the same in blunter words, calling it packed full of animals and a shooting gallery. A few veterans mean that as a complaint, so it is a reserve you may outgrow.

Cuatro Colinas is the third answer. Several replies in that 2020 thread recommend it because the starting rifle can take every species there except the hare, and the ibex move in large herds.

Hirschfelden is free, but the forum steers new players away from it. One reply in a December 2021 thread says animals are thin once you leave the starter area, and another in the 2020 thread explains the fiddly part exactly: you do not get the fallow deer caller until level 5 or the red deer caller until level 27, while Layton hands you the Roosevelt elk caller at level 15.

Three reserves have six Great One species each: Hirschfelden, Askiy Ridge and Tòrr nan Sithean. New England Mountains has five and Cuatro Colinas has four. Vurhonga Savanna has none, and the wiki notes it is the only reserve without one.

That makes Hirschfelden a nice balance for anyone who cares about Great Ones and does not want to spend more: pheasant, red fox, wild boar, roe deer, fallow deer and red deer are all there in the base game. I would only pay for a reserve on Great One grounds for the species the free maps lack, which are mule deer, gray wolf, tahr, jaguar and taruca.

The wiki is plain about the odds. It describes Great Ones as extremely rare and says only a few players will ever see one, so treat this table as a way to choose where to spend your evenings, not a promise.

Yukon Valley is the reserve players describe by its looks more than any other. In an October 2019 thread, replies call it the best pick if you care about how a map looks, and a June 2020 reply calls it simply the most beautiful. Steam reviews of the add-on agree years later: one from 2025 praises snowy peaks set against crimson plains, and a 2024 review calls it Bob Ross country. The same 2024 review mentions visual glitches with the snowfall.

The other names that come up:

• Silver Ridge Peaks. A June 2020 reply says it might be the best reserve in the game, mostly because it is beautiful and has a good variety of animals. One recent negative Steam review disagrees and finds its mountains too smooth and repetitive.
• New England Mountains. A reply in a September 2024 ranking thread puts it in the top tier for the most beautiful landscape. The wiki notes the map has an autumn look.
• Revontuli Coast. The same thread praises its mix of forest and open ground and its scenery.
• Emerald Coast. Steam reviewers single out its range of terrain. One forum reply ranks it low for a small, honest reason: the sun is too bright.

Layton is where to learn and Hirschfelden is where to come back to. That is the pattern in the threads: Layton for your first evenings, Hirschfelden later for its six Great One species and for geese, which several replies mention as plentiful in its farm fields.

For the paid reserves, the low end of the table is worth reading as closely as the top. Mississippi Acres Preserve is the lowest rated add-on at 50% of 780 reviews, and forum replies name the tall grass and the flat ground as the reason. New England Mountains sits at 58% partly because several reviews from 2023 and early 2024 report a story mission that would not complete. Sundarpatan has the tiger and the snow leopard, but its most upvoted recent English reviews complain about long walks without seeing an animal.

Bird hunters have their own short list. A June 2026 thread on the subject lands on Revontuli Coast as the best overall bird map, Salzwiesen Park for waterfowl and Tòrr nan Sithean for grouse. The wiki backs the first two: Revontuli has 19 species and was the first bird-themed reserve, and every species in Salzwiesen is class 1 or 2.

If you are still deciding whether this is the hunting game for you at all, our best hunting games list compares it with the alternatives.