How to Maximize Bounty Hunting Profits and Payouts

This guide will explain the mechanics behind bounty payouts and provide an easy to follow method for consistently getting the maximum reward for completion.

Mechanics
Like many other Rock* games with missions that you turn in, bounty missions will pay more the longer it takes you to run them. If you're familiar with other online Rock* titles you have probably experienced someone waiting until the on-screen timer only has 30 seconds remaining before they turn it in. Some believe that just always waiting until the last 30 seconds is all one needs to do to get the max rewards. This is not entirely true.

Missions that use this type of wait mechanic payout are based not on the timer that is seen on screen, but on an internal timer that is not visible to the player. This timer starts the moment the mission is accepted.

When running bounties in RDO, you'll notice that many times there is no timer shown when the mission starts and only appears once you have captured the first target or arrive at the location. This gives you the opportunity to take more time at the beginning of a bounty mission in order to essentially wait out a good portion of the internal timer by taking longer to get there.

Ideally, you want to spend a good 12-15 minutes to reach the location marked on your map. This can be accomplished through a number of ways, but the most lucrative is to combine bounty hunting with the Collector role and taking a route that will have you pass by locations where collectables can be found during the current cycle and stopping to pick them up along the way. The best thing about combining these roles in this method is that it can be done either solo or with a full posse.

Running Multiple Roles Simultaneously For Fun and Profit
To facilitate this, you, the Posse Leader first needs to take a few preliminary preparation steps by having your phone, tablet or laptop near you with a browser page opened to the [Red Dead Online Collectors Map](jeanropke.github.io/RDR2CollectorsMap) and making sure that all collectable item locations, including random spots, are being shown on it. This will give you plenty of possible stops to pick up items along the way.

You should then instruct all posse members to stick with you and not ride ahead. It usually helps if you also explain the reason for this at the same time. Then the entire posse should travel to the bounty board that is currently offering a good bounty (we'll get to good vs shitty bounties shortly) and you should then start the mission.

What comes next will depend on whether or not a timer appears as soon as the mission is started.

If there is no timer shown immediately on screen:
When the mission starts, if there is no timer showing on screen, you should take a minute or two to look at the bounty location on the in-game map and at the Collector's Map and get an idea of where 4-6 collectables are along the way. You should also put a waypoint at the first collectable stop, as the entire posse will be able to see it.

As the Posse Leader, you should set the pace for travelling between stops and have everyone match that pace. You will also need to be mindful of the time already spent and the remaining distance to the target and if you feel that too much time is being taken, you'll need to pick up the pace or bypass an item or two.

When a stop is reached and the collectable gathered, you should tap (or click) on that item on the Collector's Map and choose the option to "Remove From / Add To Map" to mark it as being picked up. This will make the map icon faded out so it'll be obvious you've already gotten it. At the same time, you should locate the next stop and set a waypoint at it on the in-game map.

Lather, rinse, repeat this cycle and work your way towards the bounty location. Once you get there the bounty can be run quickly, but extra precaution needs to be taken to ensure all targets are captured alive. The only time a target should be purposely killed is if they are on the verge of escaping and there literally is no other option. A Live target is worth far more than a Dead one, but a Dead bounty is better than no bounty at all. Maximum payout can ONLY be obtained if ALL targets are turned in alive and without any escaping.

For this reason and only if the Oh Shit Timer has not yet shown up (another thing that will be explained shortly) yet, you should have a plan of action in place so that each posse member is assigned to approach from a different side or be in place should a bounty try to escape. You should also call in your bounty wagon and park it as close to where the targets are as possible, making sure the rest of your posse is aware of it's location. It's also a very good idea to position it in such a way that you'll be able to take off immediately (and hopefully in the right direction) as soon as it's loaded without crashing into trees, other objects or accidentally driving off the side of a mountain.

BE CAREFUL WHEN LEAVING YOUR WAGON!
If you get too far away from it, it will automatically respawn and any targets it was holding will immediately be freed. There is a warning shown as a brief tool tip message in the upper left hand corner of your screen, but it is easy to miss as there is no accompanying audio cue and the message is only shown one time and briefly at that. If you see a message pop up during bounties where you have your wagon called in and have left it's immediate vicinity, make sure you read it! If it says that you are getting too far away from your wagon, STOP and go back towards it quickly. The message tends to appear only once you are very close to being too far away and even a few more steps can cause it to respawn! This is also the reason why you should not let someone else drive your wagon if you are not sitting shot gun.

Once the actual bounty hunting part of the mission starts, you should check the amount of time remaining on the on-screen timer and attempt to make your exit as smooth as possible. If you are running short on time (less than 5 mins remaining) this will be crucial to completing the mission successfully. Being able to set up your exit beforehand will make this not as stressful as it can be otherwise.

When the second to last bounty has been loaded, you should be hopping back into the driver's seat and watch as the final target is thrown in. At the moment the doors have closed, you will want to already be pressing X to get the wagon rolling. At this point the amount of time remaining will dictate the pace. If the turn-in location is not far or if there is quite a bit of time left, you can choose to take a leisurely pace to it which will further ensure maximum payout.

Once you are near the turn-in location, you can then choose to wait until the last 30 seconds or not. If sufficient time was spent getting to the bounty location in the beginning, there is no real reason to wait it out and it can be turned in with 2+ minutes showing and still be awarded the max. Another reason why you wouldn't want to wait out the timer is if you have targets that are dead or that escaped. The only way to get max payout is if they are all ALIVE. Throw it in and watch the right side of the screen after the cut scene ends to see how much you made.

The Oh Shit Timer
The Oh Shit Timer is the timer that appears when you are taking too long to complete the bounty. This usually happens when the internal timer gets past the 15 minute mark, but it can also happen earlier than that.

When it appears, it can have as little as 60 seconds showing at the start. You or one of your posse members MUST reach the target location before the timer gets to zero. Doing so will cause it to reset and show the time remaining for turning it in, however, the amount of remaining time that is given may be shorter than the amount of time you'd normally have if you had gotten there before the Oh Shit Timer appeared.

We call it the Oh Shit Timer because upon seeing it we usually say "Oh Shit! It's time to go!!!". You should explain this concept to your posse and have them be watching for it too, as it is displayed silently and without fanfare and can be there unnoticed until it is too late to act upon. The second someone realizes that it's there, they should call out it's existence and hot foot it to the bounty location.

You can still achieve max payout if the Oh Shit Timer shows up, but you'll have a lot less time to set up and will need to hammer on X to get to the turn-in before time expires.

If there is a timer shown immediately screen
When the bounty starts and a timer appears immediately, you'll need to run things a bit differently than you do when there is no timer showing. Since the immediate presence of a timer generally means you'll have less time (depending on the distance to the target and whether or not they are moving) to plan or set up ahead of time.

You should still take a brief moment to check the in-game map to find out the target/bounty location and if there is sufficient time showing and the targets are not too terribly far (and you have confidence you'll be able to get there with enough time to spare) you may also want to take a quick glance at the Collector's Map and take note of the locations of 1-3 items to stop and collect along the way and mark the first with your waypoint.

It is a wise idea to select only those items which are very easy to find and collect to reduce the time spent. You'll want to avoid items that require either the Metal Detector or Shovel as the former can be difficult to locate quickly and both use long animations of digging when picking it up. Cards, Antique Alcohol Bottles, Bird Eggs and American Wild Flowers are all quickly picked up and will save a lot of time!

As the Posse Leader, you'll need to be even more mindful of the time remaining and make those executive decisions to pick up the overall pace or forego picking up an item in the interest of getting there with enough time remaining.

As with the previous method, steps can and should be taken ahead of time to make running the bounty as smoothly as possible, including calling in your bounty wagon (if it's needed) ahead of time and making sure your posse members know what they'll be in charge of once you reach the targets. If you do need to bring the wagon and you are confident in your posses ability to efficiently capture the targets alive on their own, you may want to send them ahead at the last leg of the journey so that you can position the wagon for a quick and easy exit.

There are two possibilities when you reach the targets or bounty location: - The on screen timer might reset itself, either upon arrival or when the first captured target is picked up. - The on screen timer might not reset upon arrival or when the first captured target is picked up.

In situations where the timer does reset:
This means you can take a breather! The new timer is the amount of time remaining to turn the targets in before the mission is failed. If this is showing more than 5 minutes, you will want to slow everyone's roll just a little, to allow additional time to pass that will count towards the total time spent. Since there was not a lot of time at the start to dilly-dally and fuck around, you'll want to use the additional time given here to make up for that.

In situations where the timer does NOT reset:
Oh boy... Hold onto your hats for this could be a bumpy ride! Try and run the bounty as fast as possible. Once all targets have been captured you'll want to check the time remaining and set an appropriate pace to the turn in location.

Good vs Shitty Bounties
Now we'll discuss your options for selecting a bounty mission.

Every bounty board features a total of 4 posters (if you have both bounty licenses - otherwise there are only 3) to select from, each with a different difficulty. They always appear in the same order: $ Bounty on the far left (easy), $ $ in the middle (medium), and $ $ $ (hard) bounties on the far right. If you have the 2nd bounty license then the hard poster will show a supposedly harder multi-part bounty on top of the hard bounty and you can switch between then by pressing Up or Down on the Dpad.

The most profitable bounty is the 6-person $ $ $ bounty, but in order for you to receive the max payout you must capture and turn in 6 live bounties and spend at least 12-14 minutes fucking around. If you meet these conditions then each person will receive 0.4 gold and the Leader will get around $RDO 100-120 and each posse member will get $RDO 75-90.

The only trouble is that there are only two 6-person bounties on boards at any one time and locating them, especially when there is only 1 person actively looking, can become a tedious affair. If you are playing with others it is much quicker if you all go looking together. Have each person pick a bounty board and fast travel there (note that there are 3 boards that are not near a fast travel and will have to be ridden to - Riggs Station, Benedict Point and Wallace station).

If you are the Leader, all you need to do is to walk up to the board and look. If you have both licenses, you'll have to interact with the board by holding Square in front of it and then press Up or Down on the hard bounty poster, as the multi-part bounty will be shown on top. If you only have the first license, then you can just look at it without interacting and with many boards, you need not even get off your horse.

If you are not the leader, you'll need to Stand Down from the posse by pressing Left on the DPad and going to Posse > Stand Down so you can check the board or you won't be able to see any posters. The same rules apply as far as having to interact with the board or not as there are for Leaders. When you get done, rejoin the posse through the Left Menu again. On the Posse sub menu, press X on the posse name and X again on ReJoin Posse. Finally let everyone know what you have at that board.

If a 6-person bounty cannot be found, a 4-person $ $ is your second option. Again, turning them in alive and spending sufficient time is key.

Bait and Switch
There are a few 6-person bounties that are glitched. You'll select the poster showing 6 targets but when you arrive at the location the objective will tell you to cause damage to lure them in. When you've thrown a sufficient amount of dynamite and fire bottles the bounties will appear but there will only be two targets. We call this "getting fucked."

A Word on Multi-Part Bounties
Supposedly, they are harder, but in my experience this is not the case. The poster shows multiple targets but you'll only go after one at a time. The payout is meh at best.

In Conclusion
Following this method will let you earn 0.4 gold per bounty. That's 1.20 gold bars for every three bounties. Plus, running multiple roles adds variety and lets you earn income from more than one source at a time.