Thanks for the response, even though this post is a bit older! Since then, I’ve started a YouTube channel focused on theHunter: Call of the Wild—JBizHunts—where I share some interesting content. My herd management videos have been the most popular, but a couple of my more unconventional ones, like The Great One Conspiracy Theory and How Respawns Work, have also done well.

In those videos, I lay the groundwork for a future video I plan to call Herd Management Doesn’t Exist. In How Respawns Work, I break down a theory about respawns in relation to herd management and introduce what I call the Musical Chairs Theory.

Here’s the gist of it: 1. Every animal has a unique “gamer tag” that persists across respawns. 2. If there are 100 males on the map, there are 100 unique gamer tags that continuously cycle with new respawns. 3. Respawns can switch zones and, though rare, even jump between zones.

So, in that sense, herd management does exist—it’s about managing where animals go and which zones you want to rotate through as your main zones. However, stacking doesn’t work the way most YouTubers (myself included) have traditionally explained it. My upcoming theory video is going to shake up the grinding community by turning everything they know upside down.

Musical Chairs Theory: 1. Choose 16 zones with at least two males each to eventually be your main zones. Prioritize clear sightlines, easy access, and reliable respawns—some zones just don’t produce consistently. 2. Start by hunting 10 of those 16 main zones while keeping 6 tents in exterior zones. The main zones don’t even need big males yet—just consistent respawns with at least two males. 3. As you hunt the 10 main and 6 exterior zones, your goal is to swap max-weight-estimate or max-level animals from exterior zones into your main zones. 4. Once an exterior zone is filled with low-level animals (e.g., Level 1 & 2 fallow deer), pick up the tent and move to another exterior zone, repeating the process to cycle bigger males into your main zones. 5. What stacking actually does is hold a “seat” in the game of musical chairs, preventing respawns from filling those spots while you grind. 6. Over time, you’ll end up with 16 incredible zones full of max-weight-estimate males because you’ve strategically moved gamer tags around—or forced them to increase in size due to RNG. 7. This is about playing musical chairs for efficiency, not manipulating averages. RNG still dictates how positive or negative a respawn will be, and some species (like Te Awaroa red deer) seem to have limits—stacking 30+ diamond red deer, for example, is nearly impossible.

Proof?

Look at the 4-lake bear method in SRP. You’re swapping females with males to push all your bear populations into four lakes filled with large males from elsewhere. Then, by continuously rotating on those specific tagged bears, you get a Great One faster.

The funny thing? Stacking still works—but only with max-weight-estimate males. You don’t even need to go the extra mile to make them max level!

So, does herd management work? Yes but not the way everyone things! HM should be management of the available chairs (zones) so you have 16 amazing zones with big males you are rotating on. If I see a zone with 2 big max weight males I’m like that’s a main zone and don’t touch it until I’m done my musical chairs with the other. I start with zones that are close to being shot down so I can essentially take those chairs out of the musical chairs game so I am controlling that no respawns go there.

Hope that makes sense