Hunter
Sets snares, box traps, deadfalls, nets and pitfalls, nets butterflies and implings, and catches salamanders and chinchompas usable as ranged weapons.
Hunter is a trapping skill, and what you catch is the reason to train it. Chinchompas are stacking explosive throwables for Ranged, salamanders are two-handed weapons that burn tar, and skillchompas sit in your off-hand and shave time off every gathering and fishing action. Furs become hunter armour, kebbit parts become bolts, dust and necklaces, and implings pay their XP twice, once to Hunter and once to Exploration.
Level 1 to 120
You set traps and wait. Bird snares carry you to about 23, then you rotate through deadfalls, box traps, rabbit snares, net traps and pitfalls, each tied to fixed spots in specific areas. The single biggest lever is how many traps you can run at once: one until 20, then another at 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120. Always fill every slot, always take the highest creature you can catch, and jar any impling you pass.
- Bird snares 1 to 23
Buy snares from Artimeus, the hunter shop in Yanille, and set them beside the birds. Crimson swifts (18 XP) live in the Feldip hills near Corsair Cove, golden warblers (5, 22 XP) out in the desert, copper longtails (9, 24 XP) near Piscatoris, cerulean twitches (11, 26 XP) in the snowy grounds beyond Rellekka and tropical wagtails (19, 28 XP) back in Feldip.
- Wild kebbits and first implings 23 to 27
Wild kebbits pay 32 XP at the deadfall boulders near Piscatoris; you need a knife in your bag and every deadfall you arm eats one log, any type. Baby implings unlock at 17 and are worth grabbing forever after, since they pay their XP again in Exploration.
- Rabbits, ferrets and green salamanders 27 to 31
White rabbits in the falconry woods near Eagles' Peak pay 40 XP, but each rabbit snare swallows a live ferret as bait, and ferrets come from box traps in the same woods for 35 XP. Cobalt skillchompas at the Grand Tree also give 35, and green salamanders in the net traps of Mort Myre open at 29 for 42, the best of the band.
- Pitfalls and deadfalls 31 to 46
Spined larupias (31, 47 XP) drop into the pitfalls in the Feldip hills, barb-tailed kebbits (33, 50 XP) into deadfalls near Corsair Cove and prickly kebbits (37, 52 XP) into deadfalls near Piscatoris. Horned graahks (41, 54 XP) are in the Karamja pitfalls above Tai Bwo Wannai.
- Salamanders, kyatts and grey chinchompas 46 to 63
Viridian skillchompas open at 46 for 45 XP near Port Phasmatys, orange salamanders at 47 for 50 in the desert net traps, sabre-tooth kebbits at 51 for 52 in the snowy deadfalls beyond Rellekka. Grey chinchompas come from box traps near Piscatoris at 53 for 55, saber-toothed kyatts from the snowy pitfalls at 55 for 62, and red salamanders from the net traps at the battlefield near West Ardougne at 59 for 70.
- Carnivorous chinchompas and black salamanders 63 to 73
Carnivorous chinchompas open at 63 for 78 XP in the Feldip hills and near Gwenith. Black salamanders at the wilderness Boneyard give 85 from 67, and azure skillchompas the same from 68 in the snowy grounds beyond Rellekka.
- Black chinchompas and the top skillchompas 73 to 120
Black chinchompas open at 73 for 100 XP in the deep wilderness by the volcano. Crimson skillchompas (89, 120 XP) at the Ruins of Unkah and crystal skillchompas (97, 140 XP) near Tyras Camp are the top of the box-trap ladder, and dragon implings from 85 are worth 300 XP each.
What you keep
Chinchompas are one-handed stacking throwables that explode over a small area, needing Ranged 45, 55 and 65 for grey, carnivorous and black. Salamanders are two-handed and burn tar as ammunition at Magic 30, 50, 60 and 70. Skillchompas go in the off-hand, are used up one per action, and cut gathering and fishing times, more with every tier from cobalt up to crystal.
Kebbit spikes become bolts with a chisel at Fletching 30 and kebbit teeth grind to dust with a pestle and mortar. Kebbit claws and rabbit feet string onto a ball of wool at Crafting 25 and 37 to make necklaces that raise your catch chance. Larupia, graahk and kyatt furs go to Asyff, who turns each one into a piece of hunter armour for between one hundred and one thousand coins; every piece worn adds a little more catch chance, at levels 28, 38 and 52.
Implings
Baby, young, gourmet and earth implings drift around Misthalin near Lumbridge, Varrock, Draynor and Al-Kharid. Essence, eclectic and nature implings cover Asgarnia, Kandarin and Karamja, and magpie, ninja and dragon implings appear in the far corners: the snowy grounds, the desert, Morytania and Mos Le'Harmless.
Puro-Puro, through the crop circle in Zanaris, packs all ten types into one field at a flat catch chance, but it pays only a third of the usual XP and anything you fail to catch teleports away, so go there for loot rather than levels. Jars carry tools, noted materials, herbs, bars, gems, building blocks and clue scrolls well above the level needed to catch them, and dragon implings can hold an uncut onyx.
Butterflies and potions
Ruby harvests, sapphire glacialis, snowy knights and black warlocks need only a net and a jar, no trap, and they open at 15, 25, 35 and 45. They pay 7 to 15 XP, far below anything else at those levels, so they are never a training method.
The filled jars are the reason to catch them. Ruby harvest and sapphire glacialis jars plus kebbit teeth dust brew the super hunter potion at Herblore 65, snowy knight and black warlock jars the extreme hunter potion at 85, and both raise your catch chance while they last. The plain hunter potion at Herblore 36 needs only the dust and a couple of herbs.
Worth knowing
- Each extra trap you run catches slightly less often, but the total always goes up, so fill every slot your level allows.
- Deadfalls and pitfalls need a knife in your bag and eat one log per trap; net traps need a rope and a fishing net, both handed back when you take the trap down; rabbit snares eat a live ferret; butterflies and implings need a net in hand plus an empty jar.
- Ten levels above an impling you can catch it bare-handed, and the loot drops straight out with no jar spent.
- Wander far enough from your traps and they come down on their own, so stay in the area you are trapping.
The full table
Level 1 to 9 1 entry
Level 10 to 19 3 entries
Level 20 to 29 8 entries
Deadfall trap 23 
Net trap 29 Level 30 to 39 2 entries
Pitfall trap 31 
