GTA V Online Bounty Hunter Guide

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Arun is a devoted GTA series enthusiast whose passion was ignited during late-night sessions of GTA San Andreas. He deeply admires the series' cinematic storytelling and immersive open-world experience, which he channels into his writing.

My Bottom Line Up Front

DLC required: The After Hours update
Quest Giver: Maude Eccles
Quest Objective: Capture or kill 5 randomly chosen bounties
Total Time: 50 minutes
The main tip to keep in mind: Don’t kill your bounties, as capturing them pays more.
Total Reward, including the subsequent Stone Hatchet challenge: $275,000 (if bounties are killed) or $300,000(if bounties are captured) and the Stone Hatchet(either way)

What are the Bounty Hunter Missions about?

gta v online bounty hunter missions — Source: Gameplay Addict

They are pretty straightforward missions in which you play as a bounty hunter for a character called Maude Eccles. You will be paid to kill or capture bounty targets in these missions.

You will also need to travel throughout the game’s world because the bounty can appear randomly anywhere. However, in terms of difficulty, it is an easy quest and can be completed in under an hour.

How to Start Bounty Hunting in GTA Online?

Step #1

Open up a private session because it is better to be safe than sorry, as griefers can quickly derail these missions. Now, as soon as your character loads into the world, they will be bombarded with text messages.

Step #2

Open up your phone and find the message sent by Maude Eccles. She is a character that will act as your handler and give you the bounty-hunting missions.

Many fans might recognize her, as she was also the one who gave those four bounty-hunting missions to Trevor Philips in GTA 5. I guess she did not get rid of her old habits, and now you are her new weapon of justice.

Step #3

Look at the message she sent you. In it, she mentions the opportunity for bounty hunting. If this message from Maude is not popping up for you, confirm that you are in free mode and not signed up as a CEO or MC club leader. Countless players do suffer from this glitch, but once you resign, it should pop up.

Step #4

Now, after reading her introductory message, you just need to wait for a follow-up text from Maude that will give you all the details you need to know about your first bounty mission. The next message generally pops up after waiting 2 minutes, so have patience, and please don’t get distracted!

If, for some reason, you are still not getting any messages, then you can try visiting Maude at her house, which is near East Joshua Road in Grapeseed, Blaine County, San Andreas. Jump onto the yellow circular trigger, and you should get the message.

Step #5

In the first bounty message, you can find general information about the target, and a mugshot to identify them. You can then go to the marked area showing their last active location and start searching for them.

Step #6

Don’t worry about not finding them quickly; they are probably hiding in plain sight because the GPS location is always accurate. Moreover, the game will give you several audio hints like a bell noise, when you are near them.

Yep, those sounds are not Jolene Cranley-Evans’ ghost telling you to avenge her, but rather the game giving you a sign regarding how hot and cold you are from the target!

Now that you have done all that, you can officially start hunting your bounties.

The Dead or Alive System

bounty hunting gta online dead or alive system — Source: gtArius

The moment you find the bounty, make sure not to kill them. Taking their lives is a faster method for getting paid, but it will only give you a reward of $5,000, whereas if you bring them alive, you will get a reward of $10,000.

So, the best way to go about hunting them would be by driving or landing somewhere near them and then start attacking with your bare fists or with a weapon that you are sure won’t kill them.

Furthermore, be careful not to keep stomping them when they are on the ground. It is critical to keep them alive if you want to maximize your earnings. The second they surrender, you will get a notification, and they will put their hands up.

Now, once the notification about their surrender pops up, they will start following you. You can then take them to your vehicle and drop them off at Maude’s house. The location will be marked on your map under a giant “M.” When you reach her place, a small cutscene will play out before you get the money.

Voilà, just made your first bounty!

Tips to Keep in Mind while Bounty Hunting

gta v online bounty hunting — Source: Arsen Y

First things first, get a vehicle that can fly. This way, you can just hover over the area where your target is hiding and find them more easily. Make sure to refer to the mugshots that Maude sent. Often, there will be similar-looking NPCs around your target, and you don’t want to eliminate the wrong person, right?

If you are not sure about a certain weapon’s power, then please try it out on random NPCs and see how many hits it takes for them to die. The safest way to take them down without killing them has to be with your bare knuckles.

As you start hitting your target, a red marker will come on top of them; this will be an indication that you have started hunting your bounty. They will stay marked on your map as they can try to run away.

To make this process faster, you can hit them with your vehicle, but again, be careful. Scaring them is more useful in these scenarios. Besides, being inside a vehicle also means you will be safe against unruly bounties who can retaliate with melee weapons like baseball bats, knives, nightsticks, or bottles.

This is the core gameplay loop of these missions. However, to decrease the risks of failing even more, let me tell you more about the rewards, the bounties themselves, and the locations you need to go to find them.

Bounty Locations and Rewards

gta v online bounty hunting locations and rewards — Source: Rockstar Games

Total reward: $50,000 (After catching all of the bounties)
Time: 30 minutes – 45 minutes

You will be assigned a total of 5 bounties to capture out of 20 possible bounties. There is not much difference between their behaviors or the level of difficulty, it’s only the way they look.

All of this is highly randomized, so you just better leave it up to the game. The second you catch all of the 5 bounties, you will complete the bounty-hunting quest.

When it comes to the locations, this aspect is also highly randomized. However, I have made a list of the locations most players encounter when they play these missions.

Another thing to be mindful of is that these locations do not reflect the exact spawn point of the targets, as they can spawn anywhere within these areas. It’s up to the player to find them. Here’s the list:

Backlot City
Sandy Shores
Legion Square
Grapeseed
Barbareno Road location
Chumash
Oriental Theater
Derelict Motel
Harmony trailer park
Paleto Bay North
Rockford Hill

These are all the areas that you generally travel to find your target. Make sure to look around buildings, streets, and porches of random houses. The bounties almost always spawn near some kind of structure.

Stone Hatchet Reward and Challenge

Total Reward: $250,000
Time: 5 minutes – 10 minutes

After capturing or killing all five targets, Maude will send you a special message that reveals that the last target you dealt with had a secret stash with a great reward in it. She will then send you its coordinates. When you travel to that location, you will find a treasure chest.

In it, there will be a Stone Hatchet. This is the strongest melee weapon you can currently get in GTA Online, and it also comes with a special power that many players who love playing as Trevor in GTA 5 will remember.

When you use this Stone Hatchet in Free mode, it will grant you the invincible rampage ability. This superpower makes you unstoppable when using this weapon, as it increases your health generation and damage-taking capacity.

You will feel like the Terminator as you can survive multiple headshots!

After you equip this Stone Hatchet, a challenge will also start. In this challenge, you have to eliminate 24 random enemies (They can be random NPCs as well), and you will win $250,000 and unlock this weapon in Red Dead Redemption 2 if you own that game as well.

You will also get a 30-second cooldown on your special rampage ability the second you break your killing streak. So, the best place to do this challenge would be at Vespucci Beach or the Del Pierro Pier, as a large number of NPCs can be found roaming around there.

FAQs

Question: What Happens if I Exit GTA Online During a Bounty Mission?

Answer: Your progress up to that point will be saved, and a new target will be assigned to you the next time you join a session and are in free mode. Since they don’t take much time, I would recommend you complete all of the missions at a stretch. It’s just better to stay in the flow.

Question: What if You Die During a Bounty Hunter Mission?

Answer: You will only have to do that particular bounty mission again, and a new bounty will be given. If you have done previous bounty missions, your progress will be saved. This feature does make these bounty missions pretty easy when compared to other quests in the game.

Question: What if a Target Dies while they are Captured?

Answer: The game will recognize this accident as if you killed them and pay you half the amount. Seriously, be careful while you drive your target around and keep them safe. The irony is pretty strong with this one.

GTA V Online Bounty Hunter Guide: Conclusion

All of these missions and challenges make the Bounty Hunting quest a pretty lucrative way of making money in this game. You will feel like a vigilante eliminating dangerous people from the streets of Los Santos and also earn a ton of money while doing it.

This quest also does not require any investment, as players only need to make sure they are skilled in close-quarters combat. Considering how, nowadays, every other mission requires GTA V Online players to pay money upfront before they begin doing anything, Bounty Targets stand on their own merits.

Additionally, with the Stone Hatchet Challenge, you get an almost sequel-like addition to this quest. In which not only do you get to unleash havoc on society with the greatest melee weapon in the game, but also use a beloved special ability popularised by none other than Trevor.

Hopefully, this guide will make Bounty hunting even more fun, and you will enjoy all these missions to the fullest.