Perfect Pelts and Carcasses are required to craft some permanent upgrades for your camp and unlock unique outfits and apparel from the trapper. You’re not required to carry the required number of pelts all the time; you can donate them to Pearson or sell them to the trapper. Once you have donated or sold the required number of materials, you’ll be able to buy the upgrade/ clothing.
First, you have to find a 3-star (pristine) animal.
You can only identify unknown animals by using your binoculars. This invaluable equipment will also allow you can easily scan the area and zoom to see far targets. You can even see “hidden animals” not immediately noticeable. When scouting a target with your binoculars, make sure to study it first to count towards its respective compendium progress.
Once an animal has been successfully studied and added to the compendium, you can just use your gun or bow to aim at the animal to see its quality then press R1 to display its info again.
The game will give you a tip about the the recommended weapon to land a “clean kill”, retaining the animal’s perfect condition pelt/skin. Even if you’re using the recommended weapon, the ammo type loaded to your weapon can affect the pelt’s quality. Fire arrows and explosive rounds should never be used while special ammo like high velocity and split point ammo can damage the quality of the pelts. As such, stick to your normal rounds but make sure to use the most powerful version of the gun you have in your inventory.
Equip the recommended weapon/ammo then track the target.
For elusive targets, you may want to use the tactics discussed in the articles above to sneak into a good shooting position. Use your Dead Eye to reveal the animal’s vital point then shoot it once. Using multiple shots aside from the vital point can ruin the skin’s quality.