Fawkesian

Yes, I've been excited about the fishing update! At some points during the winter, when my compost isn't really making progress on rotting due to the cold, I have entire stacks of bushmeat (and pelts) sitting around waiting to decompose. I haven't really dipped my toes into catching fish yet but it'll be great to get some use out of all the bushmeat. Also, realized I never mentioned my strategy for actually fighting wolves and bears. Simply... water. I give the creature a good slap on the rump to get it going, run to the nearest pond or lake, and swim backwards in circles while poking with a spear or other weapon. With this method I've been able to take out bears with just a flint spear and no armor on day two, but it's risky. Of course it's no longer necessary to run once you have decent armor and weapons! With iron-tier plate armor I can go toe to toe with a grizzly and have no issues. As for the pit: so far I've gotten five adult wolves, a pup, and a bear down there. I haven't noticed any decrease in predator spawns just yet but I'm hopeful! Do we have any idea of how far the game checks for existing wolves/bears when attempting to spawn new ones? (Ignore the dead rabbits and deer, I felt bad and chased some food in there for them.)

Two wolves over the course of years?! That's crazy. I don't think I've seen anywhere with such low spawns. Unfortunately I'm quite attached to my base, so no moving for me - it's my first + main world, and I've spent over three years building up this camp. I'm lucky that I've gotten far enough in the tech tree as to make wild animal fights trivial. At this point I just keep my plate armor permanently in my hotbar and slap it on whenever it's hunting time. Besides, if I moved, my leather stockpile might diminish (gasp!), and I don't know if I'm ready for that sort of life... Right, time to give the pit strategy another shot!

Not really a newbie question, just felt like discussing. How do you deal with the wolf (and bear) populations around your base? I live in a dry, windswept gravel biome and have a wall built around my camp. Visibility is pretty good in most directions, so every morning I climb up and walk a lap of the perimeter. Most days there's at least one wolf (or pack) spawned out in the flats, sometimes a bear or two to keep it spicy. Today I think the total was 4-5 adult wolves and another 4 pups. I've given up on keeping pace with leather production, to be honest, and now everything goes directly to compost except for the wolf pup pelts, which make pretty good parchment. I think I read somewhere that keeping some predators in a pit will limit additional spawns, but in my other world I'm up to like half a dozen bears in a hole and they keep coming, so I'm not sure if that's true. Maybe I should try it again? (Leaving the skeletons definitely hasn't helped; I keep stepping on wolf bones every time I march out there to deal with the new spawns.) What strategies has everyone else developed to handle the eternal wolf siege?

Nice build! If it were up to me, I'd plonk the greenhouse by that path, or maybe even a little further spaced out. It can be nice to have a couple things leading up to your main base - gives it more of an "established settlement" feeling. In one of my worlds I have a greenhouse on a cliff by the sea, and it's one of the first things I spot when I'm coming back from a sailing trip. Makes you think: "I can see the greenhouse, I'm nearly home!" All up to your personal taste though, of course!

That'll be the deer, I believe! They make a short, sharp huff - and they're very stealthy given their size.