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What changed in August 2026
The 19 August 2026 skilling update reshaped Hunter, and plenty of older guides still quote the old numbers. The main changes for planning:
- Birdhouse xp was cut hard at the low end: 60% off regular to teak, 55% off maple, 50% off mahogany, 40% off yew and 15% off magic. Redwood houses were left alone.
- Bird nests from houses were improved: fewer rolls, but each roll is three times as likely to succeed.
- You can now set two traps from level 1 instead of waiting for 20, and deadfalls allow two traps (maniacal monkeys still allow one).
- Wild, barbed and sabre-toothed kebbits and pyre foxes give about 20% less xp, prickly kebbits about 27% less.
A birdhouse plan built from an old spreadsheet will overstate the xp badly, so check the per-house figures below before you count runs.
Birdhouse xp per house now
| House | Hunter level | XP per house | Change in 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | 5 | 112 | 60% less |
| Oak | 14 | 168 | 60% less |
| Willow | 24 | 224 | 60% less |
| Teak | 34 | 280 | 60% less |
| Maple | 44 | 369 | 55% less |
| Mahogany | 49 | 480 | 50% less |
| Yew | 59 | 612 | 40% less |
| Magic | 74 | 969 | 15% less |
| Redwood | 89 | 1,200 | Unchanged |
A full run is four houses, so multiply by four for xp per run. Each house takes 10 low-level or 5 high-level seeds of any mix. With the low tiers cut so far, houses below magic are now mainly about nests rather than levels. The birdhouse run calculator works out runs, logs, seeds and days for you.
Traps per level
| Hunter level | Traps | Traps in the Wilderness |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 39 | 2 | 3 |
| 40 to 59 | 3 | 4 |
| 60 to 79 | 4 | 5 |
| 80 and up | 5 | 6 |
The Wilderness extra applies to black chinchompas and black salamanders. Trap count is the main reason box trap rates jump at 60 and 80: the same creature, one more trap, noticeably more catches.
The creatures most plans revolve around
| Creature | Level | XP per catch | How and where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Embertailed jerboa | 39 | 137 | Box traps, partial Eagles' Peak |
| Grey chinchompa | 53 | 198.4 | Box traps |
| Red chinchompa | 63 | 265 | Box traps, best mid-level xp |
| Moonlight moth | 75 | 84 | Net and jar, barehanded from 85 |
| Black chinchompa | 73 | 315 | Wilderness, one extra trap |
| Herbiboar | 80 | 1,950 to 2,461 | Tracking, 31 Herblore for herbs |
From 63 to 73 on red chinchompas is 2,356 catches. From 73 to 99 on blacks is 38,228, with the Wilderness risk that comes with it. Herbiboar works differently: its xp per catch climbs every level from 80, based on your real level rather than a boosted one, so the calculator's count for it shrinks as you go. Each catch also gives one to three grimy herbs.
Moonlight moths are slow xp but have value because each one restores Prayer points in combat, which is why the price column matters more than the xp column for them.
Hunter Guild and rumours
The Hunter Guild opens at 46 and hands out Hunters' Rumours, tasks to catch a specific creature for rare parts. Rumour tiers unlock at 46, 57, 72 and 91, and at high levels rumours rival black chinchompas for xp, roughly 160,000 an hour at 72 and 250,000 at 99. The guild hunter outfit from rumours raises catch rate by 2.5% and rare part chance by 5%, but gives no bonus xp, so leave it out of the bonus box. For the order to do all of this in, see the Hunter training guide.