Hunter Cabins are the primary early source of Meat, Tallow and Pelts for settlements.
Hunters will initially attack and butcher wildlife like Deer, Boar, Wolves and Bears in their work area, but will gain additional modes of production when the cabin is upgraded.
Hunters will not proactively attack boars, but can be manually instructed to do so for a significant bounty of meat compared to other wildlife. Hunters also serve as unofficial defensive units and will attack hostile raiders during attacks.
Upgrade Information
Upon upgrading a Hunter Cabin to a Hunter Lodge, Hunters gain the secondary ability to craft Animal Traps with Iron Ingots.
This enables your Hunter to place traps in the work area for the lodge, trapping small game for a greater yeld of Tallow and Pelts but less Meat.
Hunters may sometimes ignore other game in favor of Animal traps, so it is critical to not over-build traps if the hunter should also hunting wildlife in their work area.
Basic Strategy
Hunters require consistent access to ranged weaponry and ammunition for greatest efficacy. Setting up a Fletcher Building early in settlement development will ensure ready access to Bows, Arrows and eventually Crossbows for hunters.
Hunters are instrumental in defending your village and your people from Wolves and Bears in the early game before your first Lookout Tower. They also act as a secondary defense against raiding parties, allowing early settlements the ability to dispatch bandits without a significant expenditure of gold.
Consolidating hunter cabins near other food generating areas is ideal, as the work areas can be relocated wherever large quantities of wildlife resource nodes can be found but proximity to smokehouses is crucial for the raw meat generated by cabins to be efficiently converted into smoked meat.
Also, consider using multiple hunters in conjunction either by direct selection or moving their work areas to clear problematic groups of wolves near settlements. Equipped with ranged weaponry, Hunters can make short work of most hostile wildlife especially when working in groups.