How many hunting parties should I have?

Hey all, I'm getting a handle on this game but I'm a bit confused about what to do with all the wolves in my pack. I have more food than I know what to do with atm. But I also have a few litters getting older and needing meat so I'm ok with that. Better to have too much since I can turn the unused food into bones if I must. Right now I have one full group of hunters and one group of just two wolves (the second group is waiting for my oldest adols to grow up to join them.)

Today I had an NBW join up and I'm not sold on her. She can't join the two-wolf hunting team (wrong personality), she has bad stats, 3 markings but she's ugly, I don't really need her as a pupsitter (I have 3), and I have all my other roles filled so... Should I make a new hunting team of just one wolf? How many teams does a person need? Ultimately I assume it depends on how many wolves are in your pack but I don't know what the point would be in having another hunting party right now. I currently have 14 adults (plus leader) and 12 pups (with more on the way!)

And what about when all my pups grow up? How many pups should I keep? Just the ones that have lots of markings? Just ones with good stats? Will there even be enough roles for all my wolves to do stuff? Is it bad to have a bunch of freeloaders? Lots of questions lol. Any advice is welcome :)

While you can make as many hunting teams as you want, the current recommendation to keep your pack manageable is to limit yourself to two teams max. If you're having a personality clash, you can buy a personality randomizer from the personality snake to correct the issue, and they're just 100 SC.

As for pups, that will depend entirely upon what your ultimate breeding goal is. I myself don't always keep all of the pups from my breedings, at most I'll keep one because I like their look or something. Most I'll attempt to sell, otherwise I'll just chase. When I keep pups, I also lock down adults I'd like to replace them with, so it becomes easier to keep track of the pack. 

Regarding your NBW, if she has bad stats, I would suggest chasing. Stats definitely do matter for scouting and hunting, so if she has bad stats and doesn't give any benefit to breeding, then there's no reason to have her around in your pack. Of course, feel free to skip over my advice xD but the only reason I'd personally keep "ugly" NBWs around is if they have great stats.

Hope this helps somewhat!

Thanks for the advice! I now have three hunting parties, one of five wolves and two at two wolves. Maybe I should dump one? I ended up putting the ugly NBW in a hunting party with another, cooler looking NBW I grabbed. I just don't know what to do with them if they aren't hunters. I mean, what do they do? Just sit around in the den and collect dust? I wish there was more for wolves to do.

Sadly yeah. I ended up swapping out many of my old meh NBWs with shit stats for cooler ones I bred. Two NBWs reside in my hunting party right now, but I plan to swap them with better wolves when I can. 

There are suggestions for more roles, but for the moment, if your wolf isn't pretty, doesn't help you breed the bases/markings you want, and has terrible stats, its better to send them away and keep the good ones around. 

Yeah my main scout is actually higher level than my main! She's got no markings but I really want those stats on some puppies lol. She's going into heat soon :) The other scout just had her babies like yesterday and at least one is a keeper I think.

I suppose you're right about being more picky about who I keep and who I toss. I guess some of the game mechanics (like chasing away puppies and having packmates that do nothing) just kinda mess with the immersion for me? I'm not seriously RPing but it's fun to imagine what my wolves' lives are "really" like without the filter of the game, you know?

Just keep working on those hunting teams! I originally started with 3 teams of 3 wolves, and now I've got 3 hunting teams with 5 wolves each, and they're doing quite well! Just make sure that their personalities don't clash, and they'll be building synergy in no time!

Send one team after the other, to give the earlier team time to regen their energy. Set a timer for 30 minutes every time you send a team out. You'll be able to do 30 hunts in 15 hours!

Also, if you're looking for a high-prof hunter, I'll be happy to part with any of mine for a small fee (SC or herbs), since some of my pups will be aging up into adulthood in the next 5 days. Just let me know if you're interested!

Aw, thanks for the hunter offer! But I think I'll be ok. My main team is at 99 synergy and pretty high proficiency, and my other teams will come along slowly. But I appreciate it!