"You're still getting wet through the eye sockets!"
"I don't care, this was expensive!"

Horker fur coat? Yeah, sure.

I think that one of the most important issues to address with making roles in a roleplaying game fun to play... is INCENTIVE.

Meaning that while running through the woods and picking mushrooms and killing bunnies is incredibly fun to me, I would like to see it provide an increased benefit to other aspects of gameplay.

There are countless ways such INCENTIVE can be created. Here are a few ideas:

---As mentioned previously, hunting for pelts, and making fur clothing/armor.
---The ability to find alchemical INGREDIENTS that are NOT AVAILABLE IN SHOPS
---Hunting for animal parts, either as ingredients as mentioned above, as trophies, or for ITEM MAKING, or somehow implemented into ENCHANTING
---There could be a possibility of finding ore deposits or other minerals above ground. Such ore could be involved in ITEM MAKING.
---Other valuables could exist... for example, pearls in oysters (except far more valuable than in Morrowind)
---In some instances, there should be more excitement than a critter here and a critter there - try a pack of wolves, a particularly HUGE bear, or a flock of cliff racers!!! (kinda kidding there)
---MORE, MORE, MORE....etc., etc., etc...

perhaps you could 'pimp' your items, e.g. put a bear pelt on your back as a cape or on your helmet or make clothes that warm you up (it is a snowy land)

I would love something like this. For Oblivion all you really had for crafting was alchemy, which I loved, but there wasn't much else. I played Red Dead Redemption and you could hunt and skin animals for hides, meat, and other raw materials. Even if we could only sell the other parts I think it would be an improvement. This is Bethesda we're talking about though so the sky is the limit. I have been in a state of pure bliss since my buddy told me about TES V.

I would also like to have the option to fish. Just tossing that in with hunting and gathering since it's along the same lines. While we're at it how about what was done in New Vegas and add an optional (notice I said optional) hardcoe mode where you actually have to eat and drink to survive. Would add even more incentive to fish, hunt, or gather.

I would love it.

"One day maybe I shoot a good size Brown Bear. I carve it and sell its goods to market. But maybe another day you see a Brown Bear of Legend, massive and talked off by local NPC's."

Especially that part. It would make exploring the wilderness even more exciting.

They should take it much farther as well. Now we have Combat, Stealth, and Magic. I'd like to see Nature and Social branches as well, as separate branches.
In my own dream edit of the game, there would be far more skills, and skills have subskills to specialize in. You can choose to become an adequate allrounder, or a super specialist in one, but not a specialist in all. Specializing should require a trainer. No super athletes becomes a sprinter, long runner, distance jumper, or height jumper, by practicing alone. It's always taught by somebody else, a trainer.

Possible skills (and subskills) in Nature and Social branch:
* N Nomadic.
- Avoidance is ability to set camp in such a way that sleep is undisturbed.
- Resting is how long it takes you to rest (also influenced by gear).
* N Cooking.
- Plant based is ability to prepare a meal based on fruits and vegetables.
- Animal base is ability to prepare a meal based on killed animals.
* S Bartering.
- Selling.
- Buying.
* S Streetsmart, commoner, and etiquette (yes, lets bring those back in, it's too easy now).
- ? Not sure what to have here, maybe the minigame options?
* N Medical
- Speed governs how fast you're able to treat a wound (it's a whole different system on health and stamina, but sparing you the details).
- Amount governs how much health can be restored without external aid from a professional.
* N Jumping
- Height governs how high you can jump, in game related to a standstill jump (evasive acrobatic jump i.e.)
- Distance governs how far you can jump, in game related to a running jump.
* N Swimming
- Speed increases how fast you can swim, as you focus on becoming a sprint swimmer.
- Breath increases how long you can hold your breath.
* N Running
- Speed increases how fast you run, as an added modifier to the speed attribute.
- Distance increase how far you can run without pause.
* N Climbing
- Steepness says how steep the climbs can be. Too steep for your ability, and you'll slide or fall down.
- Trekking is added stamina for mountainous activities.
* N Alchemy (no longer a magic skill, but a nature skill, since it relies so heavily on flora lore).
- Recognition (or Flora Lore) is the ability to recognize flora and their effects.
- Preparing is the ability to achieve good results when making a potion or poison.
* N Hunting
- Stalking is similar to sneak, except: Only works outdoors and on bestiary (no NPCs), where sneak only works against NPCs or indoors.
- Surekill increases the chance of a fatal hit, which is different to a critical hit, where sneak deals critical hits as normal.

and so on and so forth. For me, RPGs is usually an experience in exploration. I'm only fighting beasts and NPCs, nature doesn't count for anything. And I always have to fight beasts and NPCs, there is no talking your way out of a bad situation (importance of the Social branch). A good GM in a dice based game listen to what we want, and plan events based on that. In most if not all computer based RPGs, it's all about fighting and killing, and bad roleplaying if you ask me.

Bah, ending it here... Got tired from writing

Fallout: New Vegas had a 'survival' skill which basically determined your effectiveness at 'crafting' foodstuffs. Kind of similar to what you want, but not quite deep enough.

What I love about your idea is that it provides 4 very important gameplay devices:
1) A new character type to role-play (or at least, dramatically expand on an existing character
2) The possibility for a new skill or skills
3) A new source of income for a player
4) New quest possibilities

I think breaking it down into skills is an important step here, and then expanding on those skills. It's clear that you want to play a hunter character, but the skills you present could be used for other things. Putting them together creates the hunter-type.
For instance, the skill that pertains to harvesting animal products could also be used to determine effectiveness of harvesting alchemical products. In this way, the skill becomes useful to both your Hunter and an alchemist.
Another skill would relate to proficiency of crafting items from the animal products. This would relate to making efficient use of items, and creating complex items. But it would also be used to determine a players ability to forge items from non-organic materials. It would be useful for a smith.

So rather than just presenting the gameplay mechanics for hunting we can introduce the concept of two new skills. Each skill has an application of it's own, but combining the two new skills allows for an excellent hunter-experience, which is what you're after.

If you create items and such, kinda "craft" them in hunting and other things, I think there should be animations applied to it. Like in the mod Craftybits.
That would be awesome.

One of the Best Ideas from gamesas Forum.

Assuming there's a large enough slab of bone available to carve in the shape of a skull fitting the player character's head, it shouldn't be a problem...

this is a good idea but the skinning animals part sounds so much like red dead redemption. It could work though

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Fang_of_Haynekhtnamet :celebration:
And I want my Troll mask...