In my second playthrough of Red Dead Redemption 2 years ago, I discovered that there are special hats you can find and steal permanently for yourself. In this complete RDR2 stolen and found hats guide, I walk you through exactly how to save them plus the exact locations of every saveable hat across the world of Red Dead Redemption 2.
Quick Tip: This guide is huge. To avoid the headache, if you already know the name of the hat you want, just press Ctrl + F (Cmd + F on Mac) or use your phone browser’s Find on Page feature to skip straight to it. Otherwise, feel free to browse the full list below.
What You Will Find Here
How to Save Stolen and Found Hats
To save stolen and found hats in Red Dead Redemption 2, grab a hat off someone or from the ground. You should look for ones that glow, since those are the only ones you can keep. Then ride straight back to your camp or rent a room at any hotel. Open the clothes chest or wardrobe and put the hat on or just check the outfits.
That adds it permanently to your stolen and found hats section, where you can wear it anytime with different outfits. Special hats often save automatically when you pick them up. Just remember, not every hat works. Regular non-glowing ones disappear if you die or reload.
All RDR2 Stolen Hats List and Locations
Here are the complete locations of all stolen hats in Dead Dead 2:
Classic Raccoon Mountain Hat
Find the loud NPC in the Valentine saloon (Chapter 2). Antagonize him and let him strike you first, then win the fight and get the hat.
Worn Flop Hat
The easiest way is Charles’ hunting side mission against the buffalo poachers (restart if the Bag Hat appears instead). It can also be found on the shepherd at Emerald Ranch, wagon riders between Valentine and Emerald Ranch, or to the northwest trapper.
Homburg Hat
Common on wagon drivers near Big Valley or Saint Denis.
Panama Fedora Hat
Found on NPCs at the Rhodes train station.
Cattleman Hat
Worn by various NPCs in New Hanover and Lemoyne. Some of the bounty hunters wear this hat, too.
Plantation Gambler’s Hat
Worn by bounty hunters and Braithwaites even after you burn down their manor in the Blood Feuds, Ancient and Modern mission.
Workman’s Flat Cap
This hat is tricky to find as many NPCs wear similar variants with slightly off tints. You can obtain it from NPCs in Saint Denis and especially Annesburg.
Straw Boater Hat
Many NPCs in the nicer areas of Saint Denis wear it.
High Hat
Search for this hat on NPCs in Van Horn or on outlaws inside the Van Horn Mansion.
Liberty Hat
This hat can be found on a guard in the mission An American Pastoral Scene and also during the stranger mission A Fine Night For It. If it fails to appear, simply restart the mission or load from the previous checkpoint.
Farmer’s Hat
Worn by an NPC in a blue shirt and brown pants walking around Strawberry, often near the building under construction.
Bucket Hat
Found on workers at Appleseed Timber Company or on riders and wagons along the road near Little Creek River and Vetter’s Echo in Big Valley (missable).
Crown Bucket Hat
Found on an NPC in Annesburg who walks near the station and post office.
Military Cavalry Hat
Found on an NPC at the Rhodes train station.
The Mountaineer Hat
Just head to Doyle’s Tavern in Saint Denis in midnight. You’ll find an NPC passed out on a table there. Or simply look for traveling NPCs in the mountains.
Rodeo Hat
You can find it on traveling NPCs and bounty hunters throughout New Hanover and Lemoyne. If you want specific locations, check the pig farm near Flatneck Station and the cow farm north of Rhodes.
Conductor’s Hat
You can find it on wagon riders traveling the roads around Valentine, especially at the first intersection outside of town heading toward Six Point Cabin. It can also be found along the road between Little Creek River and Vetter’s Echo in Big Valley, as well as at random camps.
Military Officer’s Hat
This is an easy drop from the Lemoyne Raiders, but you need to collect it before Chapter 4. Otherwise, it won’t become available again until the epilogue.
Military Mountie Hat
Fort Wallace can be accessed during The King’s Son mission in Chapter 6, or you can use a lumber wagon to jump the fence if you missed the opportunity. Another method is to shoot up at the Fort until several soldiers line up along the wall.
Then, throw a stick of dynamite at them. The explosion will knock their hats off and they should land outside the Fort.
You can also find these hats by standing at the right angle near the wall. Throw a dynamite at the soldiers stationed there, which causes their hats to fly down toward you.
Drifter Hat
You can grab the Drifter Hat easily in Red Dead Online. Just head over to any general store or tailor and buy it. In Story Mode, though, the exact hat from the picture isn’t available. That said, you can still find a similar-looking Drifter-style hat on certain NPCs.
For example, NPCs in Armadillo often wear one. Another good trick is to rack up a high bounty and start taking down bounty hunters. One of them will eventually drop a hat that’s pretty close to what you’re looking for.
Cutter Hat
You can find NPCs wearing this hat throughout New Hanover and Lemoyne, particularly around Flatneck Station and the farm northeast of Emerald Ranch. It also occasionally spawns on traveling NPCs and bounty hunters.
Western Homburg Hat
This hat can be found on Annesburg Guards near the station or post office.
Wide Slouch Hat
You can spot NPCs wearing this hat while traveling throughout New Hanover and Upper West Elizabeth. It’s especially common to find them wearing it up in Ambarino.
Gambler’s Hat
Worn by NPCs in Armadillo.
Military Forage Cap
You can easily find this hat on Lemoyne Raiders, but make sure to grab it before you move on to Chapter 4, since you will have cleared out most of them by then. If you miss it, your next chance to track it down won’t be until the epilogue.
Jipijapa Panama Hat
Worn by NPCs around Rhodes, especially by the Rhodes train station.
Newsboy Cap
You can grab this hat from Cornwall’s men during the The Sheep and the Goats mission in Chapter 2. If you miss it there, you can also find it on various NPCs in Saint Denis.
Slouch Bucket Hat
Worn by NPCs in Butcher Creek.
Sun Hat
This hat can only be obtained from Fussar’s men in Guarma in Chapter 5. During the Welcome to the New World mission you have a chance to get it.
An easier chance to get it is during the Savagery Unleashed mission in the same chapter. It’s right after you rescue the workers and protect Leon. If the hat doesn’t spawn when Fussar’s men attack, just leave one enemy alive. Run away to fail the mission and restart from the checkpoint.
Boater Hat
Worn by NPCs in the Rhodes train station.
Moonshine Hat
Worn by NPCs in Emerald Ranch and Butcher Creek.
Worn Stovepipe Top Hat
Worn by NPCs in Butcher Creek. It might take some time before you can get this hat to spawn, but if it’s any place in the game, it’s definitely there.
Gaucho Hat
Worn by NPCs driving wagons or riding horses throughout New Hanover and Lemoyne, as well as at Rhodes train station and Doyle’s Tavern in Saint Denis. You can also occasionally spot it on bounty hunters.
Derby High Hat
Worn by NPCs inside coach wagons that pass by Lake Owanjila and Big Valley. It can also rarely spawn on the outskirts of Saint Denis.
Flop Hat
Worn by NPCs in Emerald Ranch and Butcher Creek.
Bag Hat
This hat can be found in Butcher Creek and there’s also a good chance the hat spawns on one of the poachers during Charles’ companion hunting mission in Chapter 2. If you’re having trouble getting it to spawn in Butcher Creek, you can also look around the poorer districts of Saint Denis, where it occasionally appears on NPCs.
Bolero Hat
Worn by Del Lobo gang members and can be found at their hideouts.
Straw Hat
Again, worn by Del Lobo gang members and can be found at their hideouts.
Roanoke Hat
Worn by NPCs in Butcher Creek.
Pinned Flop Hat
Once again, worn by Del Lobo gang members and can be found at their hideouts.
Unsaveable Hats in RDR2 (Kamassa & More)
Unlike the 40 stolen hats, there are only 11 found hats in Red Dead Redemption II. Here’s a complete list of every found hat and exactly where to find them.
Tricorn Hat
You can find this stylish hat on a shipwreck in the middle of the largest island on Flat Iron Lake, west of Rhodes.
Chinese Skull Cap
This hat can be found in a small camp located right between the two “L”s in the word Armadillo on the New Austin map.
Civil War Hardee Hat
The Civil War Hardee Hat is found in the abandoned fort along the Kamassa River, right on the southern border of New Hanover.
Morion Helmet
There’s a frozen corpse of a soldier atop Mount Hagen. You can get the Morion Helmet there.
Scarecrow Derby Hat
You can obtain this hat from the fields south of the Braithwaite Manor.
Scarecrow Sombrero
This one can be found in the western fields of Caliga Hall, west of Saint Denis, near the fences.
Scarecrow Top Hat
You can find it in the small field behind McFarlane’s Ranch in New Austin.
Scarecrow Hat
The Scarecrow Hat can be found in the middle of the field at Guthrie Farm, on the northern edge of Emerald Ranch.
Viking Helmet
You can find the Viking Helmet in an Old Tomb, which is a Point of Interest. It’s sunken into the ground just north of Beaver Hollow and west of Deer Cottage. Look inside the northwestern cave room to find it resting on a ledge alongside the Ancient Viking Comb.
Nevada Hat
This hat can be found behind the waterfall at Donner Falls. You can also steal it off Sheriff Malloy in Valentine, though the waterfall is definitely the cleaner choice. Malloy’s Nevada hat doesn’t count as a stolen hat. Ironically, it registers under the Found Hats category instead.
Miner’s Hat
This is located inside an abandoned mine at Beryl’s Dream, east of the Big Valley trapper in West Elizabeth.
Hats You Can’t Keep in Red Dead Redemption 2
Not every hat in the game can be permanently saved, though. Here are my favorite hats in this category.
Disclaimer: There are obviously more cut-content hats and whatnot, but these are just the ones I found the most appealing and wanted to share with y’all.
Plainsman Hat
In RDR2, the Plainsman Hat is an NPC-exclusive item originally intended for middle-aged railroad workers. I just wanted to show you how it looks. Note that it can’t be obtained as a permanent wardrobe item in vanilla or unmodded story mode.
Military Slouch Hat
The Military Slouch Hat is an online-exclusive item available at Rank 6 or through the catalog, but you’ll occasionally see story-mode NPCs wearing it. Unfortunately, it can’t be saved to your permanent inventory if you knock it off and steal it.
Infantry Hardee Hat
The Infantry Hardee Hat can be found in Story Mode. Some of the Lemoyne Raiders wear it. However, you can’t save it. In other words, you can only wear it temporarily after picking it up and it won’t be added to your wardrobe.
Trail Hat
The Trail Hat, unfortunately, can’t be saved in the vanilla game. In a perfect world, you would’ve been able to get it from the Murfree Brood out in the world.
Straw Foreman Hat
This cool hat is one of those hats you can find, but unfortunately can’t save permanently. Wagon drivers near Riggs Station wear it.
Straw Sombrero
Here we go again. You can find it, but you can’t save it permanently. The Straw Sombrero can be found in a few places, with Thieves Landing and Fort Mercer being the most common spots to look.
Another reliable way is to go to Armadillo and wait for a random encounter where the Del Lobo Gang attacks the town. If you kill the gang members during the encounter, one of them may be wearing the Straw Sombrero.
Kamassa Hat
The Kamassa Hat is cut-content and can’t be found anywhere in Story Mode, as far as I know. According to the game files, it was meant to be worn by a survivalist NPC who spawns in an area abbreviated as BYN, which stands for Bayou Nwa.
Engineer’s Hat
This hat is also cut-content, which means it isn’t considered stealable and can’t be permanently saved in your inventory. Worn by sailors who you can find on the boats and docks around Saint Denis.
With all 11 found hats and 40 stolen hats finally in your wardrobe, Arthur (or John) is hands down the most stylish outlaw in the West. Which unique RDR2 hat was the hardest for you to track down? Feel free to share your favorite ones in the comments below.
