Well, I'm not saying that the player should have zero guidance. For example, the player could speak to hunters who are familiar with the islands to gain information and advice. The player could also be taught by other characters and/or information in your handbook that certain animals stick to certain terrain/environments (which narrow's down the search), Of course, with this kind of system you'd want to reduce the total amount of items the player has to make in order to "max out", since each item will require more effort.
When it comes to vehicles I think they went a bit overboard. There's generally always an outpost or village nearby wherever you might be imho. Worst case scenario it's a 3 minute hike to the nearest vehicle.