Additionally, when you *do* find a 2-star and get it penned, DON'T LET IT OUT OF YOUR SIGHT (at least until fully tamed). I finally brought one down from the mountain after several fruitless nights, got him in the pen, started taming, and thought I'd be good with just sitting in the waiting shack I'd built some 15-20 meters away.

Nope. When I got back out to check on progress, he'd despawned. Been a couple weeks of haunting that mountain since, no new 2-stars yet.

On the plus side, I now have quite the stockpile of coal after dealing with all the meat, pelts, fangs and trophies I've accumulated on these trips.