What is the ideal location to go animal hunting for hides?

Alrighty, might as well give a full answer.

First, the game is just filled with wild life all over (I know this because I am an assassin and wild life is some of the hardest targets to sneak up on, but its fun to try anyways).

I have never seen more than 2-3 deer/elk next to each other so nothing like a large herd. But I can say I have seen more wild life in the green areas of the game. The plains outside of whiterun and then from there to the west have always been filled with elk/deer, packs of wolves, small dens of bears and those sneaky saber cats that I only ever seem to find when they are biting me.

I have not seen as much wild life in the snowy areas. This may be because they shift to 'snow' or 'ice' versions for things like foxes and wolves while the deer/elk do not have an equalivelent snowy version of themselves. To that end E and NE of Whiterun seem a bit more baren when it comes to this. Also, to the NW over the mountains to where the swamps are, there is not as much wild life (I run into spiders, bugs and crabs up there more than anything else).

Remember that once you clear out any area you will have to wait for it to respawn (which happens faster if you are not in that area).

Hope this helps.

I prefer hunting bears, which can often be found in caves, like Honeystrand and PinePeak.