Cazador

Cazadores are mutated insects found in the Mojave Wasteland, the Big MT and Zion Canyon in 2281.

Background
Cazadores are giant tarantula hawk wasps which were created by Dr. Borous in the Z-14 Pepsinae DNA splicing lab of the Big MT.

Biology
Cazadores have distinctive amber-orange wings, a blue-black carapace and blood-red eyes. They have a speedy and rather erratic flight pattern, making them difficult to hit.

Their venomous attack can lead to a quick death if it succeeds in poisoning their target.

The spikes on their back inflate and deflate when idle and attacking.

Cazadores are more common in mountainous regions of the Mojave. They chew wood fiber and mold it into a paper pulp with which they create large basket-shaped nests, many of which can be seen at places such as Bonnie Springs, the road heading towards Jacobstown, and the boathouse at Callville Bay. The cazadores' original breeding ground is the Z-14 Pepsinae DNA splicing lab in Big MT.

Gameplay attributes
While a sting from a young cazador isn't highly damaging, the sting of an adult deals much more damage. They are extremely fast and hard to escape unless their wings have been crippled. They attack in large swarms while also covering a large area.
 * Coping with the poison
 * Endurance, antivenom, super stimpak
 * Datura antivenom, blood shield, Tribal Wisdom
 * Heartless, Cardiac Arrest
 * Snakebite tourniquet, Auto-inject stimpak, Auto-inject super stimpak

Crippling a wing via V.A.T.S. greatly slows them down and also temporarily disables their ability to fly. However, they will continue to sputter towards the player at a surprisingly fast rate.

Cazador
Cazadores are large with distinctive orange wings, a blue-black carapace, blood-red eyes, a spiky upper abdomen, and a fast and rather erratic flight speed. Cazadores are common in mountainous regions in the Mojave Desert, and move around in groups of 2-5.

Young cazador
Young cazadores are often found near other cazadores in mountainous regions (presumably members of the same colony, hive, or swarm). Young cazadores are identical in appearance to regular cazadores but are about 3/4 to 1/2 the size. Though their poison is weaker than that of the adults, they have an above average agility in addition to their small size, making them harder to hit than the more matured cazadores.

They can also prove to be quite a hassle because of their swarming tactic, which involves the entire group swarming their target in an attempt to overwhelm it via numerical strength.

Legendary cazador
The only one of its kind, the legendary cazador has twice as many hit points and significantly more attack power than a normal adult cazador. The legendary cazador is one of the five legendary creatures found in the Mojave Wasteland. It is encountered at the end of the cazador-infested Silver Peak Mine. Sometimes it will show up after the player clears out all the other cazadores, or after reaching the second floor of the cave. It spawns from an overhead tunnel on the second floor, a nasty surprise for players who don't pay attention to what's above them.

Giant cazador (Honest Hearts)
Giant cazadores are encountered all over Zion Canyon as part of the Honest Hearts add-on. They are one of the most vicious creatures in the add-on, and can be found in various locations outside of Eastern Virgin and the Sorrows camp. They are usually in groups of around three, but it is not uncommon to see groups of other sizes. And as their name implies, they are much larger than a normal cazador.

Specimen 73 (Old World Blues)
This unique cazador is found in the Z-14 Pepsinae DNA splicing lab guarding a variety of loot, including the Auto-Doc Upgrade: Implant M-5 behind the double doors at the end of the corridor. Judging by the name it was probably some sort of experiment. It is a stronger and more powerful version of a regular cazador and has even more health than the legendary cazador, but its main advantage is its incredible speed.

Appearances
Cazadores appear in Fallout: New Vegas, are mentioned in the graphic novel All Roads, and also appear in the Fallout: New Vegas add-ons Honest Hearts and Old World Blues.

Behind the scenes
"Cazador" means "hunter" in Spanish.

Bugs

 * It is impossible to target the head of a cazador in V.A.T.S. unless it is striking forward with its stinger, the player is right on top of the enemy or it is moving on a slope towards the player. Without meeting these conditions the head can never be cycled to as an option in V.A.T.S (only the antennae). This also applies to PCs when using an Xbox 360 controller, but not when selecting targets with the mouse.
 * While it is difficult to target a cazador head, it is possible most times by targeting the antennae in V.A.T.S. and moving the joystick between the upper right and the lower left rapidly.
 * It seems to be possible for them to fall through the map and fly about under it. This will drive your companions crazy, since they will be targeting them but unable to hit them. The cazador cannot sting the non-player characters or you either, but they will continue to fly back and forth attempting to attack. If you are on a rise, you will get the name and a health bar when you point a gun at them, but they are invisible and it is clear from the angle of your gun that they are under the map. Attacking with the Ranger Takedown maneuver may fix this bug.
 * Poison does not appear to wear off companions in the 1.2.0.31x patch after combat. Dismissing the companion and re-hiring them at their home location or the Lucky 38 seems to bypass this. It will wear off after 30 seconds, administering stimpaks to companions will cause the whole damage-over-time to be applied at once which could bring them to negative hp.
 * On the PC version, can be fixed by, in the console, selecting a companion and typing.
 * Sometimes (or all the time, if your system is affected), if cazadores are in the area, even if you can't see them, you will hear the poison hissing sound loud and close as if you had been poisoned by them. Essentially, you will hear the sound when a cazador anywhere in your active cell poisons something - the attack might not be on the player character or a companion, since even a distant cazador battle will trigger the sound.
 * If you use the flamer against them, they sometimes freeze in the air while on fire giving you a chance to kill them or run away.
 * Rare occurrences of cazadores being able to poison you when they are in no way close enough to do so, seems to only happen in V.A.T.S.
 * Sometimes, the legendary cazador just wanders around the cave without attacking the player, making it an easy target for the player.
 * In Silver Peak Mine, cazadores may not show up as red blips on your heads-up display even though they can be targeted using V.A.T.S.

Sounds

 * Chasing cazador
 * Conscious cazador
 * Hit cazador
 * Hit cazador
 * Hit cazador
 * Wing turning cazador