An Ear to the Ground

An Ear to the Ground is an unmarked quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Quick walkthrough

 * 1) Travel to Camp Forlorn Hope and enter the barracks.
 * 2) Speak to Private Sexton and agree to help boost the camp's morale.
 * 3) Obtain Legion ears from deceased Caesar's Legion soldiers and return them to Private Sexton.

Detailed walkthrough
Simply kill any Legion soldiers and bring back the ears to turn in.

The objective is to kill as many Legion soldiers as possible. The best way to do this is to activate the quest, and then do Restoring Hope. You need to turn in at least 30 ears for Private Sexton to give you a reward of 100 caps and 6 beers. After the award has been given, you can no longer collect "Legion ears."

Rewards

 * NCR fame.
 * There is bonus applied to the third part of Restoring Hope. Every 10 ears turned in adds a morale bonus of 1 for a maximum of three. This bonus is applied to the Nelson attacking forces.
 * After you have turned in enough ears, you will also receive a number of beers and 100 caps.

Note

 * Due to Sexton not needing to be killed in We Are Legion, it is possible to give him ears for reputation, even if the rest of the camp is dead.
 * The number of ears collected will be represented as tally marks in the mess hall. There is also a bull with the initials of Caesars Legion above it. These marks stop at 30 ears, no matter how many you've turned in.
 * With few exceptions, such as the dead Recruit Legionary in the booby-trapped Nipton Home, ears won't start appearing on legion corpses until speaking with Private Sexton.
 * Various legionaries—including those at the Fort, the Legate's camp, members of legionary assassin squads, and those that attack Bitter Springs during Boone's quest—do not drop ears upon death. For this reason alone, it is probably best to speak to Pvt. Sexton prior to completing Restoring Hope, in order to maximize your "ear harvesting" opportunities.