"A weapon! Do be careful with that, sir. Violence is best left to the experts." - Walter

Welcome, sir or madam, to the gentleman's guide to violence. My goal here is to arm you with the best knowledge possible to help you become the brutally efficient slayer of machines you were always meant to be. This guide will cover various strategies, tactics, weapons, and other points of interest. When you're finished and done, you will be able to stride across the archipelago, confident in yourself, your knowledge, and your weapons, assured that you can take anything the machines can throw at you.

The first step to becoming a great hunter of hunters is finding your first reliable weapon. Most times this will be the Hatchet, other times the revolver, or if you're lucky you might even find a rifle or shotgun (with ammo to go with it, of course). I say first reliable weapon, because as anyone who knows anything will tell you, a gun is just another heavy stick unless it's loaded, which is why I recommend acquiring a hatchet first. This shouldn't take long, as most towns have at least one hatchet in them, find it, learn it, live it, love it. Your hatchet is your new best friend (second to food, but that's not what this guide is about). However, as wonderful as your new friend is, it is not without it's flaws.

First: the hatchet swings slowly, second: it takes two hits to kill a hunter, and third: you have to get up close. Fortunately, all these problems can be solved with clever movement as well as knowledge of the machines' whereabouts and behaviors. The simplest solutions are often the best, however, running at a patrol of hunters swinging wildly will likely get you killed (unless of course you planned for them to chase you).
Whenever confronting enemies, it is important to remember that they are bound by many of the same rules you are, one of which is the need to reload their weapons. This is a fact that you can take tremendous amounts of advantage of. The best way to force an enemy to reload is to simply have him completely discharge his weapon, and this is where clever movement comes in. One of the hardest targets for a gunman to hit is one that's moving laterally to them. To take out a single hunter, simply sprint to the side and wait for them to fire their weapon until it's empty, at which point they will retreat, and you will close in on them for the kill. If you can't catch up to them or land a hit on them, don't worry, they will eventually stop and crouch to reload, at which point you can hack them to pieces and liberate their weapons.
It is likely this method which will earn you your first firearm. This is your second best friend, because it's always nagging you for ammo before it'll do it's job. As of the current release, the benefit of cover is negligible, so as an expert in the slaying of machines, I advocate a similar method to hunting with a hatchet. Circle strafe around your enemies so they don't hit you, and fire on them until there's just one left, or they begin to flee so they can reload. Then simply take out your hatchet and hunt them down.
By now the tables have begun to turn, and the machines have become the hunted. At this point you have likely encountered patrols, multiple hunters arranged in a line, travelling the islands. It's here where things get interesting. The problem with hunting multiple enemies with a hatchet is immediately noticeable when you are pelted with buckshot after hacking apart the first in line. So what do you do when you're outnumbered, you ask? You get creative, that's what you do. Traps and explosives (if you can find them) are going to be incredibly useful to you, as well as distractions to use as lures. There is no way of knowing exactly what you will encounter, so I'll just give you some general pointers:
1 - Explosives are rare and powerful, try to use them only when you have to.
2 - A point blank load of buckshot is typically enough to take out a normal hunter.
3 - If you are armed only with a revolver, do not let the enemies get close, and aim for the head.
4 - Use bear traps and bottles to pick off the members of the patrols.
5 - Never leave ammunition or useful resources behind if it can be helped (do NOT attempt to loot a body in the middle of a firefight, unless you don't have a firearm.
6 - As of the current build: broken weapons are useless. Leave them behind.
7 - Don't drag your feet, and don't string out any fight. You have to be quick and efficient, or else more enemies will arrive to find you injured and weak.
8 - You WILL get injured. Make sure to keep your vitality up so that you're ready for the next fight.
9 - Discretion is the better part of valor.

"Discretion is the better part of valor." - Shakespeare

You may often find yourself outmatched in one way or another, whether this is because you are just starting out, or if you just fired your last rifle round into the chest of a hound, the art of the GTFO is one that is sadly lost upon many modern people. Running from hunters can be a complicated matter, even more so if they have dogs with them. Dogs are the only enemy that will continually chase you until they die (with a few exceptions), everything else can be outran or tricked. When you're running, typically your goal is to escape pursuers. As such, slowing down or misleading a tail is a very useful skill to have. One of the simplest ways to do this is to just sprint into the forest and leave the hunters behind, this is made much more difficult when, to get to the forest (or any other safe zone), you have to cross several meters of open land with no cover. Drop traps and throw bottles and rocks off to the side as you run to shake pursuers, and as soon as you lose them, crouch down and find good cover, then take inventory of whatever you have left, make sure you're healed up, and slowly make your way out of the scene of your failed attack. If the enemies have dispersed since you dropped them, then you may be able to stealthily eliminate them one by one in the forest or corner you left them at. Remember that there is no reason not to run if things aren't going well. After all, you'll always have another chance to turn them into scrap.

Best of luck sir or madam, and may your vengeance be swift and cruel.