Start the Bug Catching task
- Open the Old Woods route
The current full-release walkthrough lists two prerequisites: finish A Fast Food Fiend and open the Old Woods through the Mall Administrator. This prerequisite chain is a third-party walkthrough finding, not an official developer note [2].
- Wait for Hans’s letter and read it
After the prerequisites, the same walkthrough says to wait for Hans’s next letter, open your home journal after it arrives, then return to him at the Farmhouse [2].
- Accept the task from Hans
Hans gives you the Bug Catching Net at acceptance. This is the point most likely to resolve a “where is the net?” search: it is tied to the task handover, not a general random pickup [1][2].
Catch the Pale Empress Moth
Equip or use the Bug Catching Net on the insect encounters you see in the Old Woods. The moth is reported as rare, so a few other catches do not prove that the task is broken. One current task reference records a Campsite catch, but it does not establish the Campsite as the only spawn point [3].
- Target: Pale Empress Moth.
- Area: Old Woods.
- Useful reported landmark: Campsite, without an exclusivity guarantee.
- Turn-in: bring one Pale Empress Moth back to Farmer Hans.
- Recorded reward: Gloom Hops seeds unlock [2][3].
Why some item pages point to the Catacombs
A competing item database lists Catacombs, Old Woods, and Farm pickup rows for the Bug Catching Net and calls Catacombs the best source [4]. That conflicts with the quest-specific sources. The task route is more coherent because three references connect Hans, the net, the Old Woods target, and the same reward. This guide therefore uses Hans at task acceptance for this task and does not send players to farm a dungeon pickup.
Confirm that the letter was opened in the home journal and that the task was accepted, then check the inventory and Primary Storage. The v1.0.1 patch notes describe a general lost-tool recovery failsafe, but they do not name the Bug Catching Net or guarantee a recovery location for it. Do not discard items or edit the save based on the conflicting Catacombs row.
Evidence at a glance
On small screens, scroll the table sideways to read every column.
| Question | Best supported answer | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Who starts the task? | Farmer Hans at the Farmhouse | Current third-party task references |
| When do you get the net? | When accepting Bug Catching | Community list + walkthrough; no developer post found |
| Where is the moth? | Old Woods insect catches | Rare; Campsite is a report, not a guaranteed fixed spawn |
| What is the reward? | Gloom Hops seeds unlock | Two current task guides agree |