You're driving around Los Santos, minding your own business, when suddenly your phone pings. It’s an email from "vanderlinde@eyefind.com." If you’re a Red Dead Redemption fan, that name probably makes your heart skip a beat. If not, well, you’re just looking for a payday. This is the start of the Treasure Hunt, a scavenger hunt Rockstar added to bridge the gap between their two massive franchises. But let’s be real for a second. Los Santos is huge. Finding a single piece of paper pinned to a tree or a rock is basically like looking for a needle in a haystack—if the haystack was also trying to shoot you with an Oppressor Mk II.
So, where is the treasure in GTA 5 Online exactly?
Honestly, it’s not just one spot. The game generates one of twenty possible locations for that initial clue. You’ve gotta listen for the sound of wind chimes. It’s a distinct, eerie tinkling sound that gets louder as you get closer to the note. If you're blasting Radio Los Santos, you’re gonna miss it. Turn the music down. Trust me.
The First Step: Identifying Your Starting Location
The first clue is always a black-and-white photo sent to your phone. It’s grainy. It’s annoying. It usually shows a tiny bit of scenery that looks like every other hill in Blaine County. Once you get near the search area—marked by a big yellow circle on your map—you have to hunt for a physical note.
Maybe you're at the Del Perro Pier. The note is usually pinned to one of the wooden pillars underneath the pier itself. It’s dark down there, and the tide can make it tricky to see. Or perhaps your map sent you to Mount Josiah. Good luck with that one. You'll likely find the note on a rock near the peak, but hiking up there is a genuine pain unless you have a Buzzard or a Sparrow.
There are twenty of these potential spots. Places like the Graveyard in Pacific Bluffs, where the note is on a tombstone, or the Tongva Hills, where it’s tucked near a cave. Rockstar didn't make this easy. They wanted people to actually explore the outskirts of the map, the places most players usually fly over at Mach 1.
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Hunting the Three Additional Clues
After you find that first note, the game stops being vague. It gives you three specific locations to visit. You don't have to guess these; they appear as smaller yellow circles on your map. This is where you find the "remains" of the story.
First, there’s a corpse. It’s usually tucked away in a cave or under some brush. Then there’s a shovel, often found in a wrecked building or a beach shack. Finally, there’s the empty gun case. These aren't just random props. They tell the story of a heist gone wrong, a little bit of environmental storytelling that Rockstar excels at. You’ve gotta physically walk up to these objects and interact with them.
The shovel at the Sandy Shores location is particularly easy to miss if you aren't looking at the ground. It’s leaning against a wall in a derelict house. Look for the prompt to "Investigate" in the top-left corner of your screen. If you don't see that, you haven't found the exact "sweet spot" for the item.
Claiming the Double-Action Revolver
Once those three clues are in your pocket, the final treasure location is revealed. This is the big moment. You’ll be directed to a final spot—usually out in the wilderness—where a chest sits waiting for you. Inside? The Double-Action Revolver.
It’s a beautiful gun. Gold-plated, ivory grips, the works.
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But the gun itself isn't the real treasure. It’s the challenge attached to it. If you manage to get 50 headshots with this revolver (and yes, NPCs count, so go find a crowded sidewalk or start a survival mission), you get a massive payout. We’re talking $250,000. For a new player, that’s life-changing money. It’s a high-end apartment. It’s a fleet of mid-tier cars. It’s the ability to actually start your criminal empire without grinding Contact Missions for sixteen hours straight.
The Misconception About "One" Treasure
A lot of people ask "where is the treasure in GTA 5 Online" and think there’s only one hunt. That’s wrong. Rockstar has layered several of these over the years.
There’s the Navy Revolver hunt, which involves a serial killer known as the Los Santos Slasher. You have to find five clues—bloody handprints, a severed hand, a machete—to lure him out. Then there’s the Stone Hatchet hunt, triggered by Maude (everyone’s favorite bounty hunter coordinator). You complete five bounties, and she gives you the location of a chest. The Stone Hatchet is actually brokenly powerful because it triggers a "Rampage" mode similar to Trevor’s special ability in single-player. You become nearly invincible for a short burst.
Survival Tips for the Treasure Hunter
Doing this in a public lobby is a death wish. Seriously. Some guy in a jet will see you standing still in the middle of the desert looking at a piece of paper and decide his afternoon mission is to ruin your day.
- Go into an Invite Only Session. You can do the entire treasure hunt there. No griefers. No distractions.
- Use a Helicopter. An Oppressor is fine, but a helicopter gives you a better downward view. If you don't own one, steal one from the Sandy Shores airfield or the hospital in Los Santos.
- Listen for the Chimes. I cannot stress this enough. The visual of the note is tiny. The sound is your best friend.
- Use First-Person Mode. When you’re in those yellow circles, the third-person camera can be clunky. Switching to first-person lets you see exactly where your character is looking, making it way easier to spot a knife stuck in a barn door or a note on a tree.
The game tries to help you. When you enter a search area, the controller will vibrate. The closer you get to the clue, the stronger the vibration. If your controller isn't vibrating, you’re looking in the wrong part of the circle. The circles are big, but the clue is usually right in the center of the most "interesting" feature in that area—like a lone shack or a specific rock formation.
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Why This Still Matters in 2026
You might think an old treasure hunt from years ago isn't worth the time. You’d be wrong. GTA Online’s economy is notoriously inflated. Prices for cars and businesses keep going up. Those $250,000 rewards for the Revolver and the Stone Hatchet are "clean" money. They don't require an upfront investment like a Nightclub or a Kosatka.
If you’re starting a new character or just coming back after a long break, these hunts are the most efficient way to get your bank account into the six-figure range. Plus, the rewards carry over. If you unlock the Double-Action Revolver in GTA Online, it becomes available in Red Dead Redemption 2 if your accounts are linked via the Social Club. It’s a rare bit of cross-game synergy that actually rewards the player.
The "treasure" isn't just the gold gun. It’s the bridge between two of the biggest games ever made. It’s a tour of the parts of San Andreas that aren't covered in neon and asphalt.
Actionable Next Steps
To finish this hunt tonight, start by checking your in-game email for the Vanderlinde message. Open the map and look for the yellow circle. If you don't see it, you might need to stay in the session for at least 10 minutes for the script to trigger. Once you have the gun, head to the pier or any crowded area and start racking up those headshots on NPCs to trigger the $250,000 bonus immediately. If you've already done the Revolver hunt, look for Maude’s emails to start the Stone Hatchet questline; it’s a similar payout and much more fun to use in close-quarters combat. Regardless of which one you pick, remember to use a private session to avoid the chaos of Los Santos while you’re staring at your phone.