Lore Version:
Poppy was a sniper for the NCR before the incident at Bitter Springs. Like Boone and Vargas, what he had done there sickened him and he traded his NCR uniform for civilian wear and wandered off away from the war with only his rifle, some ammo, a handful of caps, and the clothes on his back.

Having no other real skills to fall back on as far as employment and no desire to ever hunt humans again except in self-defense, Poppy took to being a professional game hunter.

Wildlife, he found, was much like mankind in the fact that they both loved 'pack' behavior and ambushes, and so his first few months as a hunter were spent learning the traits and mannerisms of his new prey, as well as how to use what was taken from the bodies as he was all too used to canned foods and MREs.

After a time, he could afford to hire help, his selections limited to civilians as he did not wish to either discuss or relive his military past by hiring ex-military.

This choice, however, came with consequences.

One night, after sharing drinks with a lovely young lady in Goodsprings, he discovered that she, too, was a hunter, although she was more rustic and preferred to use a varmint rifle instead of a quality weapon. She was pleasant to talk to - a bit too pleasant though (chipper people annoyed him, especially if their names implied an innate happiness) and she insisted on having her dog with her at all times, which ruled her out as his new spotter.

Damned dogs reminded him too much of Legion mongrels.

Sunny, being her usual talkative self, let it slip that geckos were attracted to the water sources near Goodsprings, making the chatty young girl somewhat useful in his book, but Poppy just smiled and nodded as he pretended not to show interest.

As he left the Prospector Saloon and prepared to go stake out a good sniper's post above the source, his spotter needs were answered when he nearly collided with two young men in search of work. One gave his name as Barton Thorn while the other merely smiled and shrugged, the faint scars on his neck and face showing him to be one of the rare survivors of a run-in with the Legion.

Both were eager to help Poppy in his task, Barton offering to stay below in order to flush the geckos out of hiding and the mute man, in his own way, offering to take a post above Poppy to watch out for ambushes, clapping his hands if anyone or anything was spotted.

When the geckos overtook the mute, neither Poppy nor Barton heard a single noise. Barton did, however, hear Poppy's screams of agony as the pack descended upon him, his trusty rifle still nestled within the battered old Vault-Tek briefcase that he carried.

Barton was young, yes, but he was no fool. As he glanced up at the ridge and watched blood drip down from the rocks, he knew that the secrets of Poppy's briefcase would remain secret.

...unless he could sucker someone into killing the geckos for him.

'Make A Long Story Short (aka tl;dr) Version:
Basically, another 'add starting items to Goodsprings' mod with an immersive twist instead of just plunking a crate down somewhere easy to find or having Doc own these items for some strange reason.

All items are vanilla and have not been renamed or re-statted. This mod adds a briefcase containing a sniper rifle, the mods for it, some bullets for it to fling, and some other basic gear (hides, food, meds, etc.,) to a ridge above the Goodsprings Source.

Barton is a vanilla NPC who normally sends the player up there to 'rescue his girlfriend' anyway, so no changes were made to that lie. The 'unnamed mute' is a body that was already up there as was the skeletal remains (poor Poppy) on the ledge below him.

The only other change that this mod makes is the movement of some armor which was already beside the skeleton but, in my game at least, tended to settle between rocks making it almost impossible to get at times. All I did was put the neatly-folded bundle on top of the briefcase like Poppy had just started to set up camp.

Installation:
The zip was created with NMM in mind, so the easiest way to install it would be to use NMM or a mod manager of your choice.

If you opt for a manual install, then all you have to do is drop GeckoHunter.esp into your Fallout: New Vegas data directory (if you don't know where/what that is, I would REALLY recommend using a mod manager...lol) and activate it in your load order.

To uninstall, simply do all of the above in reverse.

Conflicts/Bugs:
None that I am aware of, as it doesn't change a thing and is located in an area that doesn't conflict with anything in the vanilla game, including the Wild Wasteland perk.

This mod only uses the core FalloutNV.esm as a master and requires no other mods or DLCs to function

Permission:
It's a simple container addition, so using it in other mods or in mod bundles is okay.

The only thing that I ask is that you get permission from me if you want to expand on the 'Poppy' story by adding to the deceased sniper's lore via quests, NPCs, etc., Not a big fan of plagiarism.

Credits:
Bethesda - for making an awesome game that I love to play.
Nexus - for hosting the files and for the great community tools.
The Nexus Modder Community - You guys are ALL awesome. Keep modding!
The Downloaders - For trying out my mod and endorsing if they like it. (Please remember to endorse. My modding muse loves to suckle upon simple click-driven encouragement)

My Fallout: New Vegas Mods:
Poppy's Stash
A Neutered Beagle

My Skyrim Mods:
Clear My Name
Mulligan - College of Winterhold
Whisper - Kill Them With Kindness