How do I correctly use the Survival Bow?

[HazardousHowitzer]

Well, first off I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Corey, I've been following this game since it first came out on Steam, though I didn't have it I loved to watch my favorite YouTuber, Accurize2, play it. It wasn't until a few months ago that I got it on Xbox and I have to say, it really made me happy when I saw I would be able to play it. I'm new to the forums, I just decided to join a day or two ago. I really love this game, I love the developers and I hope the community is just as good, I'm sure you guys will be

I've seem to have run into an issue... I have no rifle and only a bow, but I don't know how to use the bow. This has happened before. I'll tell you what usually happens when I try and use the bow: I have a few arrows, I'm sneaking up to a deer, I go to stand up so I can pull back the arrow and it gets spooked and runs before I can even finish pulling the arrow back. I've tried sneaking up from the side, the back and right up in front of it but I can't get the arrow out before it escapes. On my last life I went to shoot it and missed three times and had to chase it in -15 degree weather. When I finally hit it, it was a side shot and it kept running, only bleeding. I lost it when the tracks for no reason stopped appearing (I was right behind it as I had been sprinting though the tracks still stopped showing) and the blood had spread out between each dot. I ended up losing it and I was now freezing. Before I could get back home, the wind (what made it so cold) slowed me down enough for two wolves to nibble on my hand and I ended up dying. So help me, how do I use the bow?

What affects the travel of the arrow? I know if the condition of a rifle is low, the bullet is less accurate. Does the condition of the bow affect the travel of the arrow? Or does the condition of the arrow itself affect it's travel? Or both?

How do I sneak up to a dear? I can get up close to it but because I can't pull it back when crouching, it gets spooked when I have to stand up. What can I do to avoid this? I can try long range shots of course, but those are even harder.

Does wind affect (is it effect? I'm sorry if I'm using it wrong) the arrows flight?

What's the best way to practice? I know most of you would say just try it but out of at least 50 shots I've gotten two hits and only one kill, on a wolf standing still eating a bunny. There must be a better way right?

This was probably a lot, I apologize if it was. Thank you for any help you can give. 

[cekivi]

Welcome to the forums @HazardousHowitzer!

This sounds like a job for @mystifeid

I sadly am terrible at bow hunting. I stick to ice fishing and trapping mainly for food.

[HazardousHowitzer]

@cekivi That's usually what I do secondary. Rabbits just don't seem like enough though. I'll probably go fishing now though, thanks for reminding me. Luckily I found a couple MRE's to hold me off until I can get a good system going on. And until I can get the bow working for me I'll stick with the rifle once I find one. I just realized something though... After searching every place I know you can find a rifle at, at Pleasant Valley and Mystery Lake, I still haven't found one. I'll have to keep trying the bow, maybe I could lure a wolf and sit on a rock where he can't get me. Then I'll be able to get a shot lol

[cekivi]

10 minutes ago, HazardousHowitzer said:

I'll have to keep trying the bow, maybe I could lure a wolf and sit on a rock where he can't get me. Then I'll be able to get a shot lol

There's actually some good spots on the coastal highway for doing this to both wolves and bears. Also, remember that if you stand beside a car you can take a shot and duck inside for safety afterwards when the animal charges you

As an aside, the likelihood of finding a rifle is proportionate to the difficulty level you're playing on. For instance, there are no rifles at all in Interloper whereas they're relatively common on Pilgrim.

[HazardousHowitzer]

I'll keep that in mind, thanks for the tips .

If anyone could give me any tips on bow hunting that would be really great, thank you!

[cekivi]

Hopefully @mystifeid will reply. They hunt rabbits with the bow and stalk wolves for the challenge

[mystifeid]

Hi @HazardousHowitzer, deer are the easiest animal to hit with the bow. For the greatest chance of an instant kill, approach crouched head on.

Do not approach as closely as your stealth skill allows because at very close range the deer will spook very quickly when you stand up to shoot.

Since the aiming dot disappears as soon as you draw the bow, you need to anticipate where it will end up after you stand up and draw. (Generally, at my usual firing range, I aim at the height of the knees of the deer when I am crouched.) Then stand up, quickly draw the bow and release. Unless you are at least medium range, it is often pointless trying to correct your aim after you have drawn the bow. So just fire, see what happens and learn from your mistakes. Write them down if you have to. (I have about ten things on a note that I must remember to do before and while tackling wolves.)

The smoothness with which you can stand, draw and release is everything.

At level one the bow has considerable sway so the longer you wait with the bow drawn, the lower your chance of success. As you improve your skill level, the sway is progressively removed.

Wind does not seem to affect the flight of the arrow and at least at close range it probably shouldn't either.

Gravity does have an effect and at longer ranges you will need to elevate your aim and you should also note the position of the aiming dot against the background in case you have a chance at a second shot and need to adjust your aim.

Before hunting and while you are still in a place of warmth, check the integrity of your arrows and harvest any that are below 20-25%. You will receive the arrowhead and three feathers in your inventory. Low integrity arrows can still kill but they will break and when you harvest them you will find that you have lost one feather.

I have never noticed the condition of the bow having any effect on anything.

With practice you should be able to drop 80% to 90% of deer instantly. If you do not instantly kill the deer and you see blood on the snow, go somewhere warm and pass time for an hour and then return to the area in which you wounded the deer. Quite often it will have returned to die close by.

Do not try to generate archery skills in Interloper. It will be heartbreaking. Use one of the other modes instead.

[HazardousHowitzer]

Thank you

The aim at the knees thing helps a lot and so did the distance thing. Everything helped actually. Thank you very much @mystifeid. You and @cekivi, are really helpful. Message me if either of you need help, I'd love to give something back if I know how to help with it.

[mystifeid]

Glad to help.

[cekivi]

That's what the forums are for

[diffeq]

Draw the bow before the encounter to see which direction the bow sways. The sway will be identical for the next several real time minutes. For the actual shot u can compensate for the sway u know it will have.

[HazardousHowitzer]

@diffeq Thanks, that helps too. With these tips you guys gave me, I actually got some hits and a few kills. A couple of the hits were lucky though.

[elloco999]

I think @mystifeid gave some excellent advise here but there is one thing I don't agree with and that's this:

On 24-11-2016 at 6:12 AM, mystifeid said:

Before hunting and while you are still in a place of warmth, check the integrity of your arrows and harvest any that are below 20-25%. You will receive the arrowhead and three feathers in your inventory. Low integrity arrows can still kill but they will break and when you harvest them you will find that you have lost one feather.

Considering how easy it is to get new feathers, I would gladly give up 1 feather to gain an additional shot. I have to note here that I haven't played in a few months and never on Interloper yet so I don't know if the spawning of feathers is greatly reduced, but on I never used to have a problem finding enough feathers.

[mystifeid]

1 hour ago, elloco999 said:

Considering how easy it is to get new feathers, I would gladly give up 1 feather to gain an additional shot. I have to note here that I haven't played in a few months and never on Interloper yet so I don't know if the spawning of feathers is greatly reduced, but on I never used to have a problem finding enough feathers.

Yeah you don't have have to move around that much to never have a problem with feathers but once I  tried to stay in TWM for as long as possible (Interloper) and it was really painful. Also PV tends to be pretty cold and moving around might not be that easy. In Coastal Highway though, it's warm and there are shedloads of them particularly if you don't harvest all the deer carcasses in the beginning.

However, I'm not sure if a 5% arrow is going to kill a charging wolf and since at the end of every long game I've still had an abundance of birch saplings it's always seemed prudent to harvest well used arrows and at least until you reach level 5 you tend to be crafting a lot of arrows anyway because of the archery skill point received for each one.

[HazardousHowitzer]

10 hours ago, elloco999 said:

@elloco999 Instead of letting the arrow break and using a feather up, it would be better to save all the arrows since you can just craft more. That way if you don't have a supply of arrows, you aren't loosing what you already have.

Edit: Don't know why it did the quote thing, you haven't said this^. Sorry lol

[AZHockeyNut]

get  bow and stay at trappers lodge usually every few days there are 3-4 deer to shoot at. come out of the cabin and perch right next to it overlooking below. fire away. shoot at their sides so you have a bigger target to hit. aim above them if they are far away since the arrow path is an arc.

try not to shoot near ice, or rock, arrows bounce off them and can be hard to find as well as they break

in coastal highway the lone house near the coastal village is a good one to try if you see the deer hanging there or you can try hitting rabbit at the rabbit island.

also in ch there is the small lodge near the fishing huts and just outside its door is a small valley you can hit deer from, be careful to listen for that bear.

 

in pv you can try from the barn areas those are not bad to shoot at the herds but usually a lot of deer. however you can generally find a few arrows on a target near a barn.

in twm kinda hard to find a good hunting spot without troublemakers

in dp, you can go near the quiet spot for rabbits and deer or up near the church.

[HazardousHowitzer]

@AZHockeyNut Thanks, I'm staying at the Trappers Homestead right now, though there are no more dear left 

I've already broke a couple arrows off of rocks. I'm getting much better with the bow, surprisingly better. I've gotten five wolves I think and four dear. I can't get rabbits, those seem to get spooked easier, if not, they're too small for me to hit. @mystifeid gave me some really great tips for hunting deer. Where to aim, where to shoot from, etc... same with wolves. Thanks for the tips everyone. I'm good now though, and don't need anymore. 

 

[cekivi]

Locked as this makes a good how-to for bow hunting