You'll want to grab both maple and birch saplings from the forest areas first - maple's what you need for the bow itself while birch makes your arrow shafts. Something interesting to keep in mind, you can harvest these with either a knife or hatchet, whichever you've got handy.

Once you've got your saplings, just let them cure for about 5 days either in your pack or dropped on the ground, doesn't really matter where. While you're waiting, might want to collect some crow feathers from dead birds you find and gather some scrap metal for those arrowheads youll need later.

When everything's cured, find yourself a workbench and craft the bow using that maple sapling - this is where a lot of people mess up thinking they can use birch. For arrows, you'll need to get yourself to a forge, usually found in places like desolation point or broken railroad, to turn that scrap metal into proper arrowheads. Once you've got those made, head back to any work bench and put together your arrows using the birch shafts, arrowheads, and feathers - you'll get 3 arrows each time you craft.

Tip about actually using the bow - aiming for the head or heart of your target is crucial especially with deer and you might want to crouch while shooting once your archery skill hits level 5. Makes a big difference in how steady your aim is and youll definitely want to collect any arrows that miss since they usually survive the impact