Making bows from either saplings

[Subaru7]

I found numerous saplings but have yet to find any saplings I can use to make a bow, would be nice if we could use either type of sapling for a bow. Would help also to have these bit more common as well since were in a forest. Upto day 12 in latest game without finding a gun(which i agree should be rare, though i have plenty of ammo) or able to make a bow to go with my arrows.

[vimrich]

I think they want the maples to be hard to find. Almost as hard to find as bunkers.

At least things like cattails and mushrooms spawn where you'd think - lakes and stumps. Maples are just hidden, a couple behind a tree up on a hill or down behind that cleft in the river bend and so on.

Just a way to keep you from having a weapon so easily I think.

[coryduran]

Yeah I don't think they want you to have a bow and arrow set by day 12... I was happy to have mine by day 23 in my current play through. I've only found 1 set of maple on both ML and PV in all my play throughs since the update, I have found maple in two different spots in Coastal Highway on my current playthrough, so it is possible to have two maple spawns on that map at least, but maple is certainly rare.

In regards to using either sapling, it may be that maple is more flexible and thus viable for a bow, and that the birch wouldn't work well enough to create an effective bow, but I'm no expert on any of this.

[Hotzn]

I think it's good the way it is, with Maple being rare. I spent days looking for it. Finally, when I found it, it felt really rewarding.

[Boston123]

In reality, you can literally make a bow easily capable of killing ANY large-game animal on the North American continent using ANY type of wood. You just have to change the dimensions of the limbs, and, if they are not "strong enough", make them stronger by either (literally) lashing two bows together, "back to back", or by "cable-backing" your bow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable-backed_bow

Requiring Maple saplings specifically for use as a bowstave is little more than artificial difficulty.

Case in point: A couple of days ago, I made a self-bow (AKA carved from a single piece of wood, essentially the same as the in-game "survival bow") from a Grey Birch sapling. It has over 60 lbs of draw at 18 inches, and looses arrows fast, hard, and flat. I would be perfectly comfortable using said bow to hunt any game animal in North America, no issues.

NOTE: you don't really need a "super-powerful" bow with a "wide" broadhead to kill large game. In this video below, the "author" punches completely through a deer using "bird points" (stone arrowheads smaller than the tip of your finger), reed arrowshafts (AKA lightweight, with less penetrative ability), and a 40lbs bow. The "bird points" allow the arrows to easily punch through muscle, fat and bone to cut into the vitals, whereas a broadhead with wider cutting edges would "get stuck" on things.

https://youtu.be/LsqrlaIef2o

Bows with higher poundage let you hunt the animal from farther away. Shot placement is the key.

[Ikaris]

Regarding wood for a bow, don't try cottonwood. Technically a hardwood but you can poke holes in it with any softwood.

As to stone arrowheads, flintknapping is actually very difficult, especially when trying to make small symmetrical items like arrowheads. If you want to make a large spearhead and go all caveman on the wolves and deer, you could probably shape a nice sharp rock.

Of course you could take the easy route of "scrap metal", cheap spoons can easily be flattened, shaped by cutting or grinding, and have a built in tang that is easy to insert and lash to the arrowhead.