So, ya want ta deal death at a distance, eh? Some basics...

First off, there are a few kinds of bows available for you to use:  Short Bows, Longbows, and Composite Bows.  Now, to decide which one to use is purely a personal one (I still think it's kinda strange to think of a halfling or dwarf using a longbow turned sideways...), but here are some details to help you decide (note that I've included some of the other missile weapons for reference and comparison -- the rest of this dicussion is going to be mainly on bows of the fletchable type -- short and long... promise!):
 

Table 1-1: Basic missile weapons

	base RT  for load[1]	base balance[2]	base power	ammo[3]	comments[4]
Short Bow	3/2	reasonable	fair	arrow	stowable  wearable (shoulder)  fletchable (10)
Longbow	4/3	fair	fair	arrow	rarely stowable  wearable (shoulder)  fletchable (20)
Composite Bow	5/4	fair	reasonable	arrow	stowable  wearable (shoulder)
Light Crossbow	10/9	well	well	bolt	can be stored loaded  stowable  wearable (shoulder)
Heavy Crossbow	12/11	fair	fair	bolt	can be stored loaded  stowable
Sling	4/3	fair	fair	rock	wearable (belt)
Staff Sling	5/4	poor	fair	rock	stowable

1. RT is subject to change depending on the weapon you're using (e.g. Forester's Bow/Crossbow and Nisha Short Bow are one second faster)

Time is given as seconds for loading from quiver/hand
2. Balance and power can be different for some weapons and high quality hand-made ones.  Scale for balance/power goes:  dismal, poor, fair, reasonable, well, excellent.
3. Arrows can be fletched, some rocks can be foraged.
4. Stowable = can fit in some containers

Wearable (location) = can be carried on your person
Fletchable (min. ranks) = currently capable of being hand-made
Note that crossbows can be stowed/worn loaded for "convenience"

Now, where ta get yer paws on a bow?

Well, now that you've decided to get a bow as your new toy (you did pick a BOW, right?  None of that sling or crossbow silliness...)  Where do you get one?

You basically have two choices... for the fletchable bows at least.  Either go out and spend some of your hard-earned coppers on a nice, new, store-bought bow, or find an amiable archer to make you a lovingly hand-carved bow from scratch.

From what I understand, there are few, if any, store-bought bows in the realms that can exceed the quality of a hand-made bow.  Sure, there are many of those fluffy bows out there that cost you a pretty copper (or plats!)... and, yes, they may appraise with better properties and lower round times, but consensus is that NOTHING can beat a hand-carved bow (or arrow for that matter) -- especially one made by a ranger.  (Forester's bow?  Bah... a big shortbow... Fluffy long-composite, short-pull, super-bow inlaid with oodles of gems and a very long description of each and every scratch, dent, and mark on its handle?  Bah... are you going to bore the critters to death by showing them the description of your bow?  Save your coppers for fletching supplies instead!!!)

Once you have a bow to use (be it short, long, or composite), get yourself some arrows (more on this in the arrow section) and a nice quiver to put it all in.  Not enough coppers for a quiver?  Well, you can use your backpack I guess, but doesn't that seem a tad strange?  I never figured out how you can pull arrows from a backpack so fast... then again... since when did scimitars and longswords fit inside quivers?  Now, you're ready to hunt!

How do I use this durn thing?

Okies... now that you are out in the wilds with a monstrous critter snapping its fangs at you, what are you going to do?  If you're a barbie, your first impression might be to just swing the bow at the critter... heh... good luck!  A warmie might just fry the critter with some huge mess of heat and flames... no fair!  A tee... er... cook might just hide and take a shot at the critter's back.... how cheap!  But no, you're an archer armed with a bow... and you're here to learn now to use it, right?  (From here on out... I'll assume you're using a longbow... substitute "bow" if you're using either the short or composite variety.)

When you're not using your bow, you can simply sling it over your shoulder [wear my longbow].  In the case of short bows and composite bows (rarely with longbows), you can stow them if you have a container big enough.

If your bow isn't in-hand already, get it!  Make sure it's in your right hand.  [remove/get my longbow]

Now, to load your bow, you have two choices... load from your quiver or load directly from your hand:

1. To load from your quiver, simply do it!  [load my longbow] or even just [load]

 

 

This is the slower of the two methods and you'll load your bow with the first type of arrow in your quiver -- no choices.  However, for one second more RT, you save a bunch of OOC typing at the cost that you'll litter the room with spent arrows.  I strongly suggest you use the second technique...
 

2. To load from your hand, you first need to get an arrow...  [get my <arrow-type> arrows]

 

 

Once you have the arrows in hand, you can load from there... [load my arrow]

Then, just stuff the excess arrows back into your quiver.  [put my arrows in my quiver]

Not only does this save you one whole second of waiting, but you can choose which type of arrow to grab and load, assuming you have different types. Once you start shooting, you will find arrows that miss your target and/or bounce off.... just pick up those arrows and use 'em again! Faster, and less clutter in the room when you're done. [get arrow, load my arrow, etc. etc.]

One last caveat when using this technique: make sure that you close any pouches or sacks you have on you that contain arrowheads. Many times in the heat of battle, I did a simple [get arrow] and ended up with a durn arrowhead in hand... not particularly useful in battle.

Now, once your bow is loaded and your other hand empty, you can aim at your target. [aim at <critter>] Wait for a bit and you'll know when you have the best aim possible... when that happens, fire! If all goes well, you'll hit the critter and not have to worry about it anymore. In most cases, you'll just pick up your arrow (unless it lodged in the critter), and start from the top again.

Essentially, that's the gist of how to load, aim, and fire your bow.  Once you get the hang of that sequence and variations thereof, there are several techniques and strategy you can apply to using your bow in a more effective (i.e. deadly) and safe (i.e. less deadly to you!) manner.  Among those are aim time, range, balance, bow quality, and arrow selection.