Are bows meant to be a tad crap?

I can't kill crap with them. Sure I don't get hit at all against most monsters but the extra time it takes is probably less than if I just waded in, got hit by the usual anti-melee attacks and whacked him. Now I know bowguns are a fair bit more potent so theres no problems with them, but with bows I'm not getting it.

NOTE: Do not say 'oh they are good on -insert 1 to 3 monsters here-' or 'but look how good this absolute expert at MH is with a bow' because both points will just sort of confirm it that bows really are a bit weak.

Yes bows are indeed hard to use in mhfu.
To use their full potential you should do as followed:
-Find out where the monster is weakest to shot damage
•based on that you will rather need a Rapid Bow or Pierce bow (Rapid not that great IMO >_>)
-Use Power Coatings
• Nitroshrooms + Empty Bottle = Power Coating
-Be aware of Range Multiplier
• 3-5 Hops away from monster should give you a 1-1,5 Damage multiplier
-Charge Multiplier
•Charge Lv1 :0.4 Charge Lv2: 1.0 Charge Lv3:1.5 Charge Lv4: 1.7

Bows are to bowguns as hunting horn is to hammer. A vastly weaker version of bowguns. The only thing bow does better than bowguns is giving you a 0% chance of getting hit against rajang with evade+2 which bowgun cant do. Other than that there's not much you can do with it that cant be done better with a bowgun =X

Bows can be difficult if you dont know how to use them. They can be quite helpful against some monsters. I've killed basarios and other wyverns with bows. But against high rank monsters or g-ranks forget about bows. Also bow is very helpfull against lao shan lung and shen gaoren.

WhiteWolf1679 wrote:

Also bow is very helpfull against lao shan lung and shen gaoren.

i dont see how they would be helpful agains these monsters at all... and check the date this threads from spetember

WhiteWolf1679 wrote:

Bows can be difficult if you dont know how to use them. They can be quite helpful against some monsters. I've killed basarios and other wyverns with bows. But against high rank monsters or g-ranks forget about bows. Also bow is very helpfull against lao shan lung and shen gaoren.

That was a painfully bad evaluation of bows. I've never used anything but bows, and I have now done everything possible in the game.

Bows are weak in the same way dual blades are weak; they have low burst power, but specialse in getting in alot of hits. The trick to doing real damage with bows is to hit a monster at every possible point. Its surprisingly easy to hit them when a blademaster cannot (mid charge, in the air, etc), and if you get a few decent armor skills, their power skyrockets.

Just an example, me and my friend were hunting a G Rank Black Gravios yesterday, and he had to go afk about 3 minutes in to the quest, so I had to hold off the monster alone. 25 minutes later, I'd broken the chest and killed it.

So yes, bows are weak, if you can't make use of opportunities, in the same way greaswords are weak if you can't power slash right, and lances are weak if you can't block. Practice, get some armor skills, and you'll be surprised at their power.