I'm about 8 hours in (level 6) and have reached Nekataka but I'm struggling to find any hunting or war bows beyond vanilla quality. Meanwhile, most of my companions are decked out in fine gear along with a handful of uniques. Any tips on finding a decent bow?

i'm in the same position here. fine & exquisite gear all round, with the exception of good hunting bows... nowhere to be seen. wish i still had stormcaller from my PoE1 playthrough.

I'm trying to find both pistols and hunting bows.

I'm trying to find both pistols and hunting bows.

 

for pistols, have you tried the gunsmith at the brass citadel at neketaka? my recollection was that whats-his-face had a few good ones, and perhaps a unique (though i can't recall for sure)

I'm trying to find both pistols and hunting bows.

Going after Benwith early gets a good (but not unique) pistol (and there is another fairly decent one lying around as well)

I got a nice war bow just outside Neketaka. Leave the city on foot, and kind of travel towards the south west. There's an old camp thing there where you go through the book looking choices to examine a camp and then track down and fight some spores. I'm not sure of those events are always in the same spot? Anyways I think you need some decent Insight and survival for it though.

in neketaka i've found a superb war bow in an abandoned tomb at the sacred stair, it's just below berath's temple. there's a tree with a branch you can interact with. though there's a good deal of level 10 enemies in that tomb too, wasn't an easy hike. 

There are an exceptional hunting bow and an exceptional war bow for sale in the black market (Vailian guys).

 

I'm trying to find both pistols and hunting bows.

Going after Benwith early gets a good (but not unique) pistol (and there is another fairly decent one lying around as well)

 

What's more - he also gives a light armor that is awesome enough to last until endgame. And you can do his quest on pretty much any level, right after leaving 'La Tutoriala' Island, escusi.