I don't recall the Dunedain under Aragorn demonstrating any great skill at archery, but the Rohirrim were rather weak in archery. It was not a widely practiced skill.

The Rangers appear to have done most of their work on foot. Aragorn watched for the Hobbits and led them to Rivendell on foot, the Rangers standing guard at Sarn Ford were apparently on foot, and the Rangers who left footprints at Weathertop were also on foot.

When were these horses used? Probably when they needed to move quickly across large distances.

I for long believed the Rangers might be based in Emyn Uial. That region is indeed close to the Shire, Buckland, and Bree, but Tolkien stipulated that no one lived within 300 miles of the Shire except the Bucklanders and Breelanders (in settled communities), and the Rangers are placed mostly in the east by the Breelanders (twice).

Clearly the Rangers were active west of Bree, so Bree perceptions are not wholly trustworthy. But most of the Ranger activity does appear to have occurred in the east. They patrolled the hills near Rivendell and Aragorn was able to raise some force of Rangers to help scout out the lands in the two months after the Council of Elrond.

My feeling is that Halbarad's force probably was drawn from the eastern part of Eriador, and this in turn forced the Rangers watching the Shire and Bree (whose numbers had been reduced by losses to the Nazgul) to pull back toward the east and north to protect their own lands and try to stem the flow of whatever evil creatures were coming from the mountains (as Martin, I believe, suggested).

That's just a guess. But Tolkien did not emphasize the archery skills of Aragorn's Rangers. Aragorn himself never touched a bow from the time the Hobbits met him until they said good-bye at Isengard.

The Numenoreans of the Second Age were pretty good with bows, and they had steel bows, but they were essentially a different people.

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