To make small game arrows in Red Dead Redemption 2, you need a specific ingredient combo (regular arrow + shotgun shell + flight feather) and you must craft them from your campfire or from the on‑horse crafting menu under Ammo → Small Game Arrows.

Basic recipe

  • 1 regular arrow.
  • 1 shotgun shell (any standard shell works).
  • 1 flight feather (from most non‑turkey birds).

Turkey feathers do not count as “flight feathers” for this recipe, so stick to ducks, ravens, pheasants, vultures, etc.

How to get the ingredients

  • Arrows and shotgun shells
    • Buy regular arrows and shotgun shells from any Gunsmith or General Store via the catalog.
* Arrows are sold in bundles of 5 and shotgun shells in larger boxes, so one purchase usually covers a lot of crafting.
  • Flight feathers
    • Hunt flying birds: ducks, pheasants, ravens, vultures, and many other small–medium birds drop flight feathers when skinned.
* Aim for clean kills so you loot more feathers per bird; many players just spend a few minutes shooting birds along rivers or wetlands to stock up.

Where and how to craft them

  • Set up a camp
    • Go into the wilderness (not in towns or the main gang camp) and set up a temporary camp using the player menu.
* At the campfire, choose the crafting/cooking option (Square on PS, X on Xbox, etc.).
  • Use the crafting menu
    • Move to the Ammo tab in the crafting wheel.
* Scroll down until you find **“Arrow – Small Game”** and select it.

* Each craft consumes 1 arrow + 1 shotgun shell + 1 flight feather and gives you 1 small game arrow.
  • Crafting from your horse (alternative)
    • You can also use the on‑horse crafting option: open the item wheel, select the camp/crafting option that lets you craft without placing a full campfire, then go to Ammo → Small Game Arrows.

Equipping and using small game arrows

  • Open your weapon wheel and highlight the bow.
  • On the left side of the wheel (ammo type), cycle until it shows Small Game instead of Regular or Improved arrows.
  • Release the wheel to equip them and you’ll now fire small game arrows designed to get perfect pelts from tiny animals like rabbits, squirrels, birds, and other small critters.

Quick hunting tips

  • Use small game arrows mainly for tiny animals where regular arrows or guns would ruin the pelt quality.
  • They are especially useful for challenges like getting multiple perfect rabbit pelts early in the Master Hunter line.

TL;DR: Buy arrows and shotgun shells, farm flight feathers from birds, then at a wilderness campfire (or on‑horse crafting) go to Ammo → “Arrow – Small Game” and craft them one by one.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.