I'm assuming you're going with an archer build given the stats. My personal opinion is that straight hunter is the best way to go. Feat-wise your progression should be as follows:
1st - Point-Blank Shot
3rd - Precise Shot
3rd (Bonus Teamwork Feat) - Friendly Fire Maneuvers or Coordinated Shot (I would suggest FFM so your companion does not provide Soft Cover against your attacks.)
5th - Deadly Aim or Rapid Shot (Either way is good.)
6th (Bonus Teamwork Feat) - Coordinated Shot (If you took FFM at 3rd level)
7th - Deadly Aim or Rapid Shot
9th (Bonus Teamwork Feat)- Enfilading Fire
9th - Broken Wing Gambit
11th - Wounded Paw Gambit
12th - Clustered Shots
Given your fairly low Dexterity for a ranged build you may want to just skip Deadly Aim and take Clustered Shots sooner.
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On the topic of Eidolons vs Animal Companions, I've found Unchained to push Hunter ACs into the top spot, depending on your choice of animal. Let's assume Pouncecat.
Eidolons have fewer Evo piints, pounce costs a ton, and the Soze Increase only gives 4 strength instead of the 8 that most ACs get when growing. Master-pet synergy is roughly the same when comparing Animal Focus against Evolution Surge, but AF doesn't eat into spells.
Then again, the Eidolon is Immortal. So you can be wreckless.
At the end of the day, I love skills and dilogue, so I'll usually go for the one with human level intelligence.
Personally I love the Hunter, it's quite possibly my favorite class, with Inquisitor coming in 2nd place. I can't believe it could possibly be underrated.
6+Int skill ranks, spontaneous caster, good BAB, animal companion, solid weapon and armor proficiencies. What's not to like?
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The above build forgets that the Hunter gets Precise Shot as a bonus Feat at 2nd.
So, it'd look more like this:
1st - Point-Blank Shot
2nd - Precise Shot (from Precise Companion)
3rd - Rapid Shot
3rd (Bonus Teamwork Feat) - Friendly Fire Maneuvers
5th - Deadly Aim
6th (Bonus Teamwork Feat) - Coordinated Shot
7th - Broken Wing Gambit
9th (Bonus Teamwork Feat)- Wounded Paw Gambit
9th - Manyshot
11th - Clustered Shots
12th - (Bonus Teamwork Feat) - Enfilading Fire
Whoops! Thank you for reminding me about Precise Companion, deadmanwalking!
As someone who has played mainly Rangers in Pathfinder I gotta say I am quickly falling in love with Hunter. All the things that bugged me about Ranger are gone (no spells at start, no companion at start, weaker companion when I did get one, and the overrated favored enemy/terrain business) and the stuff I loved got better (more nature spells, more companions to chose from, more versatility with Animal Focus). Finally I can ride gloriously into battle atop my trained war llama (Undersized Mount+Muleback Cords) like a dwarven ranger always should have.
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*** Finally I can ride gloriously into battle atop my trained war llama (Undersized Mount+Muleback Cords) like a dwarven ranger always should have.
Hunters are amazing mounted combatants. A little Escape Route to avoid AoOs, some Pack Flanking for an essentially permanent boost to hit and to trigger any other flanking focused feats you might have... Life is good for mounted Hunters.
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Our Kingmaker group just hit level 4. My character is a feral hunter. I just don't want to deal with the paperwork of an animal companion. I can't remember when I have enjoyed a character as much as this one.
I have found feral aspect to be the best part of the class, at least so far. Aspect of the falcon gets my perception bonus to +18 - not much gets by me.
I wonder how well a hunter would do for horse archer.
Yes escape route as a teamwork feat for mounted hunters is awesome. Also keep in mind woodland stride applies to your animal companion. I have this awesome idea in my head of a hunter fleeing to warn a town that "the hellknights are coming"
I also am looking at lookout if you put your animal companion ranks in perception. Also if your companion has scent and you have lookout I am not sure if every GM would read it this way but if your companion smells an invisible creature with lookout it can pinpoint as a move action. I am not sure how much locatoin information can go over emphatic link but if you then cast faerie fire you can outline the invisible creature for the rest of the party. Although lookout will help if you roll like a 3 on a perception check it could be less likely both rolls completely suck.
Also outflank and a bear companion at low levels might get a bit much if you can flank and full attack with claw claw bite and a +4 bonus and you can increase the bears strength which means greater hit damage if the bear takes power attack you can end up swinging with 3 attacks with a +5 damage.
Although more on anti invisibilty you can use the one minute if you use animal focus wolf for one minute locate the invisible creature with scent. Although since you don't have that many spells known a wand of this might be useful but probably enough to last to like level 20.