A Companion that finished his service to me has been hanging around my settlement area for many weeks now. That's not a concern, although pathing may be a problem for him.
The problem is, his only weapon now is the broad knife I gave him. He had other weapons and a handaxe but now he's carrying only the broad knife and stones and rocks. He's killing birds and killed one deer, at least he finished off the wounded deer he'd chased for a couple of days when it ran into my deadfall trap!
So, has he thrown away his weapons during hunting? I just gave him a bow and a bunch of arrows. If he keeps hanging around I guess I'll be finding arrows soon.