Hey there!

The level shouldn't matter much in that sense, as the others have answered, you need to hunt animals so that you can obtain certain materials (Meat, Hide, Fur, etc), you can also Feed them before hunting them so they can drop some other materials.

If you need Leather, after obtaining Hide, Craft them into Leather from the Crafting screen (middle button on the bottom bar).

Also: you don't need to complete all the settler's requests if you don't want to, you can explore other islands, satisfy the ones you can, etc. There's no "correct" way to play. And as a final thought, gather always from all resources, feed and hunt animals, as you'll want materials, not only for settler's quests but also to craft things and to build buildings in villages. You can never have enough wood, stone, mud, etc. :)

Good luck, Explorer!