I think hunters do a respectable job of protecting the flag carrier in CTF (capture the flag) maps, but to be honest, there are other classes that are better for that than we are (locks for example). Other classes can continue spamming their CC (crowd control) abilities to disrupt the enemy attack and have better overall damage output. These days, at least for RBG ratings above 2k, I've found that more and more teams are utilizing less players for strictly defense and simply loading up on their offensive teams, keeping perhaps 2 healers on their FC (flag carrier) and sending the rest (including an offensive healer) on offense to kill the EFC (enemy flag carrier) or wipe the other team's offense. Then the teams will wait until the EFC has sufficient stacks of the flag carrying debuff before going in and nuking him/her.

When on offense I can't tell you how important it is to keep the next target of attack cleared of as many buffs as possible. Using a focus Tranq shot to keep peeling these buffs off while continuing to hit the current target is just priceless as a lot of healers won't notice it in the chaos of the fight. I believe the focus cost of tranq shot is a little too high, but is effective overall and as a marksman hunter, having the double rapid fires for burst and having the ability to add a ferocity pet buff is just an amazing tool for groups on offense.