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Old 10-25-2010 | 01:35 PM
  #7  
Sylvan
Nontypical Buck
 
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,435
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From: Upstate New York
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Originally Posted by CutEm
My last post was about the poachers in my area spotlighting bucks at night and shooting them with rifles and leaving them there to die. My buddy found one of these dead bucks on his property and told me it looked like it was shot with a bow and arrow. When the game warden showed up he said it was definitely with a high powered rifle. So this got me thinking....what is the difference between a rifle wound and an arrow wound? I don't know how to tell the difference. I have shot 3 deer with my bow and 1 with my rifle so I guess I don't have enough experience to know the difference. I didn't think you could tell a difference but apparently so. How about difference between muzzleloader wound and rifle wound?
Don't just look at the opening in the hide. When an arrow cuts the hide the tension around the wound pulls and distorts what would preserve the shape of the penetrating object. Peel the hide away so you can clearly see the thin muscle over the rib cage. This tissue preserves the shape of the projectile much better. Any firearm on entry will leave a roundish hole there. An arrow won't leave a hole at all. What you will see are the result of the blade edges as they pass through. It will look like a cross on a 4 plade a simple slit on a 2 blade but it won't be a hole like a firearm. The hole that results from the firearm, again on entry, will be related to the caliber. The large the caliber the larger the hole. There will also be a more noticeable "bruise" around the point of entry than with an arrow where there is very little bruising. Generally you would expect higher velocity rounds to bruise more given the same caliber.

Muzzleloaders are typically higher caliber than rifle rounds so pretty much anything close to 1/2 inch in diameter wouldn't likely come from a modern rifle. Over 1/2 inch and it's likely a shot gun slug. A 12 guage slug (non saboted) is nearly 3/4 inch in diameter when it leaves the gun. Saboted are typically close to 1/2 inch so telling the difference between a 50 cal muzzle loader entry wound and a saboted shotgun slug wouldn't be easy.

Last edited by Sylvan; 10-25-2010 at 01:45 PM.
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