BrookieRookie

So I frequent a local sporting shop that is also a game registration station. Here in Maine you can shoot as many does with the bow in certain "expanded archery zones" as you want as long as you pay for each tag, but if you use a rifle or shotgun if you shoot one deer, your done for the season. I swear every time I'm in this shop, the same guy is registering a doe he shot with the bow, its been like 3 or 4 times now. I dunno how he does it, and it makes me wonder if he's really shooting with a slug-gun and then registering it as a bow-killed deer. So here's my question.....
wouldn't it be obvious to the registration station based on the wound if it was killed with a slug or arrow? All they do is come out to his car and look at whether its male or female, then punch his license. Wouldn't the wound look totally different?
Is it possible that he shoots with a slug, and then takes his arrow and presses it through the bullet wound to make it look a certain way?
Maybe I'm paranoid, but have you guys ever heard of anyone doing this? Maybe he's just an awesome hunter.

UncleNorby

It would be obvious to anyone that looked.

Major Woods

Same here.

Buckhunter46755

So what exactly makes you think he is shooting them with a rifle or shotgun? I have already taken a couple of does during archery season. Actually I take more deer during archery season most years, than shotgun and muzzleloader season combined. Maybe his success has you a little envious, which is perfectly understandable if you haven't got one yet. But I wouldn't just "assume" this guy is poaching based on his success. Bows and crossbows are very effective and highly accurate weapons once you get them dialed in and know the range to your intended target.

BrookieRookie

I'm only assuming because of the way the deer population is here in Maine. If this were NY, back where I grew up, I wouldn't blink an eye. Most days here its a good day if you even see a deer. I know a group of 5 guys that went hunting up in northern maine to their usual camp for 7 days last year. They saw 3 deer all together, all week. And I've heard similar stories from other guys.
Am I envious? you bet! But I'm also suspicious. Nobody kills that many deer up here. If he's doing it legitimately, then he is probably the first and last I'll see thats that good.

MZS

Heard of the arrow in the bullet hole in years back as a kid when all bows were recurves and broadheads were junk. Back then, getting a deer with a bow was tough. There were rumors that our neighbor was doing this as he was very successful with his bow, and gun shots were heard - the neighbor also had his own butcher shop! Still, only rumors, but I guess the arrow in the bullet hole was probably done back then, especially since antlerless tags were not available in the gun season except as rationed out party permits.

Now, a good bow or crossbow can be almost as good as a gun at short range for someone really good. And if you can shoot at 30 yards (which I can not I admit), the shot is pretty easy to take since the deer doesn't hear or see much of you. A guy would almost have to be a little nuts to illegally shoot deer with a gun now. Fines can be over $1000 in our state - and they take your gear too. Get a good bow instead.

Night Crawler

I take all my does by bow, my gun only goes off for target and bucks.

BarnesX.308

It might not be obvious with the fur on, but if you look inside the cavity and skin the deer, it's very obvious.

If you put an arrow through a bullet hole, it won't make it look like an arrow kill. The bullet causes dead tissue (bloodshot meat) around the wound. Arrow is just a clean slice. You can't undo the bullet's damage post-mortem.