proving an archery kill

[Trevorg]

If i get lucky and manage to find a buck with my bow during the archery season what do i have to do to show i got it with my bow ( leave the arrow in ?). just want to make sure i do everything right since the rifle will be in the truck in case i find a decent bear on the drive in or out and i dont want any unneeded problems.

[scallywag]

Any co and meat cutter can tell the difference between a rifle and bow enterance and exit wound

[TheProvider]

X2 it'll be a clean cut in the meat with no meat damage. A bullet doesnt make a clean hole and theres extensive meat damage around the entrance an exit hole. There's basically no way you can mix the two up. If your arrow is in the animal when you recover it, take it out. It looks better out in pics and when field dressing/deboning you don't want cut yourself on the broadhead.

[Bow Walker]

Cut your tag, keep the 'bloody' arrow handy and your golden.

[mark]

Ok what if a guy is completely boning out an animal to pack out????? pics suffice???

[fireguy]

Ok what if a guy is completely boning out an animal to pack out????? pics suffice???


Cut your tag, keep the 'bloody' arrow handy and your golden.

I think Bow Walker summed it up
The same thing goes for shooting an animal in an open area and bringing it back home to a close area like region 3 december deer brought back to region 8, there has to be some trust and honesty about things

[Bow Walker]

Ok what if a guy is completely boning out an animal to pack out????? pics suffice???
Cut your tag, keep the bloody arrow, and keep the entry/exit wound parts of the animal as well. No better evidence than that. Let the biologists try to prove that the parts don't equal the whole.

[brad ferris]

You don't have to prove it was a bow kill the co must prove it wasn't. Having said that they can make your life difficult at a time of year when you really don't want to lose valuable hunting days. Take a few good pictures or video other than that I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[Ambush]

I've never given it a thought. There is no requirement to prove it was a bow kill.
And like most things, the honest folks will just comply because that's the law, and the poachers will find a way around it.

My advice? Don't over think it, just go hunting. Hope you nail one.

[abbyfireguy]

Absolutely nothing is written in the regs about what the CO's or any enforcement officers requires or what a hunter is supposed to show that an animal was bow harvested. It has always bugged me a bit but I would save the arrow broken and/or bloody and take a few supporting photos.
I have only ever had one CO even question me and when I looked him straight in the eye and asked if he was calling me a lier he folded like a cheap deck of cards.

[Big Lew]

Had a CO tell me he normally could tell if the deer was hit by a bullet or arrow first. He said that an arrow cuts live blood vessels which bleed between the meat layers immediately. A deer shot with an arrow after being killed with a bullet doesn't have spreading blood from a still pumping heart, it just leaves a cut hole. He further remarked that some have tried to fake it by shooting an animal in the head or neck, and then shooting an arrow through the lung/heart area but didn't get much bleeding at all, even around the entry and exit wound.