What is better? The bow or the rifle?

[oplli]

I want to hunt a moose but i may be far away from my house i am currently on level 5 with my bow but only level 4 with my rifle wich is better or is this the same? If it is not a moose i always take my bow beacause animals bleed out very quickly at my level but beacause the moose does not bleed out i am wondering wich is the best. 

 

Do you have any thoughts?

[Jimmy]

The bow is lighter, but the rifle is easier to use. Whichever one you take depends on your preference.

Ultimately, the rifle has the security of dropping a wolf or deer with one shot so long as you can hit it, whereas the bow has a high chance of simply injuring the target and causing them to run without a critical hit.

When hunting a moose, all bets are off, and while you can get lucky with a head crit even without skill in your chosen weapon, there's no guarantees. So pick whichever you feel most comfortable with, bring plenty of ammo, and good luck!

[oplli]

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

The bow is lighter, but the rifle is easier to use. Whichever one you take depends on your preference.

Ultimately, the rifle has the security of dropping a wolf or deer with one shot so long as you can hit it, whereas the bow has a high chance of simply injuring the target and causing them to run without a critical hit.

When hunting a moose, all bets are off, and while you can get lucky with a head crit even without skill in your chosen weapon, there's no guarantees. So pick whichever you feel most comfortable with, bring plenty of ammo, and good luck!

Thanks for your answer! I did not expected something that detailed. I still wonder if you have the information if we have statistic numbers for the damage that an arrow and a bullet can deal?( Without the chance of critical hit or bleed out time) i already killed my moose xD i have been pretty lucky, only two shoots needed so for the next time i will not bring my rifle. Beacause It was my first moose and i discovered that it has a 5kg skin

Edited June 27, 2020 by oplli

[dahemac]

We were lately discussing this in the topic “I have stopped carrying the rifle.”. It really is the weight that you should consider.

Moreover when choosing to encounter a bear or moose or timberwolves you should always choose your ground. If you are not in a location where you can use the terrain, a half-fallen tree, a car, a hunter’s blind, to protect yourself, do you really need that particular kill right now.

I got stomped by a moose I was bow hunting in the NW of Bleak inlet the other day and had to return to the cannery for five days of recuperation. I got a moose hide out of it, but was it really worth it. Probably not.

[gotmilkanot]

Since you already have archery 5, I'm assuming you're already used to the projectile drop-off and speed of arrows, so I would say the bow is better overall. Archery 5 makes it possible to stealth kill packs of wolves quickly which you can't do with the rifle, as they will be scared away by the first rifle shot.

For hunting moose, picking your terrain is more important than choosing between the bow and the rifle. Sure the rifle maybe easier to shoot from long range, but I've had successful moose hunts with my bow from unreachable position where I can aim for a headshot at the aggro'd moose just staring at me.

[Civrilios]

I would say it depends on situation, because they both have their own pros and cons. On general, I realized couple things:

Until you reach archery 5, it's easier to hunt dears with a riffle, which you can use when you're crouched. In my experience rifle scares mooses, which is higly desirable when you are hunting one (and don't want to be trampled). At this two situations I prefer riffle. But for example for cleaning area from wolves, I ususaly prefer bow (since we are not talking about revolver). It's easier to aim at moving target (such as wolf which runs on you) with a bow - rifle swings more the longer you aim (and you can aim just for a couple seconds, after which you lower the barrel and can't aim anymore for some time). And usualy I prefer bow for hunting bear due to shorter bleeding time after which bear drops dead.

Of course, as it has been already mentioned, bow is much lighter. On the other hand, if you are not able to score a killing blow, you will have to track wounded animal to recover your arrow. Of course, you can try to shoot only those arrows, which has less than 25% durability. In this situation, if you hit but fail to score a killing blow, the broken arrow stays on the ground at the point where it hits the target. For example, I was recently trying to loot some dear carcass, but the bear was around. I check my (only) arrow condition, realize that it's just over 50%, so I shot at the tree. Arrow condition drops below 25%, so when I shot at the bear it breaks. Then I was able to hide myself, wounded bear ran away, I recovered the broken arrow, harvested the fallen dear, and still had an arrowhead with me (without loosing a time for chasing the bleeding bear).

The third thing worth mentioning is an ammunition availability, which depends on the difficulty level. On stalker difficulty I can say, that on the first days of the game, it's easier to find some ammo for rifle, than to find useful arrows. But after finding couple arrowheads, or forging them, and after drying some birch saples, it's much easier to make a new arrows than to find decent amounts (or produce) rifle bullets.

[hozz1235]

In your situation, i would go with rifle (easier to hit at long range).

[sonics01]

This really depends on situation. What I can say is, if you play lower difficulty (up to stalker), rifle would be better. But if you try higher difficulty (custom based on interloper), arrow will be better. 

Currently I'm testing a custom setting, which is based on interloper but modified a bit. Detail info is in following post. 

Anyway, I turned on the rifle and turned off the revolver. In this setting, all item/loot settings are the same with interloper. It is incredibly hard to find rifle and ammo. (or I'm just unlucky). Up to Stalker, ammo is not that terribly difficult to find, and rifle locations are well known. However, in custom setting where rifle is on but with everything-else-loper, rifle and ammo is rare item. 

Without ammo, rifle will be just a heavy burden. What will you do with rifle if all you have is less than 5 rounds? So, in this case, better get used to bow and arrow, which is lighter and can be crafted. In this setting, I guess rifle will be late-game contents, from the moment player loot enough ammo, at least 20+, after looting from entire maps. 

One other aspect of loper-grade-custom difficulty is coldness. After some test from Stalker difficulty, I found that handshake during aim down sight is very dependent on two aspects: fatigue and body temperature. I need to do more test, but if your fatigue circle or warmth circle is below 75%, hand-shake increases, and long range shot become less accurate. Best accuracy can be achieved when your warmth circle and fatigue circles are full, or at least both are +75% and increasing. (Be careful, take a grain of salt to this opinion, this is just my opinion after some tests regarding rifle, and it is not 100% sure yet. ) 

But, in loper game or loper-grade-custom game, it is really cold, so that it is hard to find the optimal condition to achieve accurate "long range" rifle shooting. Medium range (up to 40m or 50m) and short range is fine, but at that moment, bow and arrow are also useful, and more light.  

 

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by sonics01

[acada]

I cannot add anything to bow/rifle selection. I am pretty crap with bow. But about the mssoe bleeding. Recently I noticed a post here with video. The moose was hit several times with arrows. Then he went behind little hill. When the player looked behind the hill, the moose was dead. Just like that. without any additional shots. The topic was about not beeing able to retrieve bugged arrows.

The video is (check the first minute): 

 

Edited July 14, 2020 by acada
Found the video

[PrincessAutumn]

Speaking from experience, I much prefer the rifle over the bow any day because I have more skill with the rifle, I can hit most of my targets and drop them and it's just what I'm used to. With the bow however, I have used it quite a few times so I'm not a complete noob  but I feel that I'm much better with the rifle and trust it more to get me fed and keep me safe from predators.

Edited July 23, 2020 by PrincessAutumn