Catscratch and Yoderjac at posts # 105 & 106 - I don't disagree that a small caliber rifle with a sound suppressor wouldn't be a better / quicker (?) method of poaching a deer. But having to track a bleeding deer doesn't stop poachers here in Pa. I have witnessed the actions ( evidence ) of poachers here that shot deer with bows AND guns. Shoot the deer now - drive off and come back in 3 to 8 hours and track / retrieve the deer. One of these events took place on our hunting camp property several years ago. Poacher shot a deer, drove off, and returned about 6 hours later ( we narrowed it down ) and followed the blood trail to the deer. 2 of us were at the camp when it happened. Road shooter. We couldn't get down to the road quick enough to catch them. Warden came and hid in the woods for over 3 hours to try and catch the poacher. He gave up & left - poacher came back somewhere in the next 3 hours and retrieved the deer. We found the drag mark where he pulled the deer off a bank and onto the road, blood and hair at the scene.
I also overheard a guy bragging to his buddies in a restaurant about a deer he shot on posted ground with his bow and how he went back after dark to track and retrieve the deer. ( This was about 15 years ago ).
My point is - I don't think an immediate kill with the deer dropping in it's tracks from a .223 w/ silencer is the only way for poachers to go. Following a blood trail hours later after the shot ( with any weapon ) doesn't seem to be a deterrent. In the mountains where I hunt, a .22 crack echoes off the sides of ridges, but a bolt from a x-bow won't. One guy driving, possibly holding a spotlight ( if after dark ) and the other guy in the bed of a truck with a x-bow. Maybe in wide open country the .223 w/ silencer would be favored, but in our area - the x-bow would be perfect.