Highly recommend bowhunting (at least a crossbow) in a true SHTF scenario. Hunting rifles have massive report - silencers help, but only most effective with subsonic ammo - and if you're taking game when people are starving, the last thing you need is someone stealing your kill (and your life) while you're dressing it out. Trad bows are simple tools with few moving parts that are easy to maintain and have reusable ammo. I'd skip the compound bow because they're usually even more complicated than a crossbow and require more maintenance. But I would take any bow for hunting larger game over a gun in a true SHTF scenario. Small game... okay, suppressed .22LR with subs is like a pellet gun (or just use a .22/.17 pellet gun). But otherwise save the gun for humans (and with that in mind, don't go hunting without at least a sidearm).
Highly recommend bowhunting (at least a crossbow) in a true SHTF scenario. Hunting rifles have massive report - silencers help, but only most effective with subsonic ammo - and if you're taking game when people are starving, the last thing you need is someone stealing your kill (and your life) while you're dressing it out. Trad bows are simple tools with few moving parts that are easy to maintain and have reusable ammo. I'd skip the compound bow because they're usually even more complicated than a crossbow and require more maintenance. But I would take any bow for hunting larger game over a gun in a true SHTF scenario. Small game... okay, suppressed .22LR with subs is like a pellet gun (or just use a .22/.17 pellet gun). But otherwise save the gun for humans (and with that in mind, don't go hunting without at least a sidearm).