Hunt with recurve long bow and wheel bow.
Have shot a lot of deer with recurvevand long bow. Deer has never "ducked" an arrow shot from a quiet recurve or long bow. In fact have had follow up shots because so quiet.Shoot heavy arrows.
I have had deer "duck" shots from a fast compound.
Theres the other debate amongst us bowhunters too... IF you are really into it heavy, don't you end up wanting to go to recurve or long bow eventually. OR are you in it for the techno race to see how far you can shoot with a bow and still kill? Something interesting to think about.
Me, I'd push distance on a bow in a heartbeat if I was not so extremely aware of how conscious animals are about movement and sound and how much they can move before an arrow arrives. Though I do think that noise wise you get to a certain distance and its not such a bother to them.
But I've had deer COMPLETELY and TOTALLY dodge an arrow at 18 yards.... hard when you aim low for the heart and get a complete miss. Not even hair..
I've heard that from more than a few folks. And I've seen their eyes wide open when hunting TX deer often. I don't know what the difference is but our deer for some reason are just tightly wound.
Even if not hunted around feeders as the majority do.
OTOH I've shot a few, not many, but a few that flinched and kept on eating acorns, oats or corn, and just wobbled and fell over or got weak right at the end and made a few feet before falling....
And I've been amazed to have the stupidity( IMHO) to have taken what I thought were long shots at deer in other states, IE 40 yard shots, and have them almost seemingly stare until the arrow hits em.
You see accuracy with a bow at longer distances is not an issue. Movement is or can be.
And FWIW a lot of my hunting these days is out of ground blinds... thats like having a suppressor on what little noise there is with a bow to start with.
Compound wise we went to great lengths to make them as quiet as they could be. And to realize that feathers make an awful racket in flight vs vanes....
