Quilly, welcome! There's been a lot of good advice given here and I just want to add my two cents to it. I started hunting before compounds were legal anywhere so I come from a different place than most. I never went throught the compound phase and then tried traditional. Bowhunting to me has been and always will be hunting with a bow instead of a gun...period. The best advice I can give you is to get a bow that is as heavy as you can handle comfortably (your the only person that can determine that unless you have a very good traditional shop near by), practice as much as you can and never allow any compound shooter tell you that you can't expect to be very accurate because of the equipment you have choosen to use, you'll be hunting the same living deer as the compound guy so get good and have fun. That's what hunting is all about.