1: I dunno... those new pop-up blinds with the shoot thru mesh seem an aweful lot like cheating to... but I havnt tried em so I wouldnt really know.... It's my understanding that each hae their own pros and cons and each fit different sets of circumstances better. Things such as underbrush, downed trees and how the funnel and trails come together with the "lay of the land" so to speak, and most importantly the wind. These are things that would dictate the better of the two.

2: For a beginner... IMHO, yes. There's more to learn with compounds but with Trad is alot harder and demands alot more practice to master.

3: If you've done it successfully with a rifle, Then you're better prepared for it. But quintruple the difficulty, because the closer you get, the difficulty grows exponentially.