I think what we've got here is a failure to communicate. What I understand nyorange to be saying is that, given two hunters of equal woodsmanship skill, the one with the better marksmanship skill will be the more prolific killer. And that stands to reason.

How many times have you had a deer walk by just out of range, and there was nothing you could do but sit and hope he turned the right way? If only you were sure you could shoot as well at 25 yards as you do at 20, you'd have made meat right then and there. But you can't, so you didn't.

Looking at the size of the area one can cover from a stand pretty well sums it up.

Say Hunter A is a proficient shot out to 20 yards. He can cover a circle around his stand of 1256 square yards. Hunter B is proficient out to 30 yards. The area of the circle he can cover is 2826 square yards. 2.25 times as much area as Hunter A!

A 50% increase in effective shooting distance gives Hunter B a 225% better chance of getting a deer in his effective range than Hunter A gets. If he shoots a compound and can stretch his proficient range out to 40 yards... He can now cover 5024 square yards. A 100% increase in Hunter B's effective range means he can now cover 400% more area than Hunter A. Which means he's got a 400% better chance of getting a deer in range.

That's oversimplifying and not taking a whole buttload of variables into account. It's just to illustrate the point. It's why compounders have a hunter success rate up around 35% - identical to hunter success rates for crossbows, as a matter of fact - while traditional hunters' success rates are around 12-13%. And why rifle hunters with an effective range of upwards of 100-400 yards kill so many more deer than bowhunters. They get a whole bunch more deer within range than bowhunters do.

Are rifle hunters better hunters than bowhunters? No. They are simply able to take advantage of a LOT more shooting opportunities. Are compounders better hunters than traditionals? No. They're just more prolific killers because most of them can shoot proficiently further than most traditionals can.