My best advice is shoot every day till you can't aim at the same target cause you're busting your knocks or you're getting robin hoods, and make sure you can do that out to 35 to 40 yards. Shoot shoot and shoot some more. Will a 50# draw kill a deer, the answer is yes. If you plan on using that draw weight I would make sure you limit yourself to 30 yards tops for hunting. Best of luck, keep shooting!