I hunted with a X-bow for the first time last fall ... after damaging my left shoulder. I have been an avid bow hunter for years, having started with a recurve in 1962 and switching to a compound in about 1985. Here's waht I found different about the two. First of all manageing waht I will call horizontal clearance. Where vertical clearance is needed for a compound, and can be pretty easy to come by, getting set up in a tree stand and having about a 4' wide and clear sid-to-side shooitng "hole" was a challenge for me to come up with in most set ups. I found it very difficult, if not almost impossible for me to shoot to my extreme left or extreme right. A second consideration is ****ing. I as strongly as I can, I will state do not **** the X-bow until you are fully set-up and in "hunting position". As far as using a 3 point sighting system, mine has a 3 dot scope. I cannot adjust the dot spacing individually. I set my top dot on 25 yards and am good to go out to 45 or so using the correct dot and lots of practice. I put limbsavers on mine. It is still pretty loud but the shock was nicely dampened. Every shot last fall was a good one and I had no problem recovering the deer. I miss my compound but it looks like now the shoulder damage is permanent, and I will no longer be able to comfortably draw. Bummer !!

ki