I am new to the crossbow and own a relatively unknown model. I have hunted for a long time with several types of vertical bows and rifles. From my very limited experience with the crossbow they in my hands will be used very much as a traditional bow would. The crossbow does put a lot more push to an arrow than a reg bow but the length of push is much shorter and the arrow is much lighter. This is why I am limiting my shots to around 30 yds depending on the state of the deers alertness. Of course the bow noise has a lot to do with my shot consideration also.