You are absolutely correct in thinking that bow hunters have an advantage. I am the "Real Deal". I started with a recurve and still shoot either recurve or long bow. My hand is starting to go so I may not do it much longer, but I rifle hunt anyway. Here in the great state of Pennsylvania, you can actually see the way things changed over the years. Back in the early 80's, when I came back to the states, I can remember only running into one other hunter with a recurve bow. The woods was crowded but not really bad yet. Pa. used to have a 1 month season that ended right about when the rut started. Then one year they extended the season for a week for doe only. The hunting pressure increased. After that the season was extended 2 weeks and buck and doe were legal. Everybody and his brother ran out and bought a bow. I hunt from the ground and move around a lot. I started to find dead arrow hit deer all over the place. I know guys that almost never get a deer with a rifle start to kill wopper bucks in their backyards. You always hear them say " I want to challenge myself". What a bunch of crap! If you want to challenge yourself use a stick bow. All they did was find an easy way to kill a deer. The same thing applies to guys that ran out and bought in-line muzzle loaders. If you want to "Challenge yourself" use a flint lock, Pa. has had a special season for that for a long time. Pa. has gotten so ridicules with their seasons and weapons laws that the only "Challenge" left is high power rifle hunting.