You missed the entire point I was trying to make, the question should be : how far can you effectively kill a deer with either of those sporting arms? Both are able to kill a deer beyond the ability of most to do so with a reasonable degree of certainty. You need to shoot them, you need to practice and find the answer for yourself because it may well be different for others. The question you ask is analogous to asking how far will a 30-06 kill a deer. A 30-06 bullet will kill at a mile, so the question you should ask is : What is the distance that you can kill a deer with a 30-06 and be confident of the shot. And like the bow, only you can answer the question. All sporting arms are only as effective at various distances as the shooter's ability to make the shot with a degree of certainly. As some have said here, the most common thresh hold for bow hunters and crossbow hunters is 30 to 35 yards, that is where they believe their ability will result in a clean kill. Some have a shorter thresh hold and some have a longer one, depending on their ability.