all of the posts so far have been great and you are well on your way to becoming a well equiped bowhunter, but one thing i would like to stress with you is stay away from the "speed trap" dont worry about how fast a bow is expecially if you are just beginning, i shoot competitive 3-D pretty much year round and do well, and the best shooters out there only shoot around 270-280 wich i believe is entirely too fast for hunting i would recomend that you keep your speed at 260 and under for hunting, as for equipment you cant go wrong with a Bowtech or a mathews for that matter although i prefer the Bowtech's i believe you get alot more for your money, i use Extreme sights on my hunting bow and love it and have a spott hog on my competion bow and absolutley hate it horrible durability, as far as rests go i have a Golden Key TKO drop away and i absolutely love it, there are alot of great rests out there, trophy taker also makes great rests as does NAP, well sorry for the long post hope i could help out and good luck!!