gutshot are you suggesting that shooting a deer at 250 yards with a rifle is just as easy as getting 15 yards from one and shooting it with a self bow ?

The more technology that is used by a hunter the "easier" the kill becomes as a general rule. Hunters who use four wheelers and scent lock and high tech rifle with laser scopers that hunt high fence ranches in Texas and see hundreds of deer every season are hunting easier than a poor guy from rural America using a hand me down recurve from 1970 and old wood shafts with Bear heads hunting on public land that has high hunting pressure and low deer densitites.

It doesn't get any clearer than those examples of how far apart the challenges can be when its all about weapons and gear choice, and yet both hunters can be equally proud of their deer killed for vastly different reasons

If you are a legal hunter, you should not make any apologies for hunting with gun, a crossbow, a shotgun or a pistol to anyone. Recognizing that there are people who practice hunting that creates more of a challenge is not a bad thing, not does it reflect on your choices, but it is reality and is true, like it or not.