My personal feeling is you let yourself down..
I did to a degree. My goal was to hunt with a longbow and again shoot a big buck. I did not accomplish that. But ...... I also didn't wound a deer, I didn't miss a deer , and shooting a deer with a compound though much easier than with a recurve, still isn't an easy task. But yeah, I know what you're saying and you're right to a degree.
Zak123 - here is what happened. I bought a top of the line TD longbow - and the poundage was near the top of my weight range. During practice in Arkansas, non-hunting situations, I was pretty good with it. It was a VERY finicky bow to shoot (LBR knows what I'm talking about) - it didn't allow for much error in shooting it. Anyway, although I practiced from treestands, hunting clothes on etc, I couldn't duplicate sitting 5 hours without moving in 20 degree weather like I faced in Kansas. Coupled with the finicky nature of this bow ....... I just couldn't shoot well. Mentally I was already defeated - archery eventually becomes so much more mental than physical and I'd lost the mental part.
The compound allowed me to continue hunting, no fear of missing/wounding and hey, bowhunting is still a huge challenge. I had some VERY nice bucks that never came to within 30 yards of me. Honestly , one buck I watched for maybe 20 minutes and he was every bit of 180" typical 5x5 - 26" spread maybe, 30" beams .......... awesome buck, largest I've ever seen by far. Landowner calls him pitchfork ! Anyway , even had I been able to use a crossbow and one been available, I'd still have had the same challenges for the most part and thats getting into 20 yard range.