Welcome.
I think this website will help you a lot understanding the basics of choosing a bow and all of its sides such as draw weight, lenght, axle-to-axle, etc. It will then proceed to give you information on a lot of bows and a lot of models (once again) using the information provided to you first. It will give you a comparison between a $200 bow and a $700 bow... with numbers that you can relate to.

One tip of advice: Don't let anyone fooled you into buying a particular brand of bow simply because it's expensive and 'all the pros are using it' It's kinda with basketball shoes... Nike goes out and gives every team in the nation free shoes, and when they start using them, suddenly ALL of the player's skills are attributed to him wearing Nikes'....

Take your time. You have 9 months until the season opens again. You ought to have enough time to practice enough to be able to kill a deer within 25 yards. I know... that sounds way too close for a gun hunter used to shooting everything under the sky!... hah hah. Believe me... A 30 yard shot in the timber with a bow from a treestand is very hard to find since everything is on the way, and you no longer have the 'firepower' to shoot thru brush ...

Good luck and Welcome again. As with other hunters out there, it took me 4 seasons to shoot a buck, and he's being mounted. It's worth the wait