So I have not been bow hunting very often, so I wanted some advice about whether to use a crossbow or compound bow this archery season. I have been wanting to go for a while, but cannot decide whether to get a crossbow or compound. I have shot many types of bows like recurve, crossbow, and compound. I am comfortable with them all. Any advice on whether to hunt with a compound bow or crossbow?
Thanks

It is what you like to shoot and what you shoot the best. Each has positives and negatives. What ever you choose to shoot, go and have fun. Enjoy the hunt. But do not let anyone downgrade your hunting experience because of the weapon you chose to hunt with.

Okay! Thanks for the advice

Good Advice

If you haven't been bowhunting very often then you know that getting within bow range of a deer can be difficult, and that is with everything in your favor such as concealment and wind direction. Movement and sound is what usually sends the deer into the next county if everything else has been done correctly.
Being able to be already in position for the shot and not having to draw just before the moment of truth is the main advantage of the crossbow.
With concealment, wind in your favor, and already having the bow resting in a shooting position as the deer walks into range is what makes the crossbow a better choice in my opinion for someone with minimal experience.

Good advice here.
My wife is too small to pull back a bow of any signification weight, and joint issues makes it near impossible to do. Cocking a crossbow takes a big grunt, but she can do it and she shoots well. She harvested an awesome tall 8 pointer this weekend, without a crossbow she would have had to wait till rifle season. It was awesome having her out in the woods during archery, she loves it.

Good advice

I say shoot your preference or whatever you shoot best.

I saw an advertisement for crossbows saying that they don't last near as long as a vertical bow, said most compound crossbows fail within 300-400 shots.... any truth in that?

I have a compound. My dad wants to get into bow hunting either compound or crossbow. If xbows really only last that long then we can cross them off the list!

I personally prefer a compound....quieter, easier to maneuver and I can shoot farther more accurately than with a crossbow

I shoot pretty accurate with my Barnett out to 80 yards. I do however use both, just depends on what mood I'm in that day. Love to shoot them both

I've had my Crossbow for 10 years, and have taken more deer with it than I can remember. Over that period of time I've taken a lot of shots with it, but I never bothered to count them, but it's still going strong.
Might have been someone that doesn't like crossbows that wrote what you read about them failing!
Crossbows have been around a long time, and manufacturers that don't build quality crossbows will not be in business long. Stay with a brand that has a good track record and don't worry about what someone writes. Anything mechanical can break, it's just that you need to stay with a quality time proven model, and usually that means you get what you pay for.
I'd also add that of 30 years of using long bows, compounds, and crossbows, I've had three compound bows fail for me (cracked limbs, cables) over that period of time and they were all made by well known manufacturers. My first and only Crossbow has held up just fine!

I have used different bows and crossbows over the years and I found the the old limb crossbow I had lasted for years without a problem and I used an newer crossbow with cams and the newer one seemed to require more maintenance, like replacing strings and tuning, than a compound bow or the older style crossbow. Of course it could have just been luck of the draw on getting a bad crossbow.

With the need for speed there used to be a lot of limb failure and also cables and strings because folks would shoot the lightest arrows and lightest hunting points looking for that extra fps. In some instances where folks would be on the borderline of arrow weight as compared to bow poundage being cranked up to where they had to gunt in order to pull back on the string, it was pretty much like dry firing the bow.
It didn't take too much shooting as to when the failures would begin.
I'm not that concerned when it comes to speed and always shot arrows that many would consider heavy.
You give up speed naturally but the sound the bow makes is a lot quieter and less likely to spook game into the next county. My old crossbow as well as some of the older ones did well to shoot around 260 or so feet per second.
Slow by todays standards, but definately not as loud either.

Go with the cross bow first and if you enjoy it enough, have the time to practice, or need a bit more of a challenge, switch to a compound bow. Have fun both are a blast!