i started deer hunting with a cheap used York recurve bow, & an old 3030 winchester (no scope for winchesters), back in the early 80's. hunted on the ground mostly, until i made a board that would fit between 2 branches of a tree for a stand. my camo came from the army surplus store. I remember actually using tube socks for gloves, lol. i had no money.
Couple of yrs later, I think Loc on, or something like that, hanging stand came out, so I made my own copy of it out of scrap metal. saved up and got my first new bow, a browning compound. the bow shop guy chrono'd it at 200 ft/s. Saw an article about what i call an overdraw, so I made a plate to put on my riser, shortened my arrows up a few inches, and got it to 235 ft/s. Trebark camo came out, bought that, combined with face paint, i felt i was a serious hunter, lol.
I bowhunted alot, really due to: here in oklahoma you could hunt all the WMA and GMA with a bow, & no one else was out there. I learned alot in those first 5 years or so. Since then, of course I've purchased about every new piece of tech that's come out.
I've learned: 1-yeah, i have a crossbow, took 1 buck with it, & haven't used it since. it just didn't feel right. 2-it's harder every year for my old ass to set up my hanging stand for bowhunting, & no more moving it around alot like i used to. 3-my old ass is also liking platform stands/blinds more and more every year. 4-game cams have taught me more about deer behavior than any other piece of tech that I've purchased.
Point is: I can easily do without all the tech today, w/ the exception of cameras. It's the learning/thrill of the hunt that I've found most important. I'm at the stage where I'm full circle, back to old school, hunting w/ my recurve. Instead of investigating the newest tech, my minds been on carving my own bow out of a stave i cut myself, and taking a deer with it. If i can pull this off, then, I think i can call myself a serious deer hunter again.