I've been bow hunting (28 yrs) longer than I've been gun hunting and I have a very simple rule when it comes to shot distance. I NEVER take a shot longer than 25 yrds due to the string jumping tendency of whitetails- I have never lost a deer to a wound, and at less than 25 yrds, the time it takes for the arrow to get to the deer and the possible reaction to the string noise makes the chance of a gut/bad shot rare. I honestly can say when I was younger I did take longer shots and have gut shot 2 deer, and both were recovered, but I felt awful about the bad shot and decided that 25 was the limit for me. I live in a bow only zone with unreal limits (3 bucks and unlimited does) and some years we literally can stack them like firewood if we wanted to ( my best year was 3 bucks and 6 does) and maybe this is why I can stick to the 25 yrd rule as I usually see 5-25 deer a day while hunting and rarely see nothing. As far as the bow goes, buy what works for you. Some archery shops let you test the bows they sell- if ya can find a shop like this give em all a test drive. I've only owned 4 bows in my life- 1st Bear, second Mathews, third Bowtech and last a Diamond and all were set to 50lbs and they all worked fine. Anyway have fun bow hunting- the rush is way bigger than gun hunting but it can be frustrating looking at a nice 8 sitting broadside at 75 yrds and there is basically nothing you can do about it. Good luck!!!!!!!