50/50
A fifty percent loss/success rate, that's absurd, and insulting to any bowhunter irregardless of tackle. Such estimation is only "guesstimation" and inflamatory. Such commentary only divides our sport.
I hear guys talk too, and nothing irks me more than when somebody proudly announces, "I stuck one". Typically that's blurted by a "sport" low on experience and high on machismo, who equates getting a deer in range and getting a hit as some sort of success.......I guess. As responsible bowhunters we owe it to that "sport", and our sport, and the critters we hunt, to correct that mentality, politely and intelligently, whenever we can. "Sticking one" and losing it, is nothing to be proud of, and the only positive aspect to the whole business is determining your mistake, and determining and working to avoid it next time.
Between my work, and my own hunting, I can claim an inordinate amount of time in the woods, in areas that are heavily hunted, and I have never, ever, come across a dead or crippled deer with an arrow wound, unless it was one I was tracking myself, or with somebody else. Conversely, I have found or seen multiple dead and wounded "lost" animals with gunshot wounds. The big deer lease that I was in for about a decade, hit and lost more deer with rifles, ....than the bow hunters ever did, every year, annually. And I know of at least one buck , that I hit and lost (after much searching) , that survived, and was killed by a gunhunter nearly two months later....healthy and running a doe, with a dandy scar on the shoulder blade where my Razorhead glanced off. OK...rant over.
Despite my earlier post about interested in hunting a longbow, and some early years of my own with a recurve, my own experience mirrors Dr. A's comments.......compound tackle is easier to shoot, and shoot well, than the longbow or recurve. Anybody taking the latter path as a bowhunter needs to accept that they will not have as much range or accuracy as more modern tackle....and unless incredibly gifted, or driven,or both, they will need to shoot/practice....alot. And there are folks who embrace that sort of challenge and requirements....and more power to 'em.
All that said, my average kill shot with a bow has been pretty consistent over 30 years....14 yds, well within longbow/recuve range, so hunting with the simple bows is entirely feasible for those who want to.