I started my archery life 50 years ago with a less than ideal recurve whose limbs twisted before I got a new #45 Bear Kodiak Hunter, which actually shoots at #55 lbs once my ape arms pull it back.
I graduated to a compound, and I’m now old enough to legally use a crossbow without a disability waiver. I love that thing. I can now hunt from the ground and not spook a deer drawing a vertical bow. I still shoot that original Bear recurve though.
As for arrow penetration– trust me on this- a well-placed cedar shaft arrow with a simple two-blade broadhead (razor sharp of course), shot at now ridiculously slow speeds that many people scoff at, will easily pass through a deer and kill it almost instantly. On the first deer I ever stuck a cedar arrow in, the arrow sliced the aorta in half and went through both lungs, and stuck in the ground five feet behind him. Three steps– dead. Saves a lot of time and frustration tracking. Aluminum vs carbon vs cedar shafts is a moot point if the arrow doesn’t hit the right spot. I have a good friend in Missouri who tracks more deer in one season with his German-bred teckel (wire-haired dachshunds) than most people would do in two or three hunting lifetimes.
He has seen deer shot with arrows in almost every way imaginable in three states. Guess what? Every unrecovered deer (if the deer is dead his dogs WILL find it, unless the hunter has totally screwed up the track by trying to find it himself before calling him, or they run out of accessible property) has been shot with a “deeper penetrating” carbon shafted arrow. He has yet to get a tracking call from a traditional longbow or recurve hunter using “antique” equipment. Wonder why? He interrogates every hunter before a track. Many of them believe they made a good shot with their high-tech equipment. He always replies, “If you had made a truly good shot, you probably wouldn’t have needed to call me”. ;–) He is a retired USMC major. He’s not shy about explaining reality.

Please, people, know your maximum ethical HUNTING distance, not inanimate TARGET distance on an indoor range. For 99% of hunters in actual field conditions, that is 20 yards or less.