for me it matters not. I like trad hunting, but will use any tool at hand. Like the ancients, I would prefer the best tool available if I were relying on it to live (as a kid, my dad did some . . ahem. . .'off season' hunting to feed us and used a rifle). I do not need to do that these days (hooray for the modern world) but you could be sure some ancient Mongol who was hunting up dinner would love to have a Martin compound if the tech was available to him.(one of my favorite parts of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was Genghis Khan in Oshman's trading his wood club for a nice aluminum bat)
Now, I really do appreciate using the trad equipment. Really, in this day, even using all natural materials, you are not that far behind a fully modern 400 fps compound crossbow. Practice, and the need to be a touch closer (much of trad hunting is actually the need to get just that little bit closer to your target, and the skill and luck that entails) are really all that differentiate the "modern" from trad gear, and even with a super high tech fast crossbow, one still needs to practice with it much like shooting your hunting rifle. Compounds are even more intensive. Your hold on the bow is more important to your aim.
All the advantage a compound would have for someone who is lacking the strength to hold back is you still have to get it past the peak draw weight, and a modern fast compound can shoot faster at lower weight. They also have those locking triggers for them now too. I've seen a man with one usable arm use one. drawing with his foot to "cock" the bow, and he had modified the trigger to put it up at his bow hand. The advantage is he can hunt everywhere there is a bow season. Not everywhere allows crossbows, even if that were a Skåne lockbow.
Here in Texas, you get to crossbow hunt only during firearm season (deer), so using any version (modern or trad) limits your season.
I'd be in favor of allowing a trad style crossbow (actually, any version really) to be allowed during archery season. Anything that flings an arrow. Or bolt. . . Roman Scorpion anyone?
But seriously, if someone told me that I had to pick something if (when) my shoulder gives out, I'd be hard pressed to decide. As it sits, I prefer something I can make myself, so I'd likely be happy with an arbalest or rifle stocked crossbow. But if I were looking to maximize my hunting time, a compound would allow that. One could always refuse to shoot further than 15 yards and hunt by stalk if they want to up the ante. How I look at it when the time comes, I can only guess.
