I have been a successful bowhunter since 1979 and have a few thoughts.
First - For someone seeking to get in and become proficient quickly, a compound is definitely the way to go. I also have traditional (recurves/long) bows, but these take consistent practice to be good, and even then, most excellent traditional shooters are only as good as the average compound shooter.
Second - You don't need the latest and greatest bow. The bow manufacturers come out with a new "gee whiz super special" about every other year and the price keeps going up. I killed many deer with an old PSE that pushed an arrow along at 175 fps. My newest bow is still 10 years old, and it pushes a carbon arrow out at 225 fps. That bow was a $800 bow the year it was released. I bought it 2 years later for $400 with sights and other paraphernalia included.
Third - Attachments, etc... Hip quiver rather than bow quiver, Fiber optic sight for improved visibility under hunting conditions, rest - hard to beat a whisker biscuit (very forgiving, very easy to set up, very easy to fix on the tailgate). Arrows - carbon really are a great arrow, expensive but great. Heads, begin with target points and get to know the bow. Hunting heads opens up a big can of worms. In this area you can go with fixed blades (cutting edges always out) or mechanicals/swing/retractable blades. The indisputable truth on these is that mechanicals are easier to tune to same point of aim as target points, while fixed blades are much less prone to failure. Other than that - I am not going to wade into the broad heads further