I agree whith the above.... one does not have to go out and buy top of the line gear to start bow hunting. my first bow was $125 about 9 years ago. it was a used Darton. I practiced, became a decent shot, and killed a deer the first year out. since then I have been bitten by the bug and bought top of the line gear.
There are a lot of great used bows and accessories people can buy on e-bay. I am going to set up a buddy of mine who has never bow hunting and has a budget of about $300. I think this should be a fairly easy task to get an older quality set up.