I have a friend who is just getting into bowhunting this year, he borrowed a bow from a guy and I had enough stuff i dont use laying around so I set it up for him, truglow sights instead of the oldie he had on it, stabilizer, rest, silencers, release. now hes getting pretty good at it. its a Bear Whitetail 2 which is an oldie and its shooting pretty good now that i have souped it up lol, so no you dont have to have a new bow to shoot well.