If crossbows are permitted for hunting they are a good alternative, particularly for those with shoulder injuries.
About ten years back I was a dedicated, long time recurve shooter (have a beautiful custom take-down recurve that pulls about 51 pounds at my draw/30.5") - anyhow, injured my right shoulder and it never really healed well or got back full function. So while I could still pull my bow, it was the "holding" it for more then a few seconds which got painful.
Fortunately, in Ontario a "bow is a bow" and you can use a crossbow in any "bow season" so I picked up a Horton (recurve). Went with a cheaper model at first because didn't know if I would like it - I was "more traditional" in my thinking. Ended up loving it and now on my 3rd bow since then (currently an Excalibur - still don't like the pulley's).
I do sell the entire Barnett line at work. They are (decently) built but not top end - in fact their "top end" stuff is attractive to new shooters because it comes in at about 1/2 the ticket price of the competition - but ultimately there is a reason for that. But they are good bows to start with - if you stick with it you WILL upgrade and if you find it's "not your thing" you don't have over a grand invested in another "garage decoration"
The greatest flaw in the thinking of those unfamiliar with crossbows (including many that make game laws), is that they "assume" a crossbow gives you some great advantage over a traditional or compound bow in terms of killing power or distance - neither is true. It's "still a bow" and realistically, a 30 yard weapon.
But like anything, with tons of practice and the "right gear" you could stretch that out to 50 yards or better. I have my own range and shoot upwards of 300 shots some weeks. Even so, for me, 35 yards is the farthest I feel "ethical" shooting when there is an animal in the sights. And in practice, the furthest shot I have taken on a deer ever was 27 yards - 15 to 20 yards is far more typical.
Where the crossbow has the advantage:
I use a cocking device to pull my 150 or 175 pounds of draw weight (gets hard on the fore-arms when you have pulled it for the 50th time in an afternoon - but no issue on the shoulders - can even get a "mechanical crank" if you really have trouble) and the trigger does "all the holding" for you - you can keep it "cocked" for upwards of 10 hours.
It doesn't take much practice to get accurate (compared to "other" bows). You can use more traditional sights, fiber sights, red dot scopes (which is my preference) or even a rifle scope if you like.
And (today) they ARE fairly durable - I stayed away from compound models because they were notorious for spending more time in the shop then the field when the were first hitting the market - most of those bugs have been ironed out.
Now I actually prefer bow hunting over rifle hunting, at least for whitetail's. It's more of a (game) for me. My season isn't ruined if I don't get a deer and there is something just (satisfying - best word I can think of) about getting a deer to come within 15 yards and having it totally relaxed, totally unaware that you are there.