I'm perfectly healthy and hunt almost exclusively with a crossbow. I pass on plenty of deer and am usually asleep during gun season. It allowed an easy entrance into hunting for me as someone who had never done so before. It's a legal method in my state and I intend to keep using it. Muzzleloaders weren't meant to shoot 300 yards either. Unless someone is using a stick bow they made themselves and an arrowhead they carved out of a rock I view them as on the same plane. I have never once used a doctor's excuse. And you're right, I didn't wait for gun season. Those deer don't belong to anyone and as long as it's a legal method of take I'm good with it. I could've shot 4 deer with my .308 today and nobody would've said a thing, but I took a shot a coyote instead because they are legal year round and it is not deer gun season.
And it's not nearly as great as everyone thinks it is. They are heavy, unwieldy in the ground or in the air, don't ride well on a 4 wheeler or anything else, nearly impossible to reload from a treestand unless you have an expensive one with a crank, arrows don't fly as far as the longer compound arrows. Try carrying a climber, a crossbow, backpack, and everything else you need for a few miles, it's really not that great. But I do it so I can be in a tree and watch a dumb spike mill about below.
For those that are looking at crossbows, I have a Barnett Jackal that has worked well for the most part. It exploded on me last year and Barnett replaced it. I plan to upgrade to a smaller and lighter one at some point.
