david, i did the same last year. bowhunted the DEEP woods. over a mile from the parking lot every time...hunting away from hunters. hunting reliable rifle spots that are awesome bottle necks and such...

after a couple fruitless hunts i realized i have yet to see another hunter in the woods. realized that the majority of the oaks were 200yds from the parking spot. made walking in easy...but i hunted the areas bad and didnt do much leg work other than finding the oak ridge. got winded a couple times. who would thought they were come BETWEEN me and the parking lot? i could SEE my truck! lol.

you got lotsssss more expirience than i do....youll find the deer im sure.

im still kinda clueless when it comes to hunting the BIG woods. the state game lands i hunt here at school is over 10k acres...bordered by a large timber company that is huntable...the rest is ALL woods as well...huge tract(for its location atleast) hard to pin them down when they can eat anywhere...oaks everywhere..thickets everywhere else the bed and browse in...i will figure this big woods stuff out one day....rifle season used to be easy hunting...sit in a funnel and shoot the ones you wanted..couldnt even blink alot of times!