He sounds like a lot of people I've seen over the years. He wants to hog all the good spots for himself and be the top dog. I'd say you two need to have some sort of rules to level the playing field. I can see not screwing upa good stand site of his, but he can't reserve the choice half of 300 acres. Put a reasonable minimum distance between stands and help each other, not hold one back. That said, he doesn't get these nice bucks year after year simply because he has the choice area. You know the old saying about the grass always being greener. If you have sign in your area the same deer are there more than likely. 300 acres isn't big enough to prevent deer traveling it all. You say it's the area, he probably says(and I expect he's close to right) that it's the hunter. There are NO lucky hunters that score year after year. The rifle bit doesn't impress me but you know what I mean. I'd ease in a little closer to him and try not to mess up his setups. You say he hasn't hunted much. That doesn't matter if you do the homework and there are deer there. Sometimes NOT hunting because of wind or whatever is the wiser choice to ensure success later on.