Lets put this into context. I know " do it yourselfers" that are good hunters. These guys hunt the same way here that they do when they are in Illinois. They spend 40-60 days in the woods here and 5-10 in the woods in Illinois. They kill good deer more often than not in Illinois but rarely if ever kill them around here. Same hunters same techniques different land. They scout the land themselves, place all of their own stands, and do everything else by themselves. If that is not " TRUE SUCCESS" then I don' t know what is. Skill is definetly a big factor but you can' t kill big deer where they don' t live. If you don' t have the gene pool or population no matter how hard you hunt you won' t be as successful as you would be on good land. So again I say location, location, location! By all means is takes a lot of skill, and a little luck never hurt, but even those " lucky" guys that out work everyone else will be more successful on prime hunting ground. HMMMM maybe that' s why the Pro' s (obviously skilled hunters) choose to hunt Prime Hunting Ground rather than the piss poor places that I have no choice but hunt.