Ok I’ve only been able to quickly read thru much of these later pages, but I have some to add.

While yes location is important solely for the fact that something has to exist in your location in order to kill it, being in a good stereotypical location means NOTHING, and some guys kill big bucks DESPITE their location. I have been to where Shed hunts, and I tell you this, if you think you can plug any of us in here into his location and you will bring home the bucks he does, you are SADLY, sadly mistaken. Even though obviously some big bucks exist in his spots, you cannot comprehend the needle in a haystack feeling of what it would be like to pin one down out there.

And here’s another tidbit about location, that I am sure encompasses more guys than just me. I live in a county that grows some whopper bucks. And yes I hunt there some. But I feel FAR more comfortable hunting an area with LESS numbers of mature bucks because the land is better. Let me explain. Close to home county is extremely chopped up and segmented. Much is limited to no access. Bucks grow BIG. BUT, unless your tiny little slice is in of the spots that the big bucks spends time on, you can go for YEARS without so much as a glimpse. Now take, the other property where its still segmented, but not so much. Rural farmland with nicer habitat, but immensely more pressure. Far fewer bucks reach 3.5 years of age, but those that do are more targetable, because you can chase them (move stands etc) a little more than being stuck to your one little spot. Also a few less does overall, allows them to be a little more active during the rut.