I agree, hunting mature deer is very tough. When I first started out bowhunting my main goal was simply to prove to myself I could actually harvest a buck with a bow and I wasn't real picky. After a few years of shooting lesser deerI realizedthat Iwas prematurelyshooting a smaller buck due to lack of patience andIquickly began to dislikethefeeling that follows when you really wished you'd have passed. That feeling can stick with you all year. It took a while, but I finally got it through my itchy trigger finger that you can't shoot a wallhanger if you burn your tag onone of the easy-to-shootsubordinate bucks that casually stroll by. You also have to be willing to eat a tag sandwich if it doesn't happen that year.
There are two ways toplay the big-buck game. The first isyou have to find where a specific buck lives during pre-season and set up accordingly. The second is tosimply putyour stands in a hotspot during the rut and hope for the best. I believe themore consistantlysuccessful big buck shooters are honing in on a specific buck or two. That is the tactic I took for the first time this year. It is a lot of work getting permission, scouting early and often, and being patient for the right time to move in, but it paid off dearly for me as I harvested the big buck I had watched for over a year.