I don't think their is a lot of poaching. Im sure a bunch of people do it but its not a lot. But a lot of it is location, skill, and preparation. For white tail we hunt our own property and have a prime location. With not a lot of pressure around us so their tends to be a lot of nice bucks. Plus they follow similar patterns each year and with trail cameras out often and just seeing them frequently we know generally when their are nice bucks. This will be my first year hunting with a bow for them, in the past I've done the rifle season but have had a couple people take deer on our property with bows. My father has a friend who has a large property that has great elk and mule deer on it. Sense he doesn't do much hunting we are allowed to come and have always had great success. We tend not to do much public land deer hunting. But do go on public land for Elk and Antelope sometimes. I haven't had much luck with antelope but we haven't done much scouting etc for them when we have gone. Elk hunting we will only hunt for them when we can draw a tag for an excellent unit or private land. We've generally been successful with nice bucks, etc on hunts. So it really comes down to knowing the area and having prime hunting land. On public land their is a lot more pressure and nice bucks tend to get killed quicker and more often so their is less of them around. I won't shoot a buck unless its really nice, I'd rather go home empty handed then of killed a buck that had a lot of potential development. If you haven't had good success look into hunting private land or look for a better area. Scouting more and making sure your techniques are good such as scent prevention etc.