Let me say of couple of things if I may. First, Rack I agree with you 100% but have you noticed there is never a tree in that "perfect" spot? The second thing is there are several aspects IMO to stand placement. First and foremost the stand needs to be in an area that will give you a realistic chance of having a whitetail (whatever flavor your after) to come buy your stand in range. Second, the stand needs to be set in a manner that coincides with the prevailing winds and the direction you expect the deer to be traveling from and too. Scent lok may work to some degree but that forget the wind just hunt stuff is a bunch of bull IMO. I wouldn't recommend that anyone go testing a 5 year old whitetail bucks nose with or without Scent Lok. That being said, I do still someitmes hunt winds that aren't perfect for the stands that I am hunting. If you can take advantage of prevailing winds to allow you to be able to hunt a stand several times without "burning up" the area, you will always be better off. Third, you need to put your stands where you can get in and out with as little disturbance as possible. Fourth, the stand needs to offer concealment background cover or something to break up your outline so that you are able to go undetected long enough to get a shot. Fifth, you have to pick a stand that going to offer you a shot. If you're a right handed shooter, setting up to shoot to your left is always the best option but you should also have a backup plan. If the deer don't show up where you expect them, is there shooting lanes on the other side of the tree, is there anything in the tree that you're in or the tree that is behind you that's going to obstruct a shot to the otherside or is the tree providing background cover cover going to allow you to shoot to the otherside of the tree if necessary etc. There's a lot more to picking a stand location than picking a tree that is in shooting range of where you expect deer to be. So, in my opinion stand location is by far the most important element. Location, Location, Location