The land you hunt (location) is without a doubt the #1 factor that will determine your success.........especially over a long period of time.
Anyone can kill a mature buck on any given day in the woods..........even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile..........however, if they are not around in decent numbers you will have to work extremely hard or be extremely lucky to do it CONSISTENTLY.
You can't kill what isn't there.
What do you guys consider consistently anyways? Every year? Every other?
I'm not saying you can't kill a big ol' buck in the heavily hunted battlefields of state forests...........I'm just saying that if that is your goal there are easier ways to accomplish it
Why do you think people pay thousands of dollars to hunt Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Texas etc???
Because that is where you stand a pretty good chance of seeing and taking a big buck. Sure it can be done in your home county by a couple guys a year out of hundreds...............but in Pike county someone downing a big mature buck is old hat..........happens every year to many guys.
Take an average hunter..........not Chuck Adams but not a clueless tard either. Put him in the heavily driven, over hunted, beat down public lands and he will win the lottery before taking a mature buck.
Put that same hunter on a privately owned farm that gets minimal if any hunting pressure and has abundant food sources and good deer numbers and all he has to do is not miss. He will have a wall full of nice bucks.
You can be a master at any of the other categories and still have an extreme uphill battle to consistently take mature bucks if they just aren't there..............or you can have a great location and great success with only average skills/knowledge of the other categories.
Everyone here should ask themselves what they would be willing to pay for out of all the categories listed and that will give you your answer
I doubt anyone is willing to pay very much for any of these
2. 10+ years of experience
3. Scent Control, including the wind
4. Knowledge of Hunting Area
5. Time spent scouting
6. Actual amount of time on stand
Now how many guys are willing to pay for a chance to take their skill, knowledge, experience and patience and apply them to a honey hole---dream spot where big mature whitetails are seen regularly??
1. Location, Location, Location