I agree. As a general rule, you want avoid walking and leaving scent in area where you expect or anticipate deer movement. However, walking in the dark without a flashlight should take into account safety. There are many hunters who would most likely still be alive today if they had only carried and used a $3 flashlight.

first of all, as a famous fisherman said, "if you want to catch big fish then fish where there are big fish"

So I try to hunt where there are big deer. Then I spend a lot of time hunting. You will not see a trophy buck in your trailer or camp.

Then I remain patient and wait for the right deer. I have no problem not shooting a buck every season - willing to wait for the right opportunity.

When the right opportunity presents itself I try to be prepared - I try to take the very best shot available to me - if that means getting out of a stand and getting myself into a range that I am sure I can kill the deer then that is what I do

Hunted my best deer ever taken for 4 days straight - was patient - when he finally showed, instead of taking a 200 yard plus shot near dark, I got out of my blind and went through the brush. Got to 100 yards, crawled out into the sendero and took a shot I that I knew would be a kill shot. He booked so it all worked out

Sticking with the plan. Being prepared to execute the shot. Hunting where mature bucks are. Putting in the hunting hours.

The wind.

Yes sir this.

Can't kill them if you ain't out there. Lots of azz time and luck.

Like Texflip said, you have to be hunting. And luck helps. And the rut helps, since it dumbs down the bucks a good bit.

And there's one thing few people mention. The big bucks are way smarter than most folks think, and they usually know where you are. They will avoid you if they know where you are, so hunt outside of your pattern. I killed a lot of big bucks by being where they thought I wasn't. I killed quite a few big bucks while they were looking at the stand they thought I was in. Shot em in the back, I guess you could say.

I experienced this first hand many years ago while hunting a small tract of land that I had hunted for many years during high school and college. I decided to throw up a ladder stand in an area between a food plot and thicket that I felt certain deer were using as a bedding area. I also picked the area because it was between two longstanding box stands. My thoughts were that if I were a buck trying to reach the bedding area without being seen by hunters in the box stands, that would be the route I would take.

I took a wide (18-inch) eight-point about 45 minutes after throwing up the ladder stand as he was headed straight towards the bedding area.

I also believe firmly that older bucks are smart enough to use their nose to stay just beyond where you can see them. And unlike younger bucks that often blow at you, older bucks will stay silent so that you never know they were there.

Time in the stand. Biggest buck on my lease killed after Christmas. Made an appearance 6 times total on different cameras. He saw a young buck near a feeder and ran to him to run him off and boom. Still was never going to the fender though as hqe was never seen there.

Biggest I killed was at 10:40 am chasing a doe being chased by 4 other bucks. Large ranch with no feeders. Most people are at the house then. 215 yard shot in December in Bosque. They were still rutting.

Other big one for me was at 10:30 am in Dec in S. Tex.

Three things that many deer hunters ignore most. The biggest bucks are seldom killed at feeders, it pays to remain in the stand when others have long since returned to camp or gone home, and not spending time at the range usually comes back to bite you.

What TX Dan said.
Plus my largest deer have all been taken when others were either gone or sitting in camp and during really extreme weather conditions (my largest was actually taken right in the middle of a horrific thunderstorm that I was actually looking for a break in to get down out of the stand for safety when suddenly through the down pour/wind howling I saw a nice 8 point coming through the brush followed by a 12 that had not been seen or on any cameras. I back off feeder locations a couple of hundred yards and hunt tripods or ground blinds, only hunt with favorable wind for location, and walk long distances to get to hunting spot and I firmly believe in the Dead Down Wind products, do not wear my hunting clothes or boots in to camp or vehicle. I keep them stored separate and dress after I park and step away from veh, 4 wheeler, utv etc and undress before the return ride. Works for me. I believe big deer do pattern hunters/box blinds. However, when the rut is in full swing for those magical few days, I believe you got to be out there as much as possible because that love craze just makes the boys stupid and they can show up anywhere at anytime. Right place, right time, right deer structure, and yes luck. Control what you can, hunt when and as often as you can and be patient.

I killed my biggest 30 minutes into the 2010 regular season. Honestly, for that one, trail cam scouting was the biggest factor. I knew he had been there several days the week before. We had it narrowed down to the two most likely pastures and i was in the right spot when the sun came up.

Rattling. Early in the season.

Stay out of the area until all the conditions are right.

The rut has been a factor in almost every good buck I have taken. Either with a doe, actively cruising, or coming to the sound of another buck chasing.

Pure f*(k*$% luck............

Luck, my biggest deer was coming to the protein feeder all summer had 100's of pics during his growth phase. Then season opened and he was gone, figured someone else got him. 3 rd week I'd season leaving ranch to go to town to pick up cattle cubes and lunch at 11:30 I look across the pasture and see a buck thrashing a mesquite. Stopped got out and watched the show for a minute and when he stopped and picked up his head I could not believe it was him. To date he is the biggest buck ever taken on the place. You never know when the big one will show up so Hunt when ever you can.

Just hunting often.
Blind and corn feeder, they will come

as a guy told me years ago "feed heavy"

I attribute this one to not being pressured. New area last year. hadn't been hunted in a few years. feeder and pen went down early. but, because of all the rain last fall I didn't hunt the tree stand early for safety reasons. the big 6 I was looking for didn't come out until after I shot the little 10.

My biggest was in 30+ mph winds with a cold front blowing in. 3 of us were drinking a few beers in camp debating on whether to hunt or not! My F-I-L is old school and swears deer don't move in high winds (LOL...he is a democrat, but that's for another post) so just to prove him wrong I said screw it, y'all stay and drink I'm going to my blind. I took 2 beers and didn't even have time to drink the first one before ol boy showed up.

Driving to my hunting lease on a morning where the rain was coming down sideways with wind and thunder and lightning flashing and me wondering why in the heck am I not still in my nice warm bed?
I almost turned around and went home that morning but kept pushing on for some reason.
I had to wait in the cabin for a while until the rain stopped as the front pushed through to the south and the lightning stopped.
I settled into my stand and didn't need a flashlight to walk to my stand as it was daylight enough to see.
Just as I sat down and looked up into my clearing there stood four deer at 20 yards.
One was a huge buck and I raised my bow and let the arrow fly.
12pt. 20" inside spread and scored 158 pope & young.
Glad I didn't turn around and go back home that morning.

LUCK - I killed my biggest by hunting the last place anyone would think to hunt. There was one pecan tree in a coastal field at the front of the property within sight of where we parked our vehicles. Instead of hunting all the oak trees on the rest of the property like always, I climbed that tree and the buck followed a doe directly under me that evening.

Luck, sitting different stands, habitat management, passing him up on the first day of season as it would have been an iffy shot. And did I mention luck!?!

I shot my biggest last year. I attribute it a lot to just a well managed family hunting place, and partially just to dumb luck. the fact That the deer was there period is attributable to all the work and patience we've put into the place. the fact that I got him was just lucky. I shot him shortly after 7am Jan 2nd. I walked to the blind in the rain and fell asleep in the blind. I woke up at 7am when the feeder is supposed to feed happy to see a familiar buck that was on our cull list and had every intention of taking him when a much larger deer stepped onto the scene. After spending too much time in the low light and fog trying to figure out if this was a deer we had seen before or not, He acted like with the increasing light that he was going to leave. So I figured it was time to take action. As it turns out he was not a deer the we had seen many times before. or at least not that we could tell.

frame 9pt. 145 5/8 gross. 19.75in spread. 4.5-5.5yr old. 180lbs on the hoof.