Like said above, I would start off with taking a doe. Go through the process of making a shot, let your excitement and emotions be exposed and begin to understand them to be able to control them in the future.
Congrats on an extremely rare trophy! I had one that I passed on a few years to see what it would grow into and then last year it disappeared and haven’t seen it since.
I would save your money and focus on only hunting the right wind and thermal pushes. I’ve spend more than my fair share of money on scent control in the past and all I learned is the whitetails nose is superior to human technology.
This is completely normal. If you’ve tracked the stories of any state record buck there are always hunters that file complaints and charges against the hunter that harvested the animal. There is always a thorough investigation due to the fact that there are several hunters that are mad they...
I would concentrate on finding their bedding area. If you’re just seeing nighttime activity then I would assume that the area you’re monitoring is the main feeding area that is being utilized at night.
For me in my area it is way too difficult to find a tree for a climber. Hang ons with sticks or saddles are much more forgiving on finding the right tree.