I’m a miserable failure - 45 years of deer hunting and 0 book trophies.
This "book" that you speak of should never be a measure of success. In many instances, it's a measure of whether lady luck has sided with someone or not.
I've never even had a buck's rack measured.
An unemployed Jester, is nobody's Fool.
the only real difference between a good tracker and a bad tracker, is observation. all the same data is present for both. The rest, is understanding what you're seeing.