Sam, Great Buck and an even better Hunt! I hunt the Dacks too. Only a weekend or two out of the season, since I started hunting a state park in the southern zone. It is a great place to take some giants. But like your story indicates, you need to work your ass off to get a giant. I'm a member of a hunting camp in the Adirondacks and we drive deer to one another, which is quite common up there. But we often see a buck track in the snow, or some other buck evidence and follow the track, during the hunt. Sometimes it pays off, and sometimes that buck is miles from there already....
Totally different environment and totally different species up there!!!
Congratulations on a great hunt and a great trophy.