I'm to old to talk about. Most of my friends have all quit hunting, now they just fish, all except ol' Lumpy. I can tell you that I hunted the Pauns in 1958, then my wife drew the first year it re-opened and our family has either scouted or hunted it to many times to count and I'm still learning. Love the unit and expect to be there the next three years with kids with 10, 12, and 14 bonus points.
I do agree with what you are saying and the only thing I could advise those with a permit is that each year it changes. Most of these deer migrate quite a distance. I hunted the late ML hunt in 2008 and one day they (big buck) were almost impossible to find, it snowed and the next day they showed up in the rut. Then I hunted the management hunt in 2011 and they were everywhere, somewhat different than the year before in the same area. I have seen years back when the majority of deer stopped for a while in Nephi Pasture and then they started just passing on through. During the early years I hunted the top a lot and helped a friend from Washington. He shot the deer later on in the hunt which I told him not to shoot because it was too small. He won the State of Washington deer contest with that deer because they allowed any deer from any state. It was shot during the late October hunt on the top plateau. Another year hunting on top during the rifle hunt, which I might add, we were blocked from going through the road by one of the main local guides, and was chasing a deer that turned out to to 37" wide. Some fellows from Ogden eventually ended up with that deer.
My son should draw this year - - could be an another interesting year.
