It Sure IS a Contest...
BUT...only with yourself.
You're really "wrapped around the axle" with these other guys' opinions as a bunch of the other folks have observed.
I've been hunting for more than 40 years. You mentioned all the gear and gadgets. A lot of hard earned ca$h has gone into that stuff, but still...you don't think you're a successful hunter, and you're sure you're not in the eyes of your compadres. That's part of the problem.
One secret of hunting is...,
"The Magic is not in The Wand; the Magic is in The Wizard." (Jim Funk 1988)
I don't use store bought cover scent, nor scent block (I use plain lye soap and then expose external clothing to hickory smoke) I wear wool clothing and leather boots or in weather above 50 degrees, I wear moccasins so I can creep when I need to move. I don't hunt from a tree because as a Hunter Safety Instructor and Hunting Mentor I found that 95% of the hunting accidents in my state were from guys falling out of tree stands.
So Dave don't climb no trees
I use a single shot rifle with open, iron sights most of the time [a flintlock], I get my deer in close like at 50 yards or less, and ALL of my deer have been taken with that rifle. IF I go out where there is a huge field, I will take a bolt action Mauser with a scope, or a single shot Handi-Rifle with a scope, but so far that's been while I was mentoring another hunter. (Never bagged a deer with either) So stop worrying about equipment, and start worrying about YOU.
Another secret is..., the KISS principle..."
Keep it Simple Son".
Back waaay off the gadgets, and get into self improvement. How good are you at getting deer in close (when not in a tree), or better, how close can you get to bedded deer? HOW good are your tracking skills. I think you mentioned you lost some deer? Do you need some marksmanship work? Have you tried a range where you get up in a "stand" and shoot the arrow at a target below? Did you lose the deer, or was it that you couldn't find it. OH and don't assume that the guys with which you hunt are any better at it simply because they are older or have been doing it longer, or claim to have gotten more deer. There's another old saying around here..."Early to bed and early to rise; hunt all day and tell big lies". You can substitute "hunt" with "fish" it's the same thing. The deer or fish always get bigger with the story telling. Ignore that. So work on you being a better shot with a gun or bow, a better stalker, and a better tracker. It's a contest only with yourself, remember that.
My personal third "secret" that applies to me only,....I approach hunting with a little spirituality.
(Spoiler Alert...non-believers stop here to avoid possibly being offended...adding such a mindset is purely a personal choice and does not mean that those choosing not to adopt such thinking are in any way bad)
I want to SEE game, and other critters. To personally experience something in the woods that I've not in the past. I don't need to fill a tag, etc. IF God (or The Great Spirit, Gitche Manitou, Karma, whatever you prefer) puts a deer in front of me, then THAT is the dear I am meant to harvest, and for which
I'm to be thankful. Doe..., or buck with a few points...I never "wait" to get something bigger. . If I don't get a deer,
I'm still thankful..., I was out in the woods, and that is a gift. If I see an eagle, or a chipmunk runs up and sits on the toes of my boot and eats a seed, or a hen turkey wings in and scares the crap out of me (I'm not used to seeing them in flight - big wingspan)...it's all much more than I had before I went into the woods.
And the deer are NOT automatically harvested. Sometimes, I'm "tested" to see if I'm greedy. A bad or iffy shot...pass on that. The small yearling is safe. A lone doe with the small faun, likely a late birth, I don't shoot. There are plenty of fat doe without youngsters. It's unlikely that I will shoot the very large buck, since he's the patriarch and he likes to keep his large family in an area where I hunt, and does a good job making more deer. God bless him. Now his younger of his offspring with say, four points..., if God puts one of them in front of me, yes I harvest that one.
You can't eat horns, and unless you killed that huge buck with the huge rack by dropping on it from above with a stone knife..., the rack or mounted head on the wall likely doesn't prove manhood, only skill, and sometimes not even that.
So ignore them.
Last secret.....Try to reset what you're doing, and work on
your skills and your experience...., and
leave others to their own path.
LD