was able to watch a buck yesterday for over an hour on one hillside that had 13 does on it.......found this spot last week elk hunting/deer scouting----its pretty high up and the fog kept rolling in and out...finally the fog lifted and saw a 3x4 bedded down at the top of the cut....he let us look at him for a couple of minutes before getting up and streching out like a cat then walking the 3 steps into the timeber....told my hunting partner who was with me and had already tagged out that this was the one and i would be sitting on this cut come late season to attempt a shot. went up there yesterday and totally fogged in. finally about 12:30 the fog lifted. started seeing deer on the opposite hillside immediately. the other hillside was 175 yards to the bottom and went to 325 yards at the top. it was about 350 yards long. only saw does and yearlings on the hilll. they would feed for about 45 minutes then bed down for 1/2 hour or so then get back up and continue feeding.....kept watching for the big buck but he never showed up...about 3:30 i saw another deer enter the cut from the bottom left side----it was acting different from the ones already in the cut---it was walking along at a steady pace---not like the others just ambling around feeding/bedding sporadically.....i dont have the greatest eyesight and told my buddy i thought it was a buck....after about 100 yards of him going through the cut i could tell he was a small forked horn--not something i was interested in hauling out of that hole....he worked the bottom edge walking by the does with his neck streched out---went to far edge of the cut and went up about 50 yards and started his way back left on a constant walk....when he was close do a doe he would stretch his neck and and smell but kept on going...he made his way back to the far left of the cut where there were two does and joined up with them. one of the does squatted to take a pee then jumped about 10 feet away. the buck planted his nose in the spot where she had peed then stuck his snout in the air and lip curled.....he stood there for about a minute just lip curling ---finally he stopped and walked up the cut about another 50 yards and walked back across the top.....never took a shot but thought it wa cool seeing what deer do in the rut....he walked that section of clearcut like it was a grid--going 350 yards, up 50 yards, 350 yards back, up 50 yards then 350 yards across the top.....never seen that before....something pretty cool to watch
