It was only a little over a mile away, but the lighting was poor and the picture was taken with inferior equipment: a small pocket sized video camera zoomed in at 68 power.
The buck was in a good, safe spot. There are four trail heads that give access to the area where this big boy and two other big ones were feeding, along with eight smaller bucks that were 1/4 mile below them. All of these trail heads are at least 5 miles and 2500 vertical feet away from this "buck lair" and it is in extremely rugged country. These bucks need checking out from a closer position before the Sept. 15 opener.