You've said it all right here. This is what I look for. I like to find where the buck beds. If I can't get him when he leaves his bed for feeding/socializing, ( some of the biggest bucks I've seen, never socialized, it seemed the other bucks knew their place with them.) during the season opener or second weekend, I'll wait until Oct. 20th comes round and then hunt him. It seems that around Oct. 20th, mature bucks start getting a little antsy and like to leave their beds a little earlier than usual. They are eager to check on the does. Grunting works well during this time. Timing is so important, it is everything. You will only get one chance. If you miss or get busted, it's all over, he won't bed there any more.

I'd have to disagree with the lone wolf about stand rotation. If you do what it takes for deer to never know that you were there, you can keep hunting the stand. You have to be smart about it. If you get busted or sense something wrong (less deer sightings), move to another location and let that stand cool down according to the severity of how busted you were. I also try to hunt observation stands to get tabs on which way the buck is likely to travel once he gets up from his bed. The reason I say this about stand rotation is because sometimes I only have one place to hunt. If I do it right, I won't have any problems with stand burnout. Rule of thumb is.... If you have a shadow of doubt, don't hunt the stand. It pays to hunt on the cautious side and not ruin the area for the season.

BTW, the area that I hunt in is southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. You may have to adjust your times compared to mine because of your location.