I was driving past a large field three nights ago and saw a beautiful buck still in velvet. Probably an 8 point. There were about 5-6 does and only one buck in the group. A group of 5 does was off about 50 yards from a doe and the buck. I watched for awhile as the single doe walked around with the buck slowly trailing her from behind. Every so often he would walk right up to her and smell her behind. She would stop and just stand there. Then he would act like he was gonna make a move on her, then he would stop. They repeated this over and over. I had never seen this before so early...in July. Is this normal behavior where as soon as a buck starts growing his antlers that he is curious about does being in estrus?