Our spot was fine as far as bucks, I got trail cams of several that were nice by our standards. We just only had 4-5 hunters for ~500 acres, the deer didn't need to move for warmth or food, the rut was basically over by rifle season, and no hunters were pressuring movement, the hard rain on 2 days (Thanksgiving being one of them) kept the deer bedded and the hunters inside.

Hopefully it's a mild winter, the numerous acorns keep them fat, and next year we crack a few 3.5+ year old bucks. The bucks we took back there had more fat reserves than I can ever remember. Last winter was hard on them, I'm buddies with the Game Warden and he had several farmers within 20 miles report finding over 20+ dead deer on their farm.