My guess is he got a whopping from a bigger buck. I am still seeing pre-rut behavior here more responsive to buck grunts from the feedback I am getting. My buddy got an 8 point on sat he said he grunted buck rushed in and peed in his scrape. then he grunted again and he came to 15 feet. And then it was over but my observations from this tell me they are starting to get territorial, neck was not swollen and tarsal glands not that dark. Heavy chase but the game doesn' t appear to be in full swing in my area.