i once found a buck crawling thru the really THICK **** behind me about 20 yards. he woudl move when i would.. those buggers know whats up. the only way to my stand was thru the thick stuff, and i had a slight path cut from about two weeks worth of trucking thru there. the big bucks started using that path. if i were you i woudl border the thick stuff make your stand between that and teh watereing holes. i have had great luck waiting at the edge of teh thick stuff. especially during the rut the big ones seem to get smarter. and the reason you guys might not have seen any bucks is because when you get there in the morning you just spooked em all to run further up to the north spots. there is what looks like a valley or opening in the northwest that has sign in it, i woudl set up somewhere between that and the pond.