Not sure if its the same way elsewhere, Im almost as far north as the canadian border—but generally early season here is the 10/1 archery opener thru mid october, and by mid-september deer have transitioned away from summer patterns to early fall. Different food sources, generally we’ve had at least a couple frosts in many areas so ground cover is starting to die back, leaves are starting to fall, etc. I usually need to re-locate deer since we have no ag and very little open terrain, so you can only rarely see them from a distance. I rely a lot on past seasons experiences to locate deer this time of year. I definitely dont hunt any less aggressively either, as I have enough places to hunt that it makes little sense to “save” a spot. But its a good time of year to just follow your nose, hunt/scout for sign, be mobile, and it usually ends up working out ok. Most of the handful of bucks Ive shot archery hunting are in this 10/1-10/15 window, so its worked out for me reasonably well. I also just enjoy the scenery while picking up intel for later in october and for future seasons.
As far as food, often a lot of the apples are down by mid october. Apples can be an attractant so its a good tactic, although its a brief window and seems to be an “obvious” draw that only pans out for me if its on private, otherwise deer stay away until well after dark. We have very few white oaks and those are usually fully dropped before the season, and red oak acorns dont really become a big draw until later in the season. This time of year I like the edges of wet areas that seem to hang on to the green salad-type food a little later, and areas with plenty of little maple whips, blackberry, etc for browse. If theres an area like this a couple hundred yards from wherever theyve been hanging out during august and sept, that seems to be a good bet.
