Crop rotation and harvest time frame have a dramatic effect in Eastern NC and WV. In NC, they pick the corn in August/Sept and it has little effect on the deer hunting thereafter. The beans are picked later and they create a major food source for deer during the NC season.Another example, if the corn is unpicked in WV, you can bet many of the deer are holed-up in the cornfields. If it is picked just a day or two before season, the hunting is improved as the deer disperse.

Jeff - If crop rotation is the answer toyour mystery, you should be able to sort through by re-examining field usage over the preceding years. Your harvest times and subsequent effects might be a lot different than mine. Do you have dog hunting there? Thoseclowns cancompletely disrupt an area ... pretty quick too.