RE: take time off work??
My personal experience has been that the chasing seems to start around November 3rd (almost yearly - give or take a day) in my part of PA and that is when the hunting REALLY gets good. It also seems that by the last Saturday of archery here every buck in the neghborhood has disappeared and is locked down with a doe.
If you are looking to schedule days off the first or second week of November would be prime time to do so.