For some reason I started thinking about an old article I read which was about how the leaf drop in the fall affects deer behavior. The author stated he believed most people overlook this as a factor in deer hunting. After some time spent thinking it over, I believe it does have a big impact on how deer behave in my area...

In general, I find deer spend much more of their time in the 'edge' along fields and such as long as there are leaves still on the trees. They also are more likely to travel along edges instead of deeper within any stand of timber. This seems to be true for deer in general, but a lesser extent to mature bucks.

Once the leaf drop comes along, deer have a greater tendancy to bed deeper within cover. This makes sense since it is much more 'open.' There are a few places I hunt, deeper within larger peices of woods, that are not worth hunting early in the season - but after the third week of October (our leaf drop) there are plenty of both bucks and does everywhere there.

Then the rut kicks in and everything gets crazy of course....

Just curious....what are your thoughts on the leaf drop? Does it have a significant effect where you hunt?