Skeeter, I am in south east of pocupine plain so i am in 48 also. The elk season may have always been a time for moisture to accumulate but in my opinion these last 2 years have been more than usual. I am just going by the problems we have had harvesting the last 2 years. Rain would come, then when the grain was just about dry the rain would hit again. In 2002 it ended up that we didn't get a kernal in the bin. The moisutre just kept coming and all the crop was left out over winter for the elk to feast on. The fellows that hunt on my place in the archery season ended up leaving their camper here and coming back for it a week later. They have been coming up for 6 years now i believe, and they have never had a problem traveling the back roads with the camper before. But if this really has any effect who can say. Just talking to the local hunters around my boss especially, a great hunter for several years, the feeling from most is that the elk are rutting earlier every year here. So maybe this trend has dates back further than we think, but anything you hear at a local coffee shop should be taken with a grain of salt.