Well your two options are lose/lose as you have stated them. Given the two choices, and only those two I would opt for the Oct 1 option. It will break up their summer feeding pattern, but that usually changes around here after the first week or two of bow anyways. It would be better if it was a week of ML a week off and then bow. In VA it's bow season from the first weekend in Oct and then ML for one to two weeks before rifle season (depending on your location) That's the best way to do it. You can bow hunt during that period or ML.

As for complaining about small game hunters: Here there are not a tenth as many small game hunters as there are deer hunters. I very rarely see any small game hunters, although I did have one blasting squirrels on MY property during bow season once. He had wandered (ie trespassed) from a neighbors property where he had permission to hunt. So small game hunters won't have the impact that deer hunters do.