Almost a year blinked by, and the story everyone keeps repeating for 2025 is the same two words: dry and drought. We went from one of the wettest springs many can remember to a mud-to-dust summer that baked canopies and punished cropland. Farmers fought the calendar twice — first to get seed in through the slop, and then to hold anything together under extreme heat and empty, dry skies. Sunshine was bountiful. Precipitation was not. The good news tucked inside the heat haze: Most of our region appears to have been spared from EHD, even as some neighboring states were not so fortunate. Ohio is seeing of the most extreme die-offs I’ve ever witnessed, and it’s devastating to hear the news of deer in all age classes suffering the effects of a horrible disease.

Hunting seasons from the bays of Maryland to the borders of Maine opened on staggered schedules, with most areas logging at least a week of time afield before today, with a handful of areas ticking off days for much longer.

Early hunting windows reflected the weather. Plenty of folks delayed first sits when the mercury threatened meat care, but deer still moved, and several hunters told stories of shots made good. I heard of solid buck kills in New York, New Jersey, and Vermont, with close calls from Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. One heavy-racked 8-point went 188 pounds dressed after he parked under a Vermont oak tree on opening morning while doing what big deer do when mast is on the ground. When the shot opportunity came, hunter Avery sent a blade through the boiler room, shorting his season to just a lone morning sit.

For most of the area, Oct. 7 brought change to the dry pattern, as a strong front slid across the Northeast. Temperatures cracked and reset to numbers that were more seasonable, and movement perked up. Again, bucks fell, including a really nice Finger Lakes 10-point a friend shared on social media. Leaf color, while seemingly on time by the calendar, is muted. Sun-baked edges, mixed-stage turn, and plenty of crunch underfoot are affecting some of the splendor early season hunters usually enjoy. As a new week starts, a Nor’easter is laying down a soaking across parts of Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Not the delivery anyone ordered, but the overdue moisture is more than welcomed.

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So, what do we do with that backdrop? Let the sign and the groceries do the talking. When summers run dry, acorns seem to become the drumbeat calling hordes of deer. I was speaking to a hunter in a New Jersey sports shop the other day who told of a revolving door of more than 20 deer he saw while hunting a productive acorn ridge. Some regions report spotty populations of the fat-laden tree nuts, but others report bumper crops. Either way, the desirability of acorns is unmatched this time of year, and we have heard more about activity among oaks this year than any other — especially with select trees; white oaks where you’ve got them, reds where the whites don’t exist. Either way, those little calorie bombs are calling to deer with their fresh caps and greenish meat, with the resulting droppings scattered like pepper that screams, “Sit here.” If the winds of the Nor’easter pried a few more morsels loose, even better. In these conditions, it’s a good strategy to slide off the obvious field tree and work 15 to 60 yards inside the cover where trails pinch and bucks can see and scent-check without stepping into the open. This is the inside-edge game: just enough cover to make an older deer comfortable, with just enough daylight to make you dangerous.

Water matters in a dry year, and not just ponds. Think trickles, seeps, and ditch seams that thread through shaded timber. When it’s this dry, almost anything qualifies. Many hunters have added this to their strategy, and several have had a chance to capitalize. Almost like antelope, a late morning sit near a secluded source can pay off in the right spots. If the storm topped off everything in your area, watch for subtle shifts — fresh tracks at shallow crossings, mud shine on banks, or a new wallow of churned leaves where a trail meets a seep. These are quiet, close-quarters sits. Take the long way in using creeks for noise cover, and keep your intrusion to the bare minimum.

Though reports thus far have been a little more limited than traditional insights, this time of year, green food is your evening thermostat. Rye, oats, and alfalfa aren’t flashy, but they’re reliable. Does feed on the green, and where does gather, bucks will eventually follow, even if it’s from afar. My daughter and I watched as several bucks and does fed together on the edge of an oak flat and green field where two food sources met. However, tensions are already rising, as two bucks locked horns several times in increasingly aggressive exchanges while setting the tone for behavior in the weeks to come. At properties with mast and greens, start the week on acorns if the sign is hot, and then pivot to the plot edges on the first clear, calm evening after the rain. If you’re seeing family groups pop out early and a 2½-year-old buck swing the downwind edge near last light, you’re in the right zip code. Stay patient, and let the age class filter. Where ag is in play and chopping has finally started, keep an eye on fresh cut fields. Even in a drought year, the first 48 hours after equipment leaves can pull deer like a magnet.

Access is half the hunt right now, so it’s important to be mindful of entry and exits as your behaviors now will influence the behavior of deer later. This is a great time of year to hunt the edges and outside reaches of the areas you hunt. Punch in deep later when things might be more forgiving and the patterns are, well, a little less patternable.

Timing is simple: The first 60 to 90 minutes of daylight and the last 45 before closing remain the highest-percentage windows, but don’t sleep on those drizzly, wind-stable mornings that can carry movement to midmorning. After the Nor’easter pushes through and the barometer steadies, it should be a good time to be in a tree for that first bluebird evening. That’s where I’ll be. Scrapes that have already been opened but washed clean will get checked, and edges that seemed dead this past week should wake up, especially as bucks start to cover a little more ground to explore and expand their range. If you find fresh dirt and wet tracks this afternoon, hunt it tonight — no overthinking required. Now is a great time to crack an early season giant. I have killed some of my biggest deer between Oct. 8 and 18, all before the time when most people even take to the timber.

Week 1, in short: There’s been a pattern-breaking front, and enough early success to prove the plan. Hunt acorns where deer are finding them. Check water. Look to green groceries at dusk. Those are sound strategies that have been proven this past week. Keep it quiet, keep it close, and let the weather’s reset play to your favor. We’re at the beginning, and there’s a lot more fun ahead.