I am going to have to put in my two cents worth on this one. I am pretty good buds with JDH, and MDH, and although I agree with some of what was said, my experience has been more similar to Rackmaster's.
I believe the deer start to migrate the last week of September, every year. If you want to find out for sure, go to the white cliffs and check the tracks on the trails. I'll put a hundred bucks on it that there will be fresh tracks heading south before Oct 1.
When the rifle season opens the deer will be bunched up in groups right at the top of the pinks, and will bail off in droves during the week of the hunt.
Warmer, or hot weather will make them travel less during daylight, and make the hunt extremely tough. They'll bed at daylight, and won't get up until after dark.
Cold, wet, nasty weather will keep them up and travelling all day long.
There will be deer scattered from one end of the unit to the other during the entire hunt, so you need to decide what your game plan will be, and stick to it. The guys that bounce from low country to high, to middle, to who knows where typically run out of time and still don't know what is going on.
Big bucks can and will be in almost all of the range during the hunt, but they have become masters at avoiding the hunters during the migration.
Some years the deer will hang up in the oakbrush in the middle ground too if the acorns are thick. That puts a damper on the hunt too because most of the oak brush country is on private posted ground just under the pinks.
Anyway, it's a fun hunt, but don't count on the weather to move the deer. They'll be moving whether you like it or not.
Travis Roundy