Personally it used to be 365 for me, ALWAYs had cameras in my spots. NOW.... with a family, kid, dogs to train, and DUCK hunting.... its more like August. The last 4 years I've struggled more and more to locate a shooter to hunt the first week. Most of my deer don't start showing up until late Oct. which is perfect bc it allows me to duck hunt and then focus on deer during the rut. If I had a shooter I located and patterned before Oct I would def spend some more time trying to kill him during the right conditions. Killing a mature deer during the Oct lull is all about knowing their bedroom, if your not in their bedroom the games up. I find myself laughing as I get older about how much time I spent screwing my woods up checking cams and doing dumb shit just to be out there, when in all reality all I did was educate them more and more to my presence. So to answer your question I prefer long distance scouting until Aug. and then key in on specific deer during September. Patterns always change the last few weeks of Sept when beans brown and deer stay close to their beds and acorn flats. Then again.... its all specific to the deer your hunting and the pressure around you!