Try to get a late-season tag so you have a better chance of running into a few Colorado bucks like these. Photo by Holger Jensen.

When I lived in Montana 20 years ago, we hunted our elk early and our deer late. Although there was a 45-day season for both species in those days, few locals went after deer before Thanksgiving weekend. By then, the rut was in full swing, and it was a lot easier to connect with a buck besotted by lust than one who still had all his wits about him.

The same holds true for Colorado. Although half the deer hunters in the Centennial State seem to prefer October, those who hunt the third and fourth rifle seasons in November are more successful. And those who apply for late-season hunts in December do better yet.

Take last year, for example. Elk hunters who drew tags for the limited first rifle season (which spans five days in mid-October and is not open to deer hunting) achieved an impressive 32 percent success rate. This was well above the statewide average of 24 percent for all elk seasons and all manners of take.

But elk hunters' success dropped to 22 percent in the second rifle season and 19 percent in the third season before climbing up again to 27 percent in the fourth season.

For deer hunters, exactly the opposite was true. Although hunter success averaged 51 percent in all rifle seasons open for deer, the breakdown tells a different story. Of the 78,802 hunters who hunted deer with rifles last year, nearly half -- 37,421, to be precise -- drew tags for the second rifle season in late October.

Although it's nearly twice as long as the other seasons, spanning nine days instead of five, it's least successful for deer hunters: Last year, they scored 45 percent on bucks and 41 percent on does. In contrast, the 27,912 hunters who drew third-season tags for early November scored much higher -- 56 percent on bucks and 46 percent on does. And in their mid-November hunt, fourth-season hunters (a tiny minority of 3,462) scored 49 percent on bucks and 40 percent on does.

Here it should be noted that very few tags are issued for the fourth rifle season, and even fewer for later special seasons that coincide with the rut. Also, buck hunters in Colorado are traditionally more successful than doe hunters, even though does outnumber bucks by more than three to one.

That's because three times as many buck licenses are issued as for does, and because buck hunters take their quarry more seriously. Many buck hunters will buy an extra doe tag -- additional, or List B, doe licenses are available in 94 of the state's 180 game management units -- with no intention of using it unless they don't get their buck. And many elk hunters buy doe tags as an afterthought. "If I run across one, I'll shoot it," they tell themselves, with no real intentions of hunting female deer.

That said, hunters bagged 44,784 deer last year -- about 3,000 more than in 2005. That reflects a steady increase in the deer population and harvests set by the Colorado Wildlife Commission. Buck-doe ratios have also increased, from an average of 15 per 100 to 30 per 100 statewide.

In 64 of the GMUs, they average even higher than that: as high as 60 bucks per 100 does in some units. And buck quality is such that every hunter stands a chance of bagging a decent 4-pointer.

Said the DOW's Tyler Baskfield, "You can't go wrong with a deer tag anywhere in this state. And hunters should be selective. Don't shoot the first horns you see, because you're bound to find some better."

In other words, forget about those so-called "trophy units" that require large numbers of preference points -- one for every year of waiting -- before you stand a chance of getting a tag. In Colorado, every GMU is a potential trophy unit. Two examples:

Last year, Rob Wright, a duck-hunting buddy, shot a 10x7 mulie that scored 195 1/8. It was the first day of his first-ever deer hunt. That is, he was very inexperienced, and the unit where he hunted -- GMU 82 at the top end of the San Luis Valley -- was hardly considered a trophy area.