Nor is GMU 38, where I live, in the mountains an hour's drive from Colorado's capital. "My" unit covers parts of Jefferson, Boulder, Gilpin and Clear Creek counties, stretching from the foothills west of Denver up to the Continental Divide. Two years ago, I sacrificed two preference points for a December hunt in Jeffco's Centennial Cone Park. I saw four nice bucks in the first two hours, bagged a 7x5 within sight of the Denver skyline and was home by noon.

All this is thanks to draw-hunting, instituted by the state Wildlife Commission in 1999 to reverse what had been a steady decline in deer numbers. Back in the winter of 1983-84, heavy snows killed numbers of adult deer and resulted in only 5 percent fawn survival.

Subsequent winterkills also took their toll, as did drought, Chronic Wasting Disease, predation by mountain lions, human encroachment on winter range and unlimited hunting. While fawns usually die of malnutrition or predation, hunting accounts for most adult buck and doe deaths.

To reverse the trend, the Wildlife Commission abolished over-the-counter buck licenses, reduced the annual allotment of doe tags and limited all deer hunting to a spring draw.

The results were not long in coming. As deer numbers rebounded, hunter success soared: from a low of 27 percent in 1998 to 46 percent in 2004 -- the highest in 26 years. Nearly 4,000 more bucks were harvested in 2004 than in 2003.

The number of trophies was so impressive that a deer license auctioned by the Colorado Mule Deer Association for the 2005 season went for $115,000 -- the highest price obtained for a deer tag in any Western state except Arizona.

For three years now, success rates for rifle hunters have hovered around 50 percent, meaning one in two hunters bagged a buck. Last year, for the first time in 20 years, the deer population exceeded minimum objectives set by the Division of Wildlife.

This year's post-hunt projection of 606,650 deer statewide is again over the DOW's minimum objective of 603,320, and not far below their long-range target of 614,020.

The area west of Interstate 25 harbors 95 percent of the Colorado's deer population. Most are mule deer, but the total population is estimated at 576,590.

In the plains east of I-25, the mix of whitetails and mule deer is estimated at 32,260. This year again, as in three prior years, the Wildlife Commission has increased the number of deer hunting licenses.

West of the freeway, the allocation increased 1 percent more for bucks, 3 percent for either-sex tags and 7 percent for does. East of I-25, it went up 3 percent for bucks, 16 percent for either-sex and 6 percent for does.

The large increases in antlerless and either-sex tags reflect the division's desire to cut deer numbers in units where many licenses go unsold every year. Last year, for example, about 5,000 licenses went begging in the White River drainage.

If you opted for a statistical edge and less crowded hunting conditions, chances are you applied for one of two November rifle hunts. Virtually no preference points are needed for most mountain units in the third season, which this year runs Nov. 3 through 9. Points are needed for the much more limited fourth season, which runs Nov. 14 through 18. But even then, hunters can secure a hunt in some units with only one point.

SURVIVING THE LATE SEASONS
Snow is a sure bet on any November hunt in the mountains and a distinct possibility in the plains, where the late rifle season spans the first two weeks of December. So be prepared for weather.