Still, those areas offer a better-than-average success rate.

The deer population appears to be following the logging. Greater numbers of deer are showing up in the more recently logged areas, as opposed to in older forests with more limited browse. Regardless of where you hunt, that's a fact to tuck away in your tips-for-success file.

REGION 5
Headquartered in Vancouver, Region 5 ranges along the Columbia River east through Klickitat County and north to Lewis County. In 2005, overall hunter success was 19 percent. That was a bit above normal for the area. The total kill was down, but so was the number of hunters.

Success rates varied between the higher-elevation GMUs and the lowland areas, with the lower elevation hunters recording more kills. The Cascade Mountain GMUs (513, 516, 558, 560, 572, and 574) have shown a long-term downward trend in populations, most likely associated with poor logging and road-building practices. The total deer population throughout the region is being managed to maintain a stable population.

Most of the GMUs are managed under the "any buck" strategy, where any buck with visible antlers is legal to harvest. Successful modern firearm hunters in GMU 558, 574, and 578 will have taken home a 2-point or greater buck, while GMU 382 and 588 are managed as mule-deer units. That means legal bucks must sport 3 points.

WDFW surveys show a good fawn-to-adult ratio, specifically in GMU 588 (Grayback). That should result in more adult bucks in rifle sights this year. Grayback will likely produce more than 800 deer, and GMU 578 (West Klickitat) should add another 400.

Hunter-success rates have remained unchanged over the last 14 years, and so have the number of hours necessary to bag an animal. That is all a good indication of the overall health of the Region 5 deer population.

REGION 4
This diverse region is characterized by urban sprawl, alpine meadows, farmland and lowland hills. Ranging north from King County to the Canadian border, west to the San Juan and Whidbey islands and east to the Cascade crest, this area boasts some surprising numbers. Kills for the entire region run about 1,500 animals, with the islands (GMU 410) producing big totals (500 deer) and one of the highest success rates in the state. Despite having almost no public land, success in this unit may well depend on getting to know your neighbors over coffee and donuts, then broaching the subject of hunting as a means of protecting their apple trees and vegetable beds.

To reduce landowners' concern over the carrying distance of firearms, restricted hunting strategies are widespread. Bowhunters should have an advantage -- both in gaining permission and hunting -- and may be best positioned to take advantage of the WDFW's efforts to increase public access to private lands as a way of controlling deer damage.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Diablo Unit, located in a North Cascades environment, features low hunter turnout with a fine success ratio. If you're in good hiking shape, enjoy solitude, and love to hunt in a beautiful environment, keep this spot in mind.

In these mountains, the quarry is blacktails or mule deer-blacktail hybrids, also called benchlegs.

The Snoqualmie Unit (GMU 460) had shown a disturbing trend of low harvest and overall population numbers, although recent surveys of radio-marked does, fawn survival and other data indicate that the population is increasing. Hunters close to Puget Sound may consider this as a day- hunt option, since the short season's harvest should run about 120 bucks.

In Region 4's northeastern portion, the Stillaguamish and Cascade units should produce in 2007, as they have for the last several years. These units show relatively low hunting activity and less-than-average success rates.

Deer are being caught in the vise of shrinking habitat, due to increased human population, and shrinking forage in forest clearcuts, due to herbicide spraying. Despite these factors, hunters willing to walk or mountain-bike into the more remote portions of the Stillaguamish Unit will experience reasonable success.

REGION 3
Headquartered in Yakima, Region 3 begins at the Cascade crest, then flows east to the Columbia River before the river turns west.

Hunters selecting this region can hunt fog-shrouded alpine forests, sunny shrub steppe, and sagebrush desert with average annual rainfall of less than 5 inches.

If you want mule deer, head for the Esquatzel Unit (GMU 381), where almost 30 percent of hunters experience success and harvest numbers hover around 300 animals. Special-permit hunters bagged mulies almost 60 percent of the time, and muzzleloaders demonstrated they could be successful in open country.

WDFW buck-harvest reports show a high mix of 4-point and above animals from this unit, which borders on the no-hunting zone of the Hanford Reach. The thinking is these older animals traveled out of the Reach or from remote private lands with limited public access.

A 2005 wildfire in the Hanford Reach burned some important habitat, which -- when combined with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service attempts to replace Russian olive trees with native vegetation -- may have a short-term negative effect on deer population. But the numbers should rebound as the vegetation recovers.

Two other fine Region 3 GMUs are Rattlesnake Hills and East Klickitat with 27.5 percent (372 deer) and 32.2 percent (382 deer) success ratios, respectively. Rattlesnake Hills puts out only 100 or fewer deer each year, but doesn't get much hunting pressure. East Klickitat gets four times the hunters, who take more than four times as many deer.