Region 2 offers numerous hunting options. In early September, there's a desert archery hunt. Later, there is the high-country buck hunts in the Glacier Peak and Alpine Lakes wilderness areas. In December, hunters have the late archery season.

Okanogan East (GMU 204) records the largest number of deer, but also attracts the largest number of hunters.

Beezley (GMU 272) recorded more than 300 animals killed in 2008. The buck population appears to be increasing.

REGION 1, East
Region 1 covers the 10 easternmost counties in Washington State and produces whitetail and mule deer consistently for hunters. The most recent harvest reports demonstrate that 47 percent of all deer taken in the general season came from Region 1.

From the large Sherman Unit, which extends north from the Colville Indian Reservation to Canada, down to the sliver-sized Grande Ronde Unit in the south, this region' habitat and forage support multitudes of deer.

Within Region 1, of course, not all GMUs are equal.

Mount Spokane (GMU 124) continues to be "the whitetail factory," said McCorquodale, the state's deer and elk specialist. It accounted for 8 percent of the entire statewide general harvest, and had an outstanding hunter-success ratio that exceeded 32 percent. Add in the adjoining 49 Degrees North (GMU 117) and Huckleberry (GMU 121), and hunters killed more than 6,500 animals.

It's too early to declare a trend, but 49 Degrees North showed the largest increase in hunter activity and total harvest -- with a slightly reduced hunter-success ratio over the previous figures.

Huckleberry saw more hunters bringing home the same number of deer. Its success rate has been steady, at 30 percent.

Just a bit farther north is Douglas, GMU 108, which reported the second-highest hunter success ratio in the region. It also had substantially less hunting pressure than the "factory" units closer to Spokane.

Guide Dale Denney, of Bear Paw Outfitters, hunts all the 101 through 124 GMUs, but mostly on private property through arrangements with landowners.

Denney said that in 2007, he had an excellent hunt with 100 percent of his guided hunters getting shots. Only one or two of his many hunters didn't tag a deer.

Not only do GMUs 101 through 124 produce a lot of deer, they have also produced big bucks. The 2007 WDFW Deer Status and Trend Report reflects an gradual increase in the percentage of 5-points-or-more whitetail bucks coming through their field check stations.

When it comes to finding deer, Denney said that most are in "the agricultural areas and valleys, but the biggest bucks are in the heaviest cover in the mountains."

That makes sense: The big bucks got that way by using all cover.

In addition to the units already mentioned, he likes Aladdin (GMU 111), which has some of the best bucks, and the tough-to-hunt mountain areas of Sherman (GMU 101) -- which, Denney said, has a good percentage of mature bucks.

On the southeast edge of Region 1 down by Asotin, lies the Couse Unit (Unit 181), which in 2007 has yet again put up the best hunter-success ratio. This is rough-and-tumble mule deer country, filled with jumbled lava flows of the Columbia River Basalt Group and deeply cleft valleys. It doesn't get much pressure because hunting is easier elsewhere.

If you don't mind putting forth some physical effort and want a good chance at a mature mule deer buck, try here or in the adjacent Grande Ronde Unit.

The Blue Mountains have had their share of wildfires in recent years. McCorquodale said that last year's fire didn't burn super-hot, so it might turn out OK from a forage standpoint.

The state is also planning to replant those areas that were hardest hit.