Last year was supposedly the lowest harvest numbers since 1982. They cut tags hard this year, from 5000 last year to 3000 this year. A nonresident archery tag is no longer good for mule deer in any of the Mule Deer Conservation Areas, which is a very decent chunk of the western public land. It is also no longer legal to shoot does on public. Last year when we were there we saw lots of people and very few deer. We considered going back this year but are moving on to greener pastures I believe.
Not to try and rain on your parade or anything, just figured having realistic expectations is always a good thing.