I am going to try to dig out some of my old regulations and look at the numbers, I suppose it could all be in my head but I am pretty sure the overall archery tag numbers have gone down, while rifle tags have definately increased, 17000 this year!
I drew that november bull hunt in unit 22 north 2 years ago, it was the hardest hunt I have ever had. Worked my rear off and got a shot but missed. Those late hunts are horrible for archery hunters. Like highcountry said, the elk have been pushed around and shot at so stinkin much it is hard to do much of anything.
I don't feel like Game and Fish has done much of anything to help archers out at all. I figure (I could be wrong) that they figure there is much more revenue to be made through rifle hunts and the amount of tags this year proves it.