Hunting and fishing within two hours of downtown.

If you can't bear the thought of early holiday shopping in the city, sitting through a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert or trying not to get run down by snowboarders at Deer Valley, fear not. Hunting and fishing opportunities abound within a short drive of SLC in November.

Extended-season mule deer hunts take place along the WASATCH RANGE (1), east and north of Salt Lake City, in two units. (See pages 51 and 52 of the 2005 Utah Big Game Proclamation for the units' boundaries.) Hunters with a General Archery Buck Permit just need to complete the brief "extended archery ethics course" at wildlife.utah.gov, print out the certificate and carry it with their permit while hunting.

As long as there's open water there's no shortage of waterfowl hunting, with the 74,000-acre BEAR RIVER MIGRATORY BIRD REFUGE (2) holding untold numbers of ducks and geese at the northern end of the Great Salt Lake. FARMINGTON BAY, OGDEN BAY, HAROLD CRANE, SALT CREEK (3) and PUBLIC SHOOTING GROUNDS WATERFOWL MANAGEMENT AREAS (4) host great gunning.

Big cutthroats and rainbows are still on the menu at many SLC-area reservoirs. Cast from shore or troll near it at STRAWBERRY (5), JORDANELLE, DEER CREEK and ROCKPORT RESERVOIRS (6). The fish are hitting 4-inch white or pearl tube jigs this time of year as they feast on shiners and chubs.

Brown trout are spawning in the Provo, Weber and Ogden rivers. They're in an aggressive mood, so toss large streamers and wet flies at them. Rainbows and mountain whitefish will take your egg patterns.

Contact: Utah DWR (801-538-4700, wildlife.utah.gov)