grim,
Muleys are hit and miss on public lands, I can point you to some decent deer country on public lands but a good buck is pretty much luck. If your heart is set on SW Colorado, Hit haystack mountain up on the glade and that area, tough to hunt though because of the oak brush, somewhat steep but not too bad. but I have always spooked a nice buck out of there every time!
Like the earlier posts said, if you know someone with private land, no problem! Theres a crap load of deer on the dryside but not too many left up in the higher elevations, they are still there though.