Colorado Deer — GMU 116

Colorado GMU 116 covers 615,634 acres and lies 104 miles south-east of Fort Morgan. 4% of it is public land, mostly state land (4%). In 2024, 226 people hunted deer here and took 88 — 39% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 55 tags here for 0 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):243 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:15 Hunter success (2024):39% Public land:4% Size:615,634 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 116, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

15 licenses on offer · 243 tags · 15 applicants in the 2026 draw

Chances are from the 2026 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level
  • DE116L2R deer either-sex rifle late season GMU 116 [116, 117] 43 tags · 0 applicants
    Undersubscribed
  • DE116O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 116 [116, 117] 55 tags · 0 applicants
    Undersubscribed
  • DE116O2R deer either-sex rifle season 2 GMU 116 [116, 117] 24 tags · 1 applicants
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE116O3A deer either-sex archery season 3 GMU 116 [116, 117] 20 tags · 0 applicants
    Cut level
  • DE116O3M deer either-sex muzzleloader season 3 GMU 116 [116, 117] 8 tags · 0 applicants
    Cut level
  • DF116L1R deer female rifle late season GMU 116 [116] 0 tags · 0 applicants
    Not open to nonresidents
  • DF116L2R deer female rifle late season GMU 116 [116, 117] 13 tags · 0 applicants
    Cut level
  • DF116O1R deer female rifle season 1 GMU 116 [116] 1 tags · 0 applicants
    Cut level
  • DF116O2M deer female muzzleloader season 2 GMU 116 [116, 117] 10 tags · 0 applicants
    Cut level
  • DF116O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 116 [116, 117] 19 tags · 0 applicants
    Cut level
  • DF116O3A deer female archery season 3 GMU 116 [116, 117] 10 tags · 0 applicants
    Cut level
  • DF116O3M deer female muzzleloader season 3 GMU 116 [116, 117] 10 tags · 0 applicants
    Cut level
  • DM116L1R deer male rifle late season GMU 116 [116] 14 tags · 11 applicants · needed 0 pts
    83% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM116O1R deer male rifle season 1 GMU 116 [116] 4 tags · 3 applicants
    100% Undersubscribed 67% as 2nd choice
  • DM116O2M deer male muzzleloader season 2 GMU 116 [116, 117] 12 tags · 0 applicants
    Cut level
What these columns mean
Your odds
the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2026 draw. Not a forecast: quotas and demand move every year.
The badge
plain language for that number. Likely draw 75% or better · Real chance 40%+ · Long shot 15%+ · Point builder below that, so you are applying mainly to bank a point · Undersubscribed means fewer first-choice applicants than tags, so everyone who applied drew.
As 2nd choice
Colorado lets you name more than one hunt on the application. Miss on your first choice and you go into the pot for whatever tags are left, alongside everyone else's second choices. Points never help a lower choice, so this number is the same whatever you have banked — it is usually worth naming a hunt that goes undersubscribed.
Points needed
the lowest point total that still got a tag in the 2026 draw, and how that cut has moved since the earliest draw we hold.
Tags / applicants
tags on offer and first-choice applicants for them, as the agency published them. Under five tags we print counts instead of a percentage, because one applicant either way swings it.

What it costs to apply (2026 nonresident fees)

License Up front Gone if you miss If you draw
Per application $129.11 $129.11 $636.03

Application window: opens Mar 1, closes Apr 7, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

The country

Fort Morgan Sterling Fountain Pueblo Monument
GMU 116 within Colorado
107 109 112 113 114 115 117 120 121 122
GMU 116 and its neighbours
Zoomable USGS topo, aerial imagery and shaded relief, with the neighboring areas drawn on.

Boundaries are drawn for orientation only — the written boundary description in the regulations governs.

Who owns the ground

  • Private 589,527 ac · 96%
  • State land 26,107 ac · 4%

Source: BLM Colorado Surface Management Agency

How the hunting has gone

What Colorado Parks and Wildlife publishes for this area after each season — harvest statistics for everyone who hunted it, not draw odds and not a forecast. Colorado's figures come from CPW's post-season hunter survey. CPW's 2025 report dropped the per-GMU table in favour of hunt-code rows, so the newest year shown here is 2024.

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2024 226 88 39%
2023 294 88 30%
2022 264 118 45%
2021 336 128 38%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 77 · 89% · 193 hunters, 40% success
  • Archery 10 · 11% · 33 hunters, 30% success

Boundary: CPW GMU Boundary (Big Game)

Harvest: 2024 Statewide Deer Harvest

Harvest: 2023 Statewide Deer Hunting Harvest Estimates

Harvest: 2022 Statewide Deer Harvest

How we compute draw odds · All Colorado deer hunts