AmmoSight

Colorado Deer — GMU 18

Colorado GMU 18 covers 413,238 acres and lies 41 miles west of Boulder. 88% of it is public land, mostly national forest (53%) and national park (23%). In 2024, 609 people hunted deer here and took 110 — 18% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 510 tags here for 0 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):1,944 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:857 Hunter success (2024):18% Public land:88% Size:413,238 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 18, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

17 licenses on offer · 1,944 tags · 857 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
  • DE018O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 18 [18, 27, 28, 37, 181, 371] 51 tags · 59 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    72% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE018O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 18 [18, 27, 28, 37, 181, 371] 510 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE018P2R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 18 [18, 27, 28, 37, 181, 371] 92 tags · 13 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    91% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE018P3R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 18 [18, 27, 28, 37, 181, 371] 50 tags · 8 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE018P3R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 18 [18, 27, 28, 37, 181, 371] 50 tags · 1 applicants · needed 3 pts · Youth
    0% Undersubscribed
  • DF018O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 18 [18, 27, 28, 37, 181, 371] 0 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF018O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 18 3 tags · 5 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF018O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 18 2 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF018O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 18 1 tags · 3 applicants · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM018O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 18 [18, 27, 28, 37, 181, 371] 86 tags · 72 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 22% as 2nd choice
  • DM018O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 18 [18, 27, 28, 37, 181, 371] 420 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 25% as 2nd choice
  • DM018O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 18 254 tags · 210 applicants · Standard
    99% Likely draw 6% as 2nd choice
  • DM018O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 18 30 tags · 16 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 13% as 2nd choice
  • DM018O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 18 197 tags · 346 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    33% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM018O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 18 18 tags · 20 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    13% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM018O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 18 [18, 28, 37, 371] 30 tags · 91 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM018O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 18 [18, 28, 37, 371] 150 tags · 10 applicants · needed 3 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
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
Standard license $129.11 $129.11 $636.03
Youth license $129.11 $129.11 $636.03

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

The country

Boulder Steamboat Springs Loveland Lakewood Gypsum
GMU 18 within Colorado
14 15 16 17 171 181 19 20 27 28 29 35 361 38 Boulder Longmont Steamboat Springs Superior Arvada
GMU 18 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

  • National Forest 217,547 ac · 53%
  • National Park Service 96,548 ac · 23%
  • Private 50,174 ac · 12%
  • BLM 44,440 ac · 11%
  • County or city land 3,690 ac · 1%
  • State land 836 ac · 0%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 0 ac · 0%

Source: BLM Colorado Surface Management Agency

Nearby areas

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 609 110 18%
2023 1,470 344 23%
2022 2,648 383 14%
2021 2,696 597 22%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 101 · 92% · 489 hunters, 21% success
  • Archery 9 · 8% · 61 hunters, 15% success
  • Muzzleloader 0 · 0% · 59 hunters, 0% 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