Colorado Deer — GMU 20

Colorado GMU 20 covers 772,317 acres and lies 17 miles west of Loveland. 49% of it is public land, mostly national forest (25%) and national park (22%). In 2024, 1,994 people hunted deer here and took 811 — 41% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 1,056 tags here for 18 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):2,973 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:144 Hunter success (2024):41% Public land:49% Size:772,317 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 20, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

18 licenses on offer · 2,973 tags · 144 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
  • DE020O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 20 [20] 24 tags · 18 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 4% as 2nd choice
  • DE020O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 20 [20] 5 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • DF020O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 20 [20] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents
  • DF020O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 20 [20] 15 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF020O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 20 [20] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents
  • DF020O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 20 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents
  • DF020O4R deer female rifle season 4 GMU 20 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents
  • DF020O4R deer female rifle season 4 GMU 20 10 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF020P5R deer female rifle private-land-only GMU 20 [20] 867 tags · 3 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF020P5R deer female rifle private-land-only GMU 20 [20] 550 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • DM020O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 20 [20] 23 tags · 3 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 71% as 2nd choice
  • DM020O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 20 [20] 100 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM020O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 20 21 tags · 14 applicants · Standard
    92% Likely draw 3% as 2nd choice
  • DM020O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 20 245 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM020O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 20 34 tags · 47 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    35% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM020O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 20 [20] 20 tags · 32 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    24% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM020O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 20 [20] 3 tags · 5 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    20% Long shot
  • DM020P5R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 20 [20] 1,056 tags · 18 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 100% 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

Longmont Fort Collins Arvada Lone Tree Steamboat Springs
GMU 20 within Colorado
17 171 18 181 19 191 28 29 38 6 7 8 87 9 94 951 Longmont Loveland Boulder Berthoud Fort Collins
GMU 20 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 393,412 ac · 51%
  • National Forest 192,121 ac · 25%
  • National Park Service 170,139 ac · 22%
  • County or city land 10,112 ac · 1%
  • State land 4,239 ac · 1%
  • Other public 1,740 ac · 0%
  • BLM 550 ac · 0%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 2 ac · 0%

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 1,994 811 41%
2023 1,895 784 41%
2022 1,889 752 40%
2021 1,793 858 48%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 745 · 92% · 1,681 hunters, 44% success
  • Archery 43 · 5% · 216 hunters, 20% success
  • Muzzleloader 23 · 3% · 97 hunters, 24% 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