AmmoSight

Colorado Deer — GMU 21

Colorado GMU 21 covers 568,305 acres and lies 49 miles north of Fruita and 59 miles west of Rifle. 88% of it is public land, mostly BLM (87%) and county or city land (1%). In 2024, 420 people hunted deer here and took 333 — 79% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 110 tags here for 19 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):223 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:883 Hunter success (2024):79% Public land:88% Size:568,305 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 21, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

8 licenses on offer · 223 tags · 883 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
  • DM021O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 21 [21, 30] 14 tags · 84 applicants · needed 8 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM021O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 21 [21, 30] 2 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM021O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 21 [21, 30] 6 tags · 49 applicants · needed 7 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM021O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 21 [21, 30] 1 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM021O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 21 [21] 69 tags · 471 applicants · needed 10 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM021O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 21 [21] 4 tags · 46 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM021O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 21 [21] 17 tags · 212 applicants · needed 21 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM021O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 21 [21] 110 tags · 19 applicants · 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

Fruita Rifle Craig Delta Cortez
GMU 21 within Colorado
11 211 12 23 22 24 33 31 32 30 42 421 10 Fruita Rifle Craig
GMU 21 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

  • BLM 493,238 ac · 87%
  • Private 70,805 ac · 12%
  • County or city land 3,492 ac · 1%
  • State land 759 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 420 333 79%
2023 430 367 85%
2022 425 362 85%
2021 442 359 81%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 308 · 92% · 361 hunters, 85% success
  • Archery 22 · 7% · 46 hunters, 48% success
  • Muzzleloader 3 · 1% · 13 hunters, 23% 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