Colorado Deer · GMU 231

Colorado GMU 231 covers 114,119 acres and lies 26 miles south-west of Steamboat Springs and 38 miles north of Gypsum. 64% of it is public land, mostly national forest (61%) and BLM (2%). In 2024, 143 people hunted deer here and took 22, a 15% success rate. Its most applied-for hunt, DE011O1A, put up 250 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 102 nonresident first-choice applicants, 54 of whom drew.

Tags, 2026
1,023

12 licenses · NR capped at 25%

Applicants
258

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
15%

2024, all licenses

Public Land
64%

61% Forest Service

Size
178 mi²

114,119 acres

231
15%hunter success 2024 · 143 hunters, 22 deer

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

Best Bets at 0 Points

Ranked by your odds times how often that license type's hunters filled their tag in 2024. Nonresident, first choice, 2026 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.

Every License in GMU 231

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it
DE011O1A Standard 21% 0
Youth 100% (small sample) 0
DE131P2R Standard · private 100% —
DE131P3R Standard · private 100% —
DF011O1M Standard not open —
DM011O1M Standard 0% 1
Youth 0% (small sample) 0
DM012E1R Standard 0% (small sample) 9 ▼4
Youth 0% (small sample) —
DM131O2R Standard 100% —
Youth 100% (small sample) —
DM131O3R Standard 100% —

First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file. Not in the table, with no 2026 result: DE012W1R, DF012W1R.

Draw results: CPW 2026 Primary DEER Post Draw Report, retrieved Aug 31, 2026.

If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): Standard $636.03 ($129.11 to apply) · Youth $636.03 ($129.11 to apply). Open Mar 1 – Apr 6, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

Harvest

Year Hunters Deer Success
2024 143 22 15%
2023 124 22 18%
2022 160 35 22%
2021 150 38 25%

2024 split: rifle 5 (23%) from 42 hunters, 12%, archery 11 (50%) from 69 hunters, 16%, muzzleloader 6 (27%) from 32 hunters, 19%

What Colorado Parks and Wildlife publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. 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. Source: CPW 2024 Statewide Deer Harvest; CPW 2023 Statewide Deer Hunting Harvest…; CPW 2022 Statewide Deer Harvest.

The Ground

National Forest 69,753 ac 61%
Private 40,979 ac 36%
BLM 2,073 ac 2%
State land 1,313 ac 1%

Source: Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office 2026 BLM Surface Management Agency.

▸ Sources 10
  1. CPW 2026 Primary DEER Post Draw Report draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  2. CPW 2026 2 CCR 406-0 Chapter W-0 General… fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  3. CPW 2026 Big Game Hunting brochure fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  4. CPW 2026 web page fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  5. CPW 2024 Statewide Deer Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  6. CPW 2023 Statewide Deer Hunting Harvest… harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  7. CPW 2022 Statewide Deer Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  8. CPW 2021 Statewide Deer Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  9. CPW 2026 GMU Boundary, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  10. Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office 2026 BLM Surface Management Agency land ownership, retrieved Aug 31, 2026

About These Numbers

Odds are from the 2026 draw, the latest on file, computed from Colorado Parks and Wildlife's published results. They are what happened in that draw, not a forecast. Under five tags a percentage carries a *, because one applicant either way swings it. A dash means the agency did not publish the number, and a date marked expected is last cycle's schedule rolled forward. How we compute these.

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Every report is checked against the agency source before we change anything.

We don't take applications: check Colorado Parks and Wildlife's site and apply there.

Prior-draw odds from Colorado Parks and Wildlife's results, not a forecast · Methodology · All Colorado deer hunts