AmmoSight

Colorado Deer — GMU 26

Colorado GMU 26 covers 153,724 acres and lies 25 miles north of Gypsum and 34 miles south of Steamboat Springs. 49% of it is public land, mostly national forest (30%) and BLM (19%). In 2024, 979 people hunted deer here and took 353 — 36% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 648 tags here for 158 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):2,677 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:633 Hunter success (2024):36% Public land:49% Size:153,724 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 26, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

22 licenses on offer · 2,677 tags · 633 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
  • DE025O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 25 [25, 26] 77 tags · 37 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 67% as 2nd choice
  • DE025O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 25 [25, 26] 250 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 25% as 2nd choice
  • DE025P2R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 25 [25, 26] 64 tags · 17 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 22% as 2nd choice
  • DE025P2R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 25 [25, 26] 55 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • DE025P3R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 25 [25, 26] 67 tags · 12 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 13% as 2nd choice
  • DE025P3R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 25 [25, 26] 55 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE025W1R deer either-sex rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 25 5 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DF025O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 25 [25, 26] 41 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Undersubscribed
  • DF025O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 25 15 tags · 7 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 7% as 2nd choice
  • DF025O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 25 8 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF025O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 25 42 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Cut level
  • DF025W1R deer female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 25 9 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DM012E1R deer male rifle early season GMU 12 [Those portions of GMUs 12, 24, 25, 26, and 231 within the Flat Tops Wilderness Area] 2 tags · 34 applicants · needed 9 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM012E1R deer male rifle early season GMU 12 [Those portions of GMUs 12, 24, 25, 26, and 231 within the Flat Tops Wilderness Area] 10 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM025O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 25 [25, 26] 134 tags · 13 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 37% as 2nd choice
  • DM025O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 25 [25, 26] 190 tags · 4 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM025O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 25 648 tags · 158 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 45% as 2nd choice
  • DM025O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 25 484 tags · 6 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 60% as 2nd choice
  • DM025O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 25 271 tags · 211 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 51% as 2nd choice
  • DM025O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 25 43 tags · 17 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 52% as 2nd choice
  • DM025O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 25 [25, 26] 57 tags · 101 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    2% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM025O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 25 [25, 26] 150 tags · 8 applicants · needed 1 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

Gypsum Steamboat Springs Boulder Lakewood Loveland
GMU 26 within Colorado
12 15 181 231 24 25 27 35 36 361
GMU 26 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 78,344 ac · 51%
  • National Forest 45,682 ac · 30%
  • BLM 28,923 ac · 19%
  • State land 731 ac · 0%
  • County or city land 43 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 979 353 36%
2023 502 192 38%
2022 526 167 32%
2021 558 193 35%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 347 · 98% · 873 hunters, 40% success
  • Archery 3 · 1% · 67 hunters, 4% success
  • Muzzleloader 3 · 1% · 40 hunters, 8% 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