Colorado Deer · GMU 28

Colorado GMU 28 covers 424,737 acres and lies 38 miles west of Boulder. 67% of it is public land, mostly national forest (60%) and BLM (7%). In 2024, 385 people hunted deer here and took 88, a 23% success rate. Its most applied-for hunt, DM018O3R, put up 800 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 346 nonresident first-choice applicants, 175 of whom drew.

Tags, 2026
6,040

17 licenses · NR capped at 25%

Applicants
857

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
23%

2024, all licenses

Public Land
67%

60% Forest Service

Size
664 mi²

424,737 acres

28
23%hunter success 2024 · 385 hunters, 88 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 28

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it
DE018O1A Standard 72% 0
Youth 100% (small sample) —
DE018P2R Standard · private 91% 0
DE018P3R Standard · private 0% 0
Youth · private 0% (small sample) 0
DF018O1M Standard not open —
DF018O2R Standard 0% (small sample) 2 ▲2
Youth 100% (small sample) —
DF018O3R Standard 0% (small sample) —
DM018O1M Standard 100% —
Youth 100% (small sample) —
DM018O2R Standard 99% —
Youth 100% —
DM018O3R Standard 33% 0
Youth 13% (small sample) 0
DM018O4R Standard 0% 2
Youth 0% (small sample) 0

First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file.

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 385 88 23%
2023 986 146 15%
2022 1,928 288 15%
2021 2,326 402 17%

2024 split: rifle 76 (87%) from 283 hunters, 27%, archery 4 (5%) from 43 hunters, 9%, muzzleloader 7 (8%) from 58 hunters, 12%

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 253,194 ac 60%
Private 139,258 ac 33%
BLM 28,033 ac 7%
State land 4,197 ac <1%
County or city land 53 ac <1%
Other public 0 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