Colorado Deer — GMU 4

Colorado GMU 4 covers 299,151 acres and lies 20 miles north-east of Craig and 37 miles north-west of Steamboat Springs. 47% of it is public land, mostly national forest (30%) and BLM (11%). In 2024, 678 people hunted deer here and took 384 — 57% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 758 tags here for 359 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):2,603 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:1,591 Hunter success (2024):57% Public land:47% Size:299,151 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 4, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

38 licenses on offer · 2,603 tags · 1,591 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
  • DE003O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 3 [3, 4, 5, 14, 214, 301, 441] 140 tags · 210 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE003O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 3 [3, 4, 5, 14, 214, 301, 441] 550 tags · 14 applicants · Youth
    92% Likely draw 9% as 2nd choice
  • DE003P2R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 3 [3, 4, 5, 14, 214, 301, 441] 616 tags · 314 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    88% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE003P2R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 3 [3, 4, 5, 14, 214, 301, 441] 16 tags · 12 applicants · Youth
    89% Likely draw 20% as 2nd choice
  • DE003P3R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 3 [3, 4, 5, 14, 214, 301, 441] 758 tags · 359 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 33% as 2nd choice
  • DE003P3R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 3 [3, 4, 5, 14, 214, 301, 441] 8 tags · 20 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 13% as 2nd choice
  • DE004P4R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 4 [4, 441] 103 tags · 47 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    32% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE004P4R deer either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 4 [4, 441] 3 tags · 10 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    86% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE004W1R deer either-sex rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 4 2 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DE004W2R deer either-sex rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 4 7 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DE004W3R deer either-sex rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 4 2 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DE005W2R deer either-sex rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 5 7 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DE214W2R deer either-sex rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 214 2 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DE441W1R deer either-sex rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 441 2 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DF003O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 3 [3, 4, 5, 14, 214, 301, 441] 2 tags · 1 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF003W1R deer female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 3 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DF004O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 4 0 tags · 8 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF004O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 4 10 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF004O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 4 0 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF004O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 4 10 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF004S4R deer female rifle special/split season GMU 4 [4 - That portion bounded on N by WY; on E by Moffat CR 1; on S by Moffat CR 38; on W by Colo. 9.] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents
  • DF004S4R deer female rifle special/split season GMU 4 [4 - That portion bounded on N by WY; on E by Moffat CR 1; on S by Moffat CR 38; on W by Colo. 9.] 10 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF004W1R deer female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 4 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DF004W2R deer female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 4 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DF004W3R deer female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 4 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DF005W2R deer female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 5 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DF214W2R deer female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 214 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DF214W4R deer female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 214 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DF441W1R deer female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 441 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DM003O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 3 [3, 4, 5, 14, 214, 301, 441] 23 tags · 92 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM003O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 3 [3, 4, 5, 14, 214, 301, 441] 3 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • DM003W1R deer male rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 3 6 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DM004O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 4 58 tags · 201 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM004O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 4 3 tags · 16 applicants · needed 3 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM004O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 4 40 tags · 197 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM004O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 4 200 tags · 14 applicants · needed 4 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM004O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 4 [4, 14, 214, 441] 12 tags · 62 applicants · needed 5 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM004O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 4 [4, 14, 214, 441] 2 tags · 8 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.
4 hunts not offered in 2026 are hidden — show discontinued hunts.

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.

Other licenses valid in GMU 4

Not in the table above because they had no result in the 2026 draw.

The country

Craig Gypsum Boulder Fort Collins Grand Junction
GMU 4 within Colorado
11 13 131 14 16 161 211 214 3 301 441 5 Craig Steamboat Springs
GMU 4 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 159,520 ac · 53%
  • National Forest 90,372 ac · 30%
  • BLM 31,985 ac · 11%
  • County or city land 13,952 ac · 5%
  • State land 3,311 ac · 1%

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 678 384 57%
2023 659 312 47%
2022 1,703 1,093 64%
2021 1,629 1,029 63%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 381 · 99% · 548 hunters, 70% success
  • Archery 0 · 0% · 100 hunters, 0% success
  • Muzzleloader 3 · 1% · 30 hunters, 10% 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