AmmoSight

Colorado Deer — GMU 421

Colorado GMU 421 covers 346,012 acres and lies 24 miles south of Rifle and 33 miles north of Delta. 66% of it is public land, mostly national forest (54%) and BLM (10%). In 2024, 934 people hunted deer here and took 406 — 43% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 200 tags here for 117 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):1,032 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:1,615 Hunter success (2024):43% Public land:66% Size:346,012 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 421, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

20 licenses on offer · 1,032 tags · 1,615 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
  • DE041O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 68 tags · 180 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE041O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 3 tags · 6 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 33% as 2nd choice
  • DF041O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 0 tags · 3 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF041O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 10 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF041O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 41 1 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF041O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 41 1 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF041O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 41 0 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF041O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 41 10 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM041O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 54 tags · 118 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM041O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 4 tags · 5 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM041O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 41 129 tags · 417 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM041O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 41 8 tags · 29 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM041O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 41 155 tags · 467 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM041O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 41 5 tags · 16 applicants · needed 2 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM041O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 31 tags · 134 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM041O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 1 tags · 8 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM041P2R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 200 tags · 117 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    65% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM041P2R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 200 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM041P3R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 151 tags · 105 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    24% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM041P3R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 1 tags · 5 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

Rifle Delta Grand Junction Craig Cortez
GMU 421 within Colorado
31 32 41 411 42 43 52 521 53 Rifle Grand Junction Glenwood Springs
GMU 421 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

  • National Forest 188,463 ac · 54%
  • Private 117,415 ac · 34%
  • BLM 34,930 ac · 10%
  • County or city land 4,095 ac · 1%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 1,108 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 934 406 43%
2023 806 349 43%
2022 775 341 44%
2021 795 393 49%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 313 · 77% · 591 hunters, 53% success
  • Archery 50 · 12% · 206 hunters, 24% success
  • Muzzleloader 43 · 11% · 137 hunters, 31% 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