AmmoSight

Colorado Deer — GMU 46

Colorado GMU 46 covers 136,442 acres and lies 26 miles south-west of Golden. 76% of it is public land, mostly national forest (73%) and county or city land (3%). In 2024, 376 people hunted deer here and took 147 — 39% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 180 tags here for 3 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):664 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:99 Hunter success (2024):39% Public land:76% Size:136,442 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 46, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

16 licenses on offer · 664 tags · 99 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
  • DE039O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 39 [39, 46] 18 tags · 25 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    32% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE039O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 39 [39, 46] 180 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • DF039O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 39 [39, 46] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • DF039O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 39 [39, 46] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • DF039O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 39 [39, 46] 15 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • DF039O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 39 1 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF039O4R deer female rifle season 4 GMU 39 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Cut level
  • DF039P5R deer female rifle private-land-only GMU 39 [39, 46] 50 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DM039O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 39 [39, 46] 16 tags · 15 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    73% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM039O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 39 [39, 46] 90 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    67% Real chance
  • DM039O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 39 7 tags · 18 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    14% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM039O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 39 110 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM039O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 39 11 tags · 17 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM039O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 39 100 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM039O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 39 [39, 46] 5 tags · 9 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM039O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 39 [39, 46] 60 tags · 3 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

Golden Castle Rock Erie Monument Loveland
GMU 46 within Colorado
37 39 391 461 500 501 51 Golden
GMU 46 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 99,637 ac · 73%
  • Private 32,399 ac · 24%
  • County or city land 3,673 ac · 3%
  • State land 622 ac · 0%
  • BLM 109 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 376 147 39%
2023 411 119 29%
2022 400 164 41%
2021 424 183 43%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 100 · 68% · 235 hunters, 43% success
  • Archery 25 · 17% · 74 hunters, 34% success
  • Muzzleloader 22 · 15% · 67 hunters, 33% 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