AmmoSight

Colorado Deer — GMU 481

Colorado GMU 481 covers 180,848 acres and lies 64 miles north-west of Cañon City and 75 miles south-east of Glenwood Springs. 80% of it is public land, mostly national forest (75%) and county or city land (4%). In 2024, 322 people hunted deer here and took 128 — 40% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 100 tags here for 2 first-choice applicants, and the last tag went to someone with 1 points.

Tags (2026):379 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:247 Hunter success (2024):40% Public land:80% Size:180,848 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 481, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

14 licenses on offer · 379 tags · 247 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
  • DF048O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 48 [48, 56, 481, 561] 0 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF048O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 48 [48, 56, 481, 561] 10 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF481P2R deer female rifle private-land-only GMU 481 [481] 25 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF481P3R deer female rifle private-land-only GMU 481 [481] 25 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants 50% as 2nd choice
  • DF481P5R deer female rifle private-land-only GMU 481 [481 – That portion bounded on the north by Chaffee Co Rds 384A and 384; on the east by the Arkansas River; on the south ] 20 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DM048E1R deer male rifle early season GMU 48 [Those portions of GMUs 48, 56, 481, 561 above timberline] 4 tags · 20 applicants · needed 12 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM048O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 48 [48, 56, 481, 561] 51 tags · 56 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    26% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM048O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 48 [48, 56, 481, 561] 11 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • DM048O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 48 [48, 56, 481, 561] 24 tags · 38 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM048O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 48 [48, 56, 481, 561] 100 tags · 2 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM048O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 48 [48, 56, 481, 561] 51 tags · 73 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM048O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 48 [48, 56, 481, 561] 10 tags · 10 applicants · needed 2 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM048O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 48 [48, 56, 481, 561] 39 tags · 46 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM048O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 48 [48, 56, 481, 561] 9 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 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

Cañon City Gypsum Monument Golden Castle Rock
GMU 481 within Colorado
471 48 49 50 55 56 57 58
GMU 481 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 135,552 ac · 75%
  • Private 36,551 ac · 20%
  • County or city land 6,610 ac · 4%
  • BLM 1,204 ac · 1%
  • State land 929 ac · 1%

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 322 128 40%
2023 268 118 44%
2022 289 138 48%
2021 344 140 41%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 115 · 90% · 231 hunters, 50% success
  • Archery 8 · 6% · 56 hunters, 14% success
  • Muzzleloader 5 · 4% · 35 hunters, 14% 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