AmmoSight

Colorado Deer — GMU 54

Colorado GMU 54 covers 374,043 acres and lies 42 miles east of Montrose and 53 miles east of Delta. 79% of it is public land, mostly national forest (60%) and BLM (11%). In 2024, 651 people hunted deer here and took 371 — 57% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 85 tags here for 6 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):311 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:683 Hunter success (2024):57% Public land:79% Size:374,043 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 54, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

18 licenses on offer · 311 tags · 683 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
  • DF054O1A deer female archery season 1 GMU 54 [54] 2 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF054O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 54 [54] 1 tags · 2 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF054O1R deer female rifle season 1 GMU 54 [54] 4 tags · 9 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF054O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 54 0 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF054O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 54 20 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF054O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 54 2 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF054O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 54 40 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF054P5R deer female rifle private-land-only GMU 54 [54] 10 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DM054O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 54 [54] 14 tags · 64 applicants · needed 5 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM054O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 54 [54] 3 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM054O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 54 [54] 13 tags · 40 applicants · needed 6 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM054O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 54 [54] 3 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • DM054O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 54 73 tags · 283 applicants · needed 5 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM054O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 54 7 tags · 23 applicants · needed 5 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM054O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 54 17 tags · 159 applicants · needed 17 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM054O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 54 85 tags · 6 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM054O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 54 [54] 2 tags · 82 applicants · needed 23 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM054O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 54 [54] 15 tags · 5 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.

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

Montrose Glenwood Springs Grand Junction Cañon City Durango
GMU 54 within Colorado
471 52 521 53 55 551 63 64 67 Montrose
GMU 54 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 225,062 ac · 60%
  • Private 79,574 ac · 21%
  • BLM 42,011 ac · 11%
  • County or city land 14,760 ac · 4%
  • National Park Service 12,350 ac · 3%
  • State land 267 ac · 0%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 17 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 651 371 57%
2023 622 341 55%
2022 569 355 62%
2021 510 309 61%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 333 · 90% · 518 hunters, 64% success
  • Archery 20 · 5% · 74 hunters, 27% success
  • Muzzleloader 19 · 5% · 60 hunters, 32% 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