Colorado Deer — GMU 6

Colorado GMU 6 covers 226,588 acres and lies 41 miles north-east of Steamboat Springs and 58 miles west of Fort Collins. 68% of it is public land, mostly county or city land (36%) and BLM (17%). In 2024, 215 people hunted deer here and took 108 — 50% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 165 tags here for 4 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):359 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:345 Hunter success (2024):50% Public land:68% Size:226,588 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 6, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

19 licenses on offer · 359 tags · 345 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
  • DE006O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 6 [6, 16, 17, 161, 171] 28 tags · 79 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE006O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 6 [6, 16, 17, 161, 171] 165 tags · 4 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    75% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF006E1R deer female rifle early season GMU 6 [6, 16, 17, 161, 171] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents
  • DF006O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 6 [6, 16, 17, 161, 171] 1 tags · 2 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF006P5R deer female rifle private-land-only GMU 6 [6, 16, 17, 161, 171] 12 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DM006E1R deer male rifle early season GMU 6 [That portion of GMU 6 above 10,000 feet elevation and GMU 7 within the Rawah] 5 tags · 16 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM006E1R deer male rifle early season GMU 6 [That portion of GMU 6 above 10,000 feet elevation and GMU 7 within the Rawah] 20 tags · 2 applicants · needed 3 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • DM006E2R deer male rifle early season GMU 6 [6] 10 tags · 20 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM006O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 6 [6, 16, 17, 161, 171] 26 tags · 50 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM006O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 6 [6, 16, 17, 161, 171] 3 tags · 3 applicants · needed 2 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM006O1R deer male rifle season 1 GMU 6 [6] 3 tags · 29 applicants · needed 5 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM006O1R deer male rifle season 1 GMU 6 [6] 15 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • DM006O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 6 10 tags · 50 applicants · needed 5 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM006O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 6 1 tags · 6 applicants · needed 5 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM006O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 6 5 tags · 41 applicants · needed 16 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM006O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 6 25 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • DM006O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 6 [6, 16, 17, 161, 171] 4 tags · 38 applicants · needed 17 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM006O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 6 [6, 16, 17, 161, 171] 25 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • DM006W1R deer male rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 6 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
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.
3 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 6

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

The country

Steamboat Springs Fort Collins Longmont Arvada Gypsum
GMU 6 within Colorado
131 14 16 161 17 171 18 181 19 191 20 214 5 7 8 Steamboat Springs
GMU 6 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

  • County or city land 82,349 ac · 36%
  • Private 71,520 ac · 32%
  • BLM 38,337 ac · 17%
  • National Forest 29,736 ac · 13%
  • State land 2,391 ac · 1%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 2,218 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 215 108 50%
2023 239 97 41%
2022 226 119 53%
2021 179 83 46%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 98 · 92% · 148 hunters, 66% success
  • Archery 0 · 0% · 32 hunters, 0% success
  • Muzzleloader 9 · 8% · 35 hunters, 26% 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