Colorado Deer — GMU 61

Colorado GMU 61 covers 589,823 acres and lies 33 miles south-west of Delta and 47 miles south of Grand Junction. 85% of it is public land, mostly national forest (49%) and BLM (36%). In 2024, 240 people hunted deer here and took 137 — 57% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 110 tags here for 13 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):483 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:580 Hunter success (2024):57% Public land:85% Size:589,823 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 61, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

14 licenses on offer · 483 tags · 580 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
  • DM061O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 61 [61] 11 tags · 68 applicants · needed 8 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM061O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 61 [61] 50 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • DM061O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 61 [61] 4 tags · 21 applicants · needed 10 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM061O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 61 [61] 20 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM061O1R deer male rifle season 1 GMU 61 8 tags · 43 applicants · needed 7 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM061O1R deer male rifle season 1 GMU 61 40 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM061O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 61 [61] 25 tags · 109 applicants · needed 12 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM061O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 61 [61] 3 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM061O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 61 [61] 22 tags · 144 applicants · needed 18 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM061O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 61 [61] 110 tags · 13 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM061O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 61 4 tags · 165 applicants · needed 26 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM061O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 61 20 tags · 6 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM061P1R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 61 [61] 91 tags · 4 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 50% as 2nd choice
  • DM061P1R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 61 [61] 75 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% 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

Delta Grand Junction Cortez Rifle Craig
GMU 61 within Colorado
40 41 411 421 43 431 52 521 53 54 60 62 63 64 65 66 67 70 71 711 74 76 Delta Montrose Grand Junction
GMU 61 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 289,067 ac · 49%
  • BLM 210,476 ac · 36%
  • Private 89,617 ac · 15%
  • State land 663 ac · 0%

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 240 137 57%
2023 239 141 59%
2022 228 120 53%
2021 227 100 44%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 121 · 88% · 172 hunters, 70% success
  • Archery 9 · 7% · 49 hunters, 18% success
  • Muzzleloader 7 · 5% · 19 hunters, 37% 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