AmmoSight

Colorado Deer — GMU 78

Colorado GMU 78 covers 488,682 acres and lies 56 miles east of Durango and 95 miles east of Cortez. 62% of it is public land, mostly national forest (61%) and BLM (1%). In 2024, 1,138 people hunted deer here and took 567 — 50% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 513 tags here for 893 first-choice applicants, and the last tag went to someone with 1 points.

Tags (2026):1,860 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:2,896 Hunter success (2024):50% Public land:62% Size:488,682 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 78, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

27 licenses on offer · 1,860 tags · 2,896 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
  • DE077O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 77 [77, 78, 771] 178 tags · 279 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE077O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 77 [77, 78, 771] 9 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 10% as 2nd choice
  • DF077O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 77 [77, 78, 771] 11 tags · 8 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 12% as 2nd choice
  • DF077O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 77 [77, 78, 771] 2 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF077O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 77 19 tags · 17 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    82% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF077O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 77 3 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    50% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF077O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 77 4 tags · 4 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    50% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF077O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 77 80 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF077O4R deer female rifle season 4 GMU 77 4 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 35% as 2nd choice
  • DF077O4R deer female rifle season 4 GMU 77 60 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF077P5R deer female rifle private-land-only GMU 77 128 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 29% as 2nd choice
  • DM077O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 77 [77, 78, 771] 187 tags · 181 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    62% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM077O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 77 [77, 78, 771] 12 tags · 16 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    50% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM077O1R deer male rifle season 1 GMU 77 22 tags · 376 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM077O1R deer male rifle season 1 GMU 77 2 tags · 13 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM077O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 77 513 tags · 893 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM077O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 77 37 tags · 58 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM077O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 77 165 tags · 583 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM077O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 77 10 tags · 40 applicants · needed 3 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM077O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 77 [77, 78, 771] 36 tags · 253 applicants · needed 7 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM077O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 77 [77, 78, 771] 1 tags · 24 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM077P2R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 77 146 tags · 37 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 50% as 2nd choice
  • DM077P2R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 77 31 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% as 2nd choice
  • DM077P3R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 77 [77, 78, 771] 118 tags · 56 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 31% as 2nd choice
  • DM077P3R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 77 [77, 78, 771] 3 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM077P4R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 77 [77, 78, 771] 77 tags · 44 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    83% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM077P4R deer male rifle private-land-only GMU 77 [77, 78, 771] 2 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 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

Durango Alamosa Montrose Cañon City Grand Junction
GMU 78 within Colorado
74 75 751 76 77 771 79 791 80 81 Durango
GMU 78 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 298,816 ac · 61%
  • Private 156,305 ac · 32%
  • Tribal 27,097 ac · 6%
  • BLM 5,186 ac · 1%
  • State land 856 ac · 0%
  • County or city land 414 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 1,138 567 50%
2023 1,007 588 58%
2022 855 356 42%
2021 845 328 39%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 436 · 77% · 808 hunters, 54% success
  • Archery 67 · 12% · 206 hunters, 33% success
  • Muzzleloader 65 · 11% · 124 hunters, 52% 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