AmmoSight

Colorado Deer — GMU 81

Colorado GMU 81 covers 777,197 acres and lies 28 miles south-west of Alamosa and 91 miles east of Durango. 71% of it is public land, mostly national forest (39%) and BLM (23%). In 2024, 585 people hunted deer here and took 295 — 50% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 65 tags here for 239 first-choice applicants, and the last tag went to someone with 3 points.

Tags (2026):405 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:1,163 Hunter success (2024):50% Public land:71% Size:777,197 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 81, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

18 licenses on offer · 405 tags · 1,163 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
  • DF080O1A deer female archery season 1 GMU 80 [80, 81] 3 tags · 21 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF080O1A deer female archery season 1 GMU 80 [80, 81] 20 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF080O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 80 [80, 81] 5 tags · 7 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF080O1M deer female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 80 [80, 81] 1 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF080O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 80 1 tags · 5 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF080O2R deer female rifle season 2 GMU 80 30 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF080O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 80 2 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF080O3R deer female rifle season 3 GMU 80 30 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    67% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM080O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 80 [80, 81] 60 tags · 317 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM080O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 80 [80, 81] 8 tags · 13 applicants · needed 4 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM080O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 80 [80, 81] 46 tags · 139 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM080O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 80 [80, 81] 5 tags · 4 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM080O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 80 65 tags · 239 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM080O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 80 5 tags · 22 applicants · needed 3 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM080O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 80 62 tags · 253 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM080O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 80 2 tags · 24 applicants · needed 4 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM080O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 80 [80, 81] 10 tags · 105 applicants · needed 12 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM080O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 80 [80, 81] 50 tags · 7 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

Alamosa Durango Cañon City Montrose Colorado Springs
GMU 81 within Colorado
76 77 78 791 80 83 861 Alamosa
GMU 81 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 304,414 ac · 39%
  • Private 224,760 ac · 29%
  • BLM 178,318 ac · 23%
  • County or city land 64,850 ac · 8%
  • State land 4,709 ac · 1%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 104 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 585 295 50%
2023 516 229 44%
2022 558 301 54%
2021 472 160 34%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 194 · 66% · 329 hunters, 59% success
  • Archery 35 · 12% · 119 hunters, 29% success
  • Muzzleloader 66 · 22% · 138 hunters, 48% 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