AmmoSight

Colorado Deer — GMU 85

Colorado GMU 85 covers 751,835 acres and lies 54 miles east of Alamosa and 73 miles south of Cañon City. 18% of it is public land, mostly national forest (9%) and BLM (4%). In 2024, 763 people hunted deer here and took 351 — 46% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 126 tags here for 1 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):542 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:518 Hunter success (2024):46% Public land:18% Size:751,835 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 85, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

13 licenses on offer · 542 tags · 518 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
  • DF085P5R deer female rifle private-land-only GMU 85 [85 - Those portions bounded on the north by Colo 160; on the east by Co Rd 350 and Wahatoya Creek; on the south by Co Rd] 126 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF085P5R deer female rifle private-land-only GMU 85 [85 - Those portions bounded on the north by Colo 160; on the east by Co Rd 350 and Wahatoya Creek; on the south by Co Rd] 125 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM085O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 85 [85, 851 except Bosque del Oso SWA] 41 tags · 133 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM085O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 85 [85, 851 except Bosque del Oso SWA] 6 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • DM085O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 85 [85, 851 except Bosque del Oso SWA] 14 tags · 47 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM085O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 85 [85, 851 except Bosque del Oso SWA] 65 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM085O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 85 84 tags · 142 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    11% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM085O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 85 5 tags · 17 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    33% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM085O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 85 [85, 851 except Bosque del Oso SWA] 58 tags · 94 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    16% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM085O3R deer male rifle season 3 GMU 85 [85, 851 except Bosque del Oso SWA] 4 tags · 7 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    17% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM085O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 85 11 tags · 70 applicants · needed 5 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM085O4R deer male rifle season 4 GMU 85 1 tags · 5 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM085W1R deer male rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 85 2 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.

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 Pueblo Fountain Monument Castle Rock
GMU 85 within Colorado
128 129 133 134 135 140 141 142 147 682 791 81 82 83 84 851 861 Alamosa
GMU 85 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

  • Private 617,225 ac · 82%
  • National Forest 67,645 ac · 9%
  • BLM 29,303 ac · 4%
  • State land 19,201 ac · 3%
  • County or city land 18,460 ac · 2%

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 763 351 46%
2023 833 444 53%
2022 726 378 52%
2021 772 379 49%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 293 · 83% · 620 hunters, 47% success
  • Archery 46 · 13% · 107 hunters, 43% success
  • Muzzleloader 12 · 3% · 36 hunters, 33% 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