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 state land (5%). In 2024, 763 people hunted deer here and took 351, a 46% success rate. Its most applied-for hunt, DM085O2R, put up 400 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 142 nonresident first-choice applicants, 68 of whom drew.

Tags, 2026
2,232

13 licenses · NR capped at 25%

Applicants
518

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
46%

2024, all licenses

Public Land
18%

9% Forest Service

Size
1,175 mi²

751,835 acres

Alamosa 85
46%hunter success 2024 · 763 hunters, 351 deer

Boundaries are drawn for orientation only. The written boundary description in the regulations governs.

Best Bets at 0 Points

Ranked by your odds times how often that license type's hunters filled their tag in 2024. Nonresident, first choice, 2026 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.

Every License in GMU 85

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it
DF085P5R Standard · private 100% 0
Youth · private 100% (small sample) —
DM085O1A Standard 0% 2 ▲1
Youth 0% (small sample) —
DM085O1M Standard 0% 2 ▼1
Youth 100% (small sample) —
DM085O2R Standard 11% 0
Youth 33% 0
DM085O3R Standard 16% 0
Youth 17% (small sample) 0
DM085O4R Standard 0% 5 ▼1
Youth 0% (small sample) —
DM085W1R Standard 100% (small sample) —

First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file.

Draw results: CPW 2026 Primary DEER Post Draw Report, retrieved Aug 31, 2026.

If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): Standard $636.03 ($129.11 to apply) · Youth $636.03 ($129.11 to apply). Open Mar 1 – Apr 6, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

Harvest

Year Hunters Deer Success
2024 763 351 46%
2023 833 444 53%
2022 726 378 52%
2021 772 379 49%

2024 split: rifle 293 (83%) from 620 hunters, 47%, archery 46 (13%) from 107 hunters, 43%, muzzleloader 12 (3%) from 36 hunters, 33%

What Colorado Parks and Wildlife publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. 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. Source: CPW 2024 Statewide Deer Harvest; CPW 2023 Statewide Deer Hunting Harvest…; CPW 2022 Statewide Deer Harvest.

The Ground

Private 617,225 ac 82%
National Forest 67,644 ac 9%
State land 37,620 ac 5%
BLM 29,303 ac 4%
County or city land 40 ac <1%

Source: Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office 2026 BLM Surface Management Agency.

▸ Sources 10
  1. CPW 2026 Primary DEER Post Draw Report draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  2. CPW 2026 2 CCR 406-0 Chapter W-0 General… fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  3. CPW 2026 Big Game Hunting brochure fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  4. CPW 2026 web page fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  5. CPW 2024 Statewide Deer Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  6. CPW 2023 Statewide Deer Hunting Harvest… harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  7. CPW 2022 Statewide Deer Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  8. CPW 2021 Statewide Deer Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  9. CPW 2026 GMU Boundary, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  10. Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office 2026 BLM Surface Management Agency land ownership, retrieved Aug 31, 2026

About These Numbers

Odds are from the 2026 draw, the latest on file, computed from Colorado Parks and Wildlife's published results. They are what happened in that draw, not a forecast. Under five tags a percentage carries a *, because one applicant either way swings it. A dash means the agency did not publish the number, and a date marked expected is last cycle's schedule rolled forward. How we compute these.

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Every report is checked against the agency source before we change anything.

We don't take applications: check Colorado Parks and Wildlife's site and apply there.

Prior-draw odds from Colorado Parks and Wildlife's results, not a forecast · Methodology · All Colorado deer hunts