AmmoSight

Colorado Deer — GMU 851

Colorado GMU 851 covers 280,395 acres and lies 61 miles south-east of Alamosa and 84 miles south of Pueblo. 13% of it is public land, mostly county or city land (12%) and national forest (1%). In 2024, 95 people hunted deer here and took 48 — 50% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 84 tags here for 142 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):305 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:544 Hunter success (2024):50% Public land:13% Size:280,395 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 851, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

18 licenses on offer · 305 tags · 544 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
  • 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
  • DM851O1A deer male archery season 1 GMU 851 [851 Bosque del Oso SWA only] 1 tags · 4 applicants · needed 6 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM851O1M deer male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 851 [851 Bosque del Oso SWA only] 2 tags · 4 applicants · needed 8 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder
  • DM851O1R deer male rifle season 1 GMU 851 [851 Bosque del Oso SWA only] 1 tags · 8 applicants · needed 21 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM851O1R deer male rifle season 1 GMU 851 [851 Bosque del Oso SWA only] 5 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • DM851O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 851 [851 Bosque del Oso SWA only] 0 tags · 9 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM851O2R deer male rifle season 2 GMU 851 [851 Bosque del Oso SWA only] 5 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • DM851W1R deer male rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 851 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • DM851W2R deer male rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 851 1 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 851 within Colorado
134 140 141 83 85
GMU 851 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 241,122 ac · 86%
  • County or city land 34,148 ac · 12%
  • National Forest 2,092 ac · 1%
  • BLM 156 ac · 0%
  • Private or other non-public land 2,875 ac · 1%

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 95 48 50%
2023 156 79 51%
2022 113 77 68%
2021 139 71 51%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 41 · 87% · 72 hunters, 57% success
  • Archery 5 · 11% · 12 hunters, 42% success
  • Muzzleloader 1 · 2% · 11 hunters, 9% 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