Colorado Deer — GMU 89

Colorado GMU 89 covers 495,065 acres and lies 18 miles north-west of Sterling and 44 miles north-east of Fort Morgan. 11% of it is public land, mostly state land (7%) and national forest (3%). In 2024, 130 people hunted deer here and took 78 — 60% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 275 tags here for 0 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):473 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:8 Hunter success (2024):60% Public land:11% Size:495,065 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 89, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

10 licenses on offer · 473 tags · 8 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
  • DE087O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 87 [87, 88, 89, 90, 95] 1 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DE087O2X deer either-sex rifle (season choice) season 2 GMU 87 [87, 88, 89, 90, 95] 6 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 43% as 2nd choice
  • DE087O2X deer either-sex rifle (season choice) season 2 GMU 87 [87, 88, 89, 90, 95] 275 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF087O2M deer female muzzleloader season 2 GMU 87 [87, 88, 89, 90, 95] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents
  • DF087O2X deer female rifle (season choice) season 2 GMU 87 [87, 88, 89, 90, 95] 183 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Cut level
  • DF089L1R deer female rifle late season GMU 89 [89] 1 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DF089O1R deer female rifle season 1 GMU 89 [89] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents
  • DM087O2M deer male muzzleloader season 2 GMU 87 [87, 88, 89, 90, 95] 2 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 25% as 2nd choice
  • DM089L1R deer male rifle late season GMU 89 [89] 1 tags · 1 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM089O1R deer male rifle season 1 GMU 89 [89] 4 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    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

Sterling Fort Morgan Wellington Commerce City Parker
GMU 89 within Colorado
88 90 91 95 Sterling
GMU 89 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 438,687 ac · 89%
  • State land 33,952 ac · 7%
  • National Forest 16,904 ac · 3%
  • County or city land 5,392 ac · 1%

Source: BLM Colorado Surface Management Agency

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 130 78 60%
2023 215 49 23%
2022 242 111 46%
2021 236 122 52%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 74 · 95% · 115 hunters, 64% success
  • Archery 0 · 0% · 6 hunters, 0% success
  • Muzzleloader 4 · 5% · 9 hunters, 44% 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