Colorado Deer — GMU 98

Colorado GMU 98 covers 1,146,236 acres and lies 39 miles south-east of Sterling and 67 miles east of Fort Morgan. 5% of it is public land, mostly state land (3%) and county or city land (2%). In 2024, 370 people hunted deer here and took 170 — 46% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 165 tags here for 0 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):359 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:46 Hunter success (2024):46% Public land:5% Size:1,146,236 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 98, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

11 licenses on offer · 359 tags · 46 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
  • DE093O1A deer either-sex archery season 1 GMU 93 [93, 97, 98, 100] 30 tags · 17 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 40% as 2nd choice
  • DE093O2X deer either-sex rifle (season choice) season 2 GMU 93 [93, 97, 98, 99, 100] 3 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 43% as 2nd choice
  • DF093O2M deer female muzzleloader season 2 GMU 93 [93, 97, 98, 100] 31 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Cut level
  • DF093O2X deer female rifle (season choice) season 2 GMU 93 [93. 97, 98, 99, 100] 165 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Cut level
  • DF098L1R deer female rifle late season GMU 98 [98] 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Undersubscribed
  • DF098O1R deer female rifle season 1 GMU 98 [98] 2 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 50% as 2nd choice
  • DM093O2M deer male muzzleloader season 2 GMU 93 [93, 97, 98, 100] 7 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Cut level
  • DM098L1R deer male rifle late season GMU 98 [98] 10 tags · 17 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM098L1R deer male rifle late season GMU 98 [98] 3 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • DM098O1R deer male rifle season 1 GMU 98 [98] 7 tags · 7 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • DM098O1R deer male rifle season 1 GMU 98 [98] 100 tags · 1 applicants · needed 3 pts · Youth
    0% Undersubscribed
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 Commerce City Wellington Parker
GMU 98 within Colorado
100 101 102 89 90 91 92 93 95 96 97 Sterling
GMU 98 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 1,091,319 ac · 95%
  • State land 34,266 ac · 3%
  • County or city land 20,425 ac · 2%
  • BLM 80 ac · 0%
  • Other public 18 ac · 0%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 2 ac · 0%

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 370 170 46%
2023 405 172 42%
2022 393 201 51%
2021 434 291 67%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 154 · 91% · 321 hunters, 48% success
  • Archery 9 · 5% · 36 hunters, 25% success
  • Muzzleloader 7 · 4% · 13 hunters, 54% 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