Unit research · Colorado · GMU 16

GMU 16 — Colorado

51% public hunting land across 204,858 ac. Road access is easy — only 21% of the public land is more than a mile from a road. Almost none of the public land is landlocked.

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Deer draw odds (4)Elk draw odds (2)Pronghorn draw odds (2)Odds and pins: free, no account

GMU 16Full map — ownership, roads, wind →

7,970–11,890 ft

elevation range

51%

public hunting land

21%

of public >1 mi from a road

2,534 ac

landlocked public

1.20

road miles per mi²

170 mi

trails on public land

Computed from primary government data by the AGPL pipeline. See the code →

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

8 limited-entry deer, elk and pronghorn hunts are drawn on GMU 16: apply in the Colorado draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Deer tag · 4 draw hunts (2026)$60.18 resident · $518.41 nonresident

Elk tag · 2 draw hunts (2026)$79.33 resident · $856.65 nonresident

Pronghorn tag · 2 draw hunts (2026)$60.18 resident · $518.41 nonresident

Plus: Qualifying license (annual small game, cheapest adult route)$38.49 resident · $104.86 nonresident

Season dates: see Colorado Parks & Wildlife's regulations

2026 Colorado Big Game brochure (rev. 2026-03-18) ↗

Colorado Parks & Wildlife — licenses and tags ↗Draw odds for Colorado deer →Draw odds for Colorado elk →Draw odds for Colorado pronghorn →How the Colorado draw works →

Fees and draw dates from Colorado Parks & Wildlife, 2026, verified 2026-08-05 — past its verify-by date, confirm with the agency. Tag type from the agency's published draw statistics: a gmu that appears in none of them has no limited-entry hunt we know of. Source: 2026 Colorado Big Game brochure (rev. 2026-03-18) · CPW primary draw · CPW refunds, reversals and exchanges · Chapter W-2 (2 CCR 406-2), approved 2025-05-07.

Land & access

■ Forest Service 34%■ BLM 12%■ State wildlife 5%▨ Parks & other public 1%□ Private 48%

Unit area204,858 ac

Public hunting land104,823 ac (51%)

Parks & other public2,231 ac · State trust

Landlocked public2,534 ac (2.4%)

Deer draw pressure0.49 tags/mi² public (0.25 of total area)

Elk draw pressure0.14 tags/mi² public (0.069 of total area)

Pronghorn draw pressure0.34 tags/mi² public (0.17 of total area)

Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)383 mi

Mapped trails on public land170 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road22,447 ac (21% of public)

Road density1.20 mi/mi²

Managed byForest Service 70k ac · BLM 24k ac · State wildlife 9k ac

Elevation7,970–11,890 ft

Median elevation8,530 ft

Median slope5°

Where the ground sits

7,970 ft11,890 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 26%

E 36%

S 26%

W 11%

Share of ground steeper than 5° — flat ground has no facing

North slopes hold shade, cover and snow; south slopes open first.

USGS 3DEP 1 arc-second (30 m), slope at native resolution in a local metric projection, sampled on a 200 m grid. See the code →

Unit intelligence report · Pro, $5 a month or $49 a year

4,832 ac of this gmu has burned — 2% of the unit. The full report assembles it into one printable document and keeps it current as the facts change.

Open the report →

Season conditions — measured, not vibes

Historical temperatures · 2000–2025

Normals for 2000–2025 — tap or hover for a month

Measured at LARAMIE REGIONAL AIRPORT, 109 km from the unit’s center and ~1,300 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2024

15% success

284 taken by 1,839 hunters · 8,914 days afield

73 bulls · 199 cows · 12 calves

Elk hunter success · 2019–2024 · 16% → 15%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
1st rifle	22%	84	388
2nd rifle	6%	28	480
3rd rifle	18%	38	217
4th rifle	29%	27	95
Archery	7%	33	452
Muzzleloader	15%	11	77

Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.

Deer · 2024

14% success

22 taken by 153 hunters · 852 days afield

22 bucks (bucks only) · 0 fawns

Deer hunter success · 2019–2024 · 40% → 14%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	5%	2	39
Muzzleloader	20%	2	12

Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.

Pronghorn · 2024

49% success

26 taken by 54 hunters · 135 days afield

19 bucks · 7 does · 0 fawns

Pronghorn hunter success · 2019–2024 · 35% → 49%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	26%	2	10
Muzzleloader	11%	1	12

Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.

Herd-level estimates · 95% CI

deer · DAU D-3 · 2025: 342 harvested (CI 312–374) · 38% success

elk · DAU E-3 · 2025: 1,068 harvested (CI 952–1,198) · 9% success

pronghorn · DAU A-3 · 2025: 310 harvested (CI 295–325) · 73% success

CPW’s stratified-survey estimates for the whole herd unit (DAU) this GMU belongs to — published with the uncertainty the per-GMU tables can’t carry.

CPW estimates harvest, hunters, success and recreation days from its Big Game Harvest Survey. Unit tables run 2019-2024; the 2025 report switched to per-hunt-code tables without unit totals, so unit series end at 2024 and 2025 success rates appear on the draw-odds tables instead. Source: CPW Statewide Harvest Estimates (per species-year PDFs on the species statistics pages).

How these numbers are made

public_land_pct = public_area / unit_area
landlocked = public ∖ reachable(roads, corners)
remote = public ∖ buffer(roads, 1 mi)
# AGPL — read the pipeline →

Computed, not curated: no paid research team, no opinions dressed as data. If a number looks wrong, tell us at support@openhuntmaps.com — the fix ships for everyone.

Nearby GMUs

GMU 1486% public · 46% remote GMU 1762% public · 9% remote GMU 16174% public · 24% remote GMU 17163% public · 5% remote GMU 640% public · 2% remote GMU 18159% public · 6% remote

Ready to scout it?

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