Unit research · Colorado · GMU 18

GMU 18 — Colorado

64% public hunting land across 413,238 ac. Real backcountry here — 28% of the public land sits more than a mile from any road. Almost none of the public land is landlocked.

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Deer draw odds (10)Elk draw odds (13)Pronghorn draw odds (8)Odds and pins: free, no account

GMU 18Full map — ownership, roads, wind →

7,350–13,330 ft

elevation range

64%

public hunting land

28%

of public >1 mi from a road

750 ac

landlocked public

1.43

road miles per mi²

524 mi

trails on public land

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

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

31 limited-entry deer, elk and pronghorn hunts are drawn on GMU 18: apply in the Colorado draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Deer tag · 10 draw hunts (2026)$60.18 resident · $518.41 nonresident

Elk tag · 13 draw hunts (2026)$79.33 resident · $856.65 nonresident

Pronghorn tag · 8 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 53%■ BLM 11%■ State wildlife 1%▨ Parks & other public 24%□ Private 12%

Unit area413,238 ac

Public hunting land265,206 ac (64%)

Parks & other public97,278 ac · National Park Service, State trust

Landlocked public750 ac (0.3%)

Deer draw pressure6.2 tags/mi² public (4.0 of total area)

Elk draw pressure3.3 tags/mi² public (2.1 of total area)

Pronghorn draw pressure0.53 tags/mi² public (0.34 of total area)

Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)922 mi

Mapped trails on public land524 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road73,114 ac (28% of public)

Road density1.43 mi/mi²

Managed byForest Service 217k ac · BLM 45k ac · State wildlife 3k ac

Elevation7,350–13,330 ft

Median elevation9,450 ft

Median slope15°

Where the ground sits

7,350 ft13,330 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 19%

E 24%

S 28%

W 30%

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

190,010 ac of this gmu has burned — 46% 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 EAGLE CO REGIONAL AIRPORT, 103 km from the unit’s center and ~3,000 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2024

13% success

662 taken by 4,997 hunters · 24,655 days afield

370 bulls · 269 cows · 23 calves

Elk hunter success · 2019–2024 · 7% → 13%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
1st rifle	21%	143	666
2nd rifle	11%	116	1,026
3rd rifle	19%	180	927
4th rifle	7%	61	829
Archery	7%	73	1,070
Muzzleloader	13%	51	382

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

Deer · 2024

18% success

110 taken by 609 hunters · 2,709 days afield

102 bucks · 8 does · 0 fawns

Deer hunter success · 2019–2024 · 24% → 18%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	14%	9	61
Muzzleloader	0%	0	59

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

Pronghorn · 2024

12% success

17 taken by 138 hunters · 425 days afield

9 bucks · 8 does · 0 fawns

Pronghorn hunter success · 2019–2024 · 22% → 12%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	0%	0	21
Muzzleloader	8%	2	27

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

Herd-level estimates · 95% CI

deer · DAU D-9 · 2025: 1,084 harvested (CI 979–1,200) · 31% success

elk · DAU E-8 · 2025: 505 harvested (CI 429–594) · 9% success

pronghorn · DAU A-37 · 2025: 133 harvested (CI 113–156) · 26% 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 2867% public · 26% remote GMU 17163% public · 5% remote GMU 18159% public · 6% remote GMU 1762% public · 9% remote GMU 2026% public · 14% remote GMU 3771% public · 17% remote

Ready to scout it?

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