Unit research · Colorado GMU 49

GMU 49 — Colorado

72% public across 344,455 ac. Road access is easy — only 19% 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 (9)Elk draw odds (13)Pronghorn draw odds (6)Odds and pins: free, no account

GMU 49Full map — ownership, roads, wind →

7,810–14,210 ft

elevation range

72%

public land

19%

of public >1 mi from a road

170 ac

landlocked public

1.98

road miles per mi²

407 mi

maintained trails

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

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

28 limited-entry deer, elk and pronghorn hunts are drawn on GMU 49: apply in the Colorado draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Deer tag · 9 draw hunts (2026)$60.18 resident · $518.41 nonresident

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

Pronghorn tag · 6 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

■ USFS 60%■ BLM 9%■ SFW 3%■ Other public 1%□ Private 28%

Unit area344,455 ac

Public land249,079 ac (72%)

Landlocked public170 ac (0.1%)

Deer draw pressure3.7 tags/mi² public (2.7 of total area)

Elk draw pressure2.1 tags/mi² public (1.5 of total area)

Pronghorn draw pressure0.15 tags/mi² public (0.11 of total area)

Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)1,067 mi

Maintained trails407 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road48,334 ac (19% of public)

Road density1.98 mi/mi²

Managed byUSFS 207k ac · BLM 30k ac · SFW 11k ac

Elevation7,810–14,210 ft

Median elevation10,470 ft

Median slope11°

Where the ground sits

7,810 ft14,210 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 19%

E 28%

S 27%

W 26%

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

15,734 ac of this gmu has burned — 5% 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, 89 km from the unit’s center and ~4,000 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2024

39% success

378 taken by 971 hunters · 5,082 days afield

200 bulls · 161 cows · 16 calves

Elk hunter success · 2019–2024 · 35% → 39%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
1st rifle	61%	48	78
2nd rifle	38%	86	228
3rd rifle	37%	74	200
4th rifle	31%	52	168
Archery	33%	53	163
Muzzleloader	47%	63	132

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

Deer · 2024

47% success

343 taken by 729 hunters · 3,145 days afield

289 bucks · 54 does · 0 fawns

Deer hunter success · 2019–2024 · 40% → 47%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	11%	14	130
Muzzleloader	44%	36	82

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

Pronghorn · 2024

7% success

2 taken by 24 hunters · 92 days afield

2 bucks (bucks only) · 0 fawns

Pronghorn hunter success · 2019–2024 · 38% → 7%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	0%	0	11
Muzzleloader	0%	0	6

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

Herd-level estimates · 95% CI

deer · DAU D-16 · 2025: 1,048 harvested (CI 952–1,154) · 48% success

elk · DAU E-22 · 2025: 838 harvested (CI 787–891) · 34% success

pronghorn · DAU A-30 · 2025: 106 harvested (CI 98–116) · 40% 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, file an issue — the fix ships for everyone.

Nearby GMUs

GMU 4889% public · 35% remote GMU 48180% public · 40% remote GMU 5048% public · 3% remote GMU 50068% public · 13% remote GMU 4590% public · 31% remote GMU 5776% public · 11% remote

Ready to scout it?

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