Unit research · Colorado GMU 82

GMU 82 — Colorado

70% public across 697,042 ac. Real backcountry here — 35% of the public land sits more than a mile from any road. Almost none of the public land is landlocked.

Open in map

Deer draw odds (6)Elk draw odds (9)Pronghorn draw odds (5)Odds and pins: free, no account

GMU 82Full map — ownership, roads, wind →

7,510–14,200 ft

elevation range

70%

public land

35%

of public >1 mi from a road

203 ac

landlocked public

0.97

road miles per mi²

320 mi

maintained trails

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

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

20 limited-entry deer, elk and pronghorn hunts are drawn on GMU 82: apply in the Colorado draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Deer tag · 6 draw hunts (2026)$60.18 resident · $518.41 nonresident

Elk tag · 9 draw hunts (2026)$79.33 resident · $856.65 nonresident

Pronghorn tag · 5 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

■ NPS 21%■ USFS 19%■ FWS 13%■ Other public 17%□ Private 30%

Unit area697,042 ac

Public land489,074 ac (70%)

Landlocked public203 ac (0.0%)

Deer draw pressure0.48 tags/mi² public (0.34 of total area)

Elk draw pressure0.58 tags/mi² public (0.41 of total area)

Pronghorn draw pressure0.13 tags/mi² public (0.090 of total area)

Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)1,054 mi

Maintained trails320 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road172,539 ac (35% of public)

Road density0.97 mi/mi²

Managed byNPS 147k ac · USFS 132k ac · FWS 92k ac

Elevation7,510–14,200 ft

Median elevation7,710 ft

Median slope1°

Where the ground sits

7,510 ft14,200 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 16%

E 10%

S 32%

W 42%

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

13,743 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 SAN LUIS VALLEY REGIONAL AIRPORT, 50 km from the unit’s center. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2024

23% success

521 taken by 2,297 hunters · 10,047 days afield

325 bulls · 171 cows · 25 calves

Elk hunter success · 2019–2024 · 22% → 23%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
1st rifle	17%	52	301
2nd rifle	11%	58	526
3rd rifle	18%	71	392
4th rifle	30%	42	137
Archery	8%	39	485
Muzzleloader	15%	16	106

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

Deer · 2024

50% success

210 taken by 419 hunters · 2,055 days afield

206 bucks · 3 does · 1 fawns

Deer hunter success · 2019–2024 · 38% → 50%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	17%	8	45
Muzzleloader	24%	12	49

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

Pronghorn · 2024

82% success

98 taken by 119 hunters · 311 days afield

68 bucks · 30 does · 0 fawns

Pronghorn hunter success · 2019–2024 · 71% → 82%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	31%	6	20
Muzzleloader	100%	2	2

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

Herd-level estimates · 95% CI

deer · DAU D-56 · 2025: 294 harvested (CI 270–320) · 61% success

elk · DAU E-11 · 2025: 423 harvested (CI 382–468) · 22% success

pronghorn · DAU A-14 · 2025: 152 harvested (CI 152–152) · 70% 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 68217% public · 18% remote GMU 86139% public · 25% remote GMU 7912% public · 1% remote GMU 8656% public · 29% remote GMU 68188% public · 8% remote GMU 69146% public · 31% remote

Ready to scout it?

Everything on this page, live on the map — ownership, boundaries, roads, and your own waypoints.

Open GMU 82 in the map