This is Colorado's published 2026 season, the whole state at once. A pin reads its game management unit off the map and cuts this to the seasons, arms and limits that apply there.

Colorado deer seasons

2026

1 antlered deer per licence year. Colorado does not print a season bag limit for deer, because it does not need one: a deer licence is a hunt code, and the code says one deer of the sex it names in the GMUs it names during the season it names. What decides how many licences you may hold is the list type printed in the last column of every hunt code table — one List A licence, up to two if the second is a List B (private-land-only antlerless, private-land-only antlered in units 29, 38, 51, 391 and 461, or an over-the-counter white-tailed deer licence), and List C on top of those. One application per species per draw per year; anything more comes from leftovers, over-the-counter sales or special licences. Brochure, printed pp. 3-9 and 22.

Archery
Archery equipmentPrinted in 2 columns — check which covers your game management unit.
September in the mountains, October to the end of the year on the plains.
The mountains
Sep 2–30Either sex
One deer of the sex your hunt code names.
The eastern plains
Oct 1–23Either sex
Nov 4 – Dec 31Either sex
One deer of the sex your hunt code names.
- "Archery Sept. 2-30*" in the mountains and "Plains Oct. 1-23; Nov. 4-Dec. 31" on the eastern plains. The asterisk is CPW's own and means "unless otherwise noted in the brochure tables" — your hunt code's dates win. Brochure, printed pp. 2 and 22.
- Some plains archery codes run "Oct. 1-23; Nov. 4-30; Dec. 15-31" instead of to the end of December — the tables split GMU groups between the two. This app carries the longer of the two blocks; read your code.
- Hunter orange is not required for archery, but CPW encourages it during the overlapping archery and muzzleloader seasons. An archery hunter out during a rifle season must wear it.
- Over-the-counter archery deer licences do not exist in Colorado; every deer licence is drawn or bought as a leftover, except over-the-counter white-tailed deer in certain low-population units.
Muzzleloader
Muzzleloading riflePrinted in 2 columns — check which covers your game management unit.
Nine days inside the archery season in the mountains; nine days in October on the plains.
The mountains
Sep 12–20Either sex
One deer of the sex your hunt code names.
The eastern plains
Oct 10–18Either sex
One deer of the sex your hunt code names.
- "Muzzleloader Sept. 12-20*" in the mountains and "Plains Oct. 10-18" east of I-25. Brochure, printed pp. 2 and 22.
- The mountain muzzleloader season sits inside the archery season, which is why CPW asks archery hunters to consider wearing orange through it.
- Muzzleloader hunters are firearm hunters for the orange rule: 500 square inches of solid fluorescent orange or pink above the waist, plus an orange or pink hat.
- Muzzleloader deer licences are limited and drawn.
First Rifle
Centrefire rifle, or any legal big game armPrinted in 1 column — check which covers your game management unit.
Five days in the middle of October — in select GMUs only.
Select mountain GMUs
Oct 14–18Either sex
One deer of the sex your hunt code names.
- "First Rifle Oct. 14-18**" — and the double asterisk is CPW's own: "In select GMUs. See the rifle hunt code tables." This is not a statewide season, and the app cannot tell you whether your unit is one of the select ones. Brochure, printed p. 22.
- New for 2026: first season rifle buck hunts were added for GMU groupings 75 and 751, and 77, 78 and 771.
- 500 square inches of solid fluorescent orange or pink above the waist and an orange or pink hat are required.
Second Rifle
Centrefire rifle, or any legal big game armPrinted in 2 columns — check which covers your game management unit.
Nine days at the end of October, and the plains rifle season alongside it.
The mountains
Oct 24 – Nov 1Either sex
One deer of the sex your hunt code names.
The eastern plains
Oct 24 – Nov 3Either sex
One deer of the sex your hunt code names.
- "Second Rifle Oct. 24-Nov. 1" in the mountains; "Plains Rifle Oct. 24-Nov. 3" east of I-25 — the same opening day, two days longer on the plains. Brochure, printed pp. 2 and 22.
- 500 square inches of solid fluorescent orange or pink above the waist and an orange or pink hat are required, of every firearm hunter and of archery hunters out during this season.
Third Rifle
Centrefire rifle, or any legal big game armPrinted in 1 column — check which covers your game management unit.
Nine days in early November, in the mountains.
The mountains
Nov 7–15Either sex
One deer of the sex your hunt code names.
- "Third Rifle Nov. 7-15." No plains equivalent — the plains calendar goes from its own rifle season straight to a December late season. Brochure, printed pp. 2 and 22.
- 500 square inches of solid fluorescent orange or pink above the waist and an orange or pink hat are required.
Fourth Rifle
Centrefire rifle, or any legal big game armPrinted in 1 column — check which covers your game management unit.
Five days in late November — the last mountain rifle season.
The mountains
Nov 18–22Either sex
One deer of the sex your hunt code names.
- "Fourth Rifle Nov. 18-22." Brochure, printed pp. 2 and 22.
- New for 2026: fourth season rifle buck hunts were added for GMUs 61 and 62.
- 500 square inches of solid fluorescent orange or pink above the waist and an orange or pink hat are required.
Plains Late Rifle
Centrefire rifle, or any legal big game armPrinted in 1 column — check which covers your game management unit.
A fortnight in early December, on the eastern plains alone.
The eastern plains
Dec 1–14Either sex
One deer of the sex your hunt code names.
- "Plains Dec. 1-14 Late" in the plains hunt code tables — for example D-E-129-L2-R in GMU 129 and D-E-136-L2-R in 136, 141 and 147. It exists nowhere west of the plains. Brochure, printed pp. 33-34.
- Not every plains GMU has a late hunt code. Read the tables before counting on it.
- 500 square inches of solid fluorescent orange or pink above the waist and an orange or pink hat are required.

New This Season

What changed since last year, and is therefore easiest to get wrong.

There will be no mandatory CWD testing for harvested deer in the 2026 seasons.
Private-land-only archery doe and buck hunts removed for GMUs 4, 13 and 301.
Fourth season rifle buck hunts added for GMUs 61 and 62.
First season rifle buck hunts added for GMU groupings 75 and 751, and 77, 78 and 771.
Private-land-only rifle doe hunts added for GMU 84 and the 71/711 grouping.

Legal Arms

2026 Colorado Big Game brochure weapon specifications, as the digest prints them.

Archery

Brochure, printed p. 14

Archery equipment as defined in the brochure's legal methods of take, printed p. 14

Muzzleloader

Brochure, printed p. 14

Muzzleloading rifle as defined in the brochure's legal methods of take, printed p. 14

Rifle

Brochure, printed p. 14

Centrefire rifle and the other arms listed under legal methods of take, printed p. 14

Hunting Hours and Orange

What the state defines as legal light, and what has to be worn in it.

Legal Shooting Hours

Brochure, printed p. 13

"Legal hunting hours for big game are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset, unless specifically restricted." CPW prints a Denver sunrise/sunset table and then tells you to use NOAA's solar calculator for your actual location — which is what this app does. Hunting outside those hours is a named offence.

Fluorescent Orange

Brochure, printed p. 15

At least 500 square inches of solid daylight fluorescent orange or fluorescent pink on an outer garment above the waist, plus a fluorescent orange or pink hat or head covering visible from all directions. Required while hunting deer, elk, pronghorn, moose or bear with any firearm licence — muzzleloader hunters included, and archery hunters who hunt during a rifle season. Camouflage orange or pink does not qualify. Mesh garments are legal but not recommended. Archery hunters during the overlapping September archery and muzzleloader seasons are encouraged to wear it but not required to. Colorado is one of the few states that accepts pink.

Sundays

Brochure, which prints no Sunday exception

Colorado sets no Sunday restriction on big game hunting.

Standing Rules

The parts of the digest that are true every day of the season.

How a Colorado deer licence works

Brochure, printed pp. 3-9 and 22

Almost every deer licence is a hunt code — species, sex, GMU group, season and list type — drawn in the primary draw in April or the secondary draw in June, or bought afterwards as a leftover.
A current-year qualifying licence and a Habitat Stamp are required before you may apply.
You may submit only one application per species per draw per year.
List A: one licence. List B: up to two, if one is a private-land-only antlerless licence, a private-land-only antlered licence in units 29, 38, 51, 391 or 461, or an over-the-counter white-tailed deer licence. List C stacks on top.
Over-the-counter white-tailed deer licences exist in certain units with lower populations — see the brochure's map on printed pp. 33-34.
The dates printed against your hunt code are your dates. The season bands in this app are the framework they are cut from, not a substitute.

Private land east of I-25

Brochure, printed p. 33

CPW prints its own warning on the plains deer pages: "Most land is private in units east of I-25. Landowner permission is advisable before applying for hunts in these units." It names 104, 105, 106, 107, 114, 115 and 121, and flags 128 and 129 individually. Jumping Cow SWA in GMU 104 needs a property-specific access permit.

Illegal activities

Brochure, printed p. 15

Hunting outside legal hunting hours — half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.
Hunting carelessly, or discharging a firearm or releasing an arrow in disregard of human life or property.
Interfering with hunters: distracting or frightening prey, causing prey to flee with light or noise, chasing prey on foot or by vehicle, throwing objects, erecting barriers to deny access, or injecting yourself into the line of fire.

Collared animals

Brochure, printed p. 12

If you take a big game animal wearing a collar or ear tag, do not cut the tag or collar. Report the number, colour, harvest location and date to CPW, and return the radio collar.

Tagging and Reporting

The clock that starts the moment the deer is down.

Brochure, printed pp. 12 and 16

Every deer must be reported carcass tag attached at the kill site.

Attach the carcass tag as the brochure's tagging rules require, printed p. 16
Keep evidence of sex naturally attached as required
Report a collared or ear-tagged animal to CPW and return the collar

Chronic Wasting Disease

Background, and the rules that apply if you carry a carcass out of a management area.

Brochure, printed pp. 22 and 35

For 2026 there is no mandatory CWD testing for harvested deer — a change from recent seasons. Mandatory testing continues for elk taken in named GMUs during the rifle seasons.

No mandatory submission of CWD samples from deer in the 2026 seasons.
Elk taken during any rifle season in specified GMUs must be submitted; testing is free. The GMU list is on printed p. 41.
Voluntary testing and current information are at cpw.state.co.us/cwd.

Where This App Is Coarser Than the Digest

Said plainly, because an absence is easy to read as a permission.

Colorado deer hunting is a draw. Every licence is a hunt code naming a group of GMUs, a season and a sex, and the dates printed against that code are your dates. What this app carries is the season framework CPW prints on its summary page — useful for knowing when the third rifle season is, not a substitute for reading your code.
The first rifle season runs in select GMUs only. CPW says so with a double asterisk and sends you to the hunt code tables; the app shows it across the mountain group with that warning attached.
The eastern plains run a different calendar from the rest of the state, and the app splits GMUs 103-147 out for it. Whether a particular plains GMU has an archery block ending 31 December or one ending 30 November and reopening 15 December, and whether it has a December late rifle season at all, is in the tables.
Bag limits are not printed as a season number in Colorado. How many deer licences you may hold depends on the list type in the last column of each hunt code table, and the app cannot know which codes you hold.
Most land east of I-25 is private. CPW prints that warning itself and names 104, 105, 106, 107, 114, 115, 121, 128 and 129.
The brochure carries a corrections page dated after publication, and one of its entries is a deer season. CPW, 13 March 2026: "Deer season choice hunt code D-F-092-P5-X archery season dates should be: Oct. 1-23; Nov. 4-30; Dec. 15-31." That is a limited-licence hunt code, which this app does not carry, so nothing on this screen is wrong because of it — but if it is the code you drew, the printed brochure's dates for it are not. The online brochure has been corrected. The page's other entries for this season are moose.
Colorado's peak breeding date is an estimate inside CPW's own window. CPW says the deer rut enters its peak in late November and lasts through mid-December, and publishes no single date; the rut meter uses 25 November.
Colorado publishes no open statewide parcel service, so there are no property lines on the map here.

Useful Numbers

The agency, when the app cannot answer it.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife: 303-297-1192
Licence applications: 1-800-244-5613
Buy and apply: cpw.state.co.us/buy-apply
CWD: cpw.state.co.us/cwd

Transcribed from the published 2026 Colorado digest. Where this app and the digest disagree, the digest is the law. Read the Colorado Parks and Wildlife digest.