Colorado GMU 682 Mule Deer Hunting
Saguache County, southwest Colorado · 255 sq mi
This unit offers no unit-wide buck or either-sex mule deer hunt open across the unit. Public applicants can draw antlerless tags here. Private-land-only and Ranching for Wildlife licenses are drawn by Colorado residents through the public draw, but neither is unit-wide: a private-land-only license needs permission on private ground, and a Ranching for Wildlife license is valid on the ranches enrolled in that program.
What hunting GMU 682 is like
Unit 682 is a 255-square-mile expanse of gentle, rolling country in Saguache County in the southwest region. Elevation ranges from 7,500 feet to 8,000 feet, with terrain so gentle that 100% of the unit falls in the gentle slope category. The landscape is walkable and open to travel, but legal hunting access is sharply limited by land ownership.
Public hunting access in Unit 682 is confined to roughly 4.1% of the unit, approximately 10 square miles of BLM land and State Wildlife Areas. The remainder is private (85%), Colorado State Trust Land whose access depends on enrollment in CPW's Public Access Program (8.4%), unclassified ownership (2.2%), or too small to name separately. The scarcity of dependably open ground makes this unit fundamentally a private-land affair; the walkability of the terrain is secondary to the challenge of legal entry.
Mule deer occupy the unit across seasonal ranges. The unit is covered by Overall Range mapping at 100%, indicating the full extent of mapped use. Summer Range covers 8% of the unit and Winter Range covers 3%. This distribution suggests that mule deer concentrate on seasonal grounds in summer and winter but use other areas of the unit during transition periods. A hunter crossing the calendar year should expect deer presence to shift across the unit's terrain as the year advances, though timing and extent vary with weather and snow.
Unit 682 offers mule deer hunting in the private-land-only category from September 1 through December 31. This season spans the velvet-shed phase in early fall through the late-rut phase in late December, covering the period when bucks are shedding velvet, entering the rut, and moving into winter consolidation. No public-land mule deer hunting is available; a hunter pursuing mule deer in this unit must gain permission on private ground.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 7,500–8,000 ft, typically around 7,600 ft
- Steepness
- Gentle — mean slope 0.3°
- Slope breakdown
- 100% gentle · 0% moderate · 0% steep · 0% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~10 sq mi, plus ~21 sq mi of State Trust Land where access depends on enrollment
Land & access
About 4% of GMU 682 is public land a hunter can count on — BLM and State Wildlife Areas. A further 8% is State Trust Land, which is huntable only where CPW has enrolled it.
- BLM3%
- State Wildlife Area<1%
- State Trust Land8%
- Unclassified ownership2%
- Private85%
Colorado State Trust Land is open to public hunting only where it is enrolled in CPW's Public Access Program. Check current enrollment before planning around it.
“Ownership unclassified” means the source dataset does not record an owner for that acreage. It is not known to be public or private.
Where mule deer live in the unit
Colorado Parks & Wildlife maps mule deer seasonal ranges statewide. This is how much of GMU 682 each range covers — the single best clue to whether mule deer are here in September, in November, or only passing through. The layers overlap, so they do not add to 100%.
- Overall Range100%the full extent of range CPW maps for mule deer — near 100% on most units, and not a statement about when mule deer are present
- Summer Range8%used in summer
- Winter Range3%used in winter
Mule Deer seasons & weapons (2026)
| Season | Dates | Tags offered |
|---|---|---|
| Private-land only | September 1 – December 31 | Either-sex |
Dates span every hunt code of that type in this unit and can differ by code. Confirm the current brochure with Colorado Parks & Wildlife before applying.
GMU 682 mule deer hunting FAQ
How much public land can a hunter actually hunt in Unit 682?
Approximately 4.1% of the unit, or roughly 10 square miles of BLM and State Wildlife Areas, is dependably open to public hunting. An additional 8.4% is Colorado State Trust Land, but access there is limited to parcels enrolled in CPW's Public Access Program, and enrollment status varies by parcel. The remaining 85% is private land.
Can a public applicant draw a mule deer tag for Unit 682?
Unit 682 is private-land-only for mule deer hunting. A public applicant can draw an antlerless tag, but hunting it requires permission on private ground. No unit-wide buck or either-sex opportunity is available to public hunters; the draw is antlerless-only.
When are mule deer concentrated on winter range in this unit?
Winter Range covers 3% of the unit. CPW phenology indicates that late-rut and winter-consolidation behavior spans late November through December 31. A hunter pursuing deer late in the season should expect concentration on mapped winter ground as the year closes, but the timing and intensity of that shift depend on snow, weather and individual animal movement.
Is the terrain in Unit 682 suitable for walking and glassing?
Yes. The unit is 100% gentle and rolling terrain with a mean slope of 0.3 degrees, making it walkable and open to travel. However, legal access is the limiting factor here: only about 4.1% of the unit is dependably open to public hunting, so terrain difficulty is less of a constraint than finding ground a hunter is allowed to hunt.
What are the season dates and rut phases for mule deer in Unit 682?
The private-land-only season runs September 1 through December 31 and spans the velvet-shed phase (early September), the early-fall migration and nocturnal-buck phase (October 1–24), the early pre-rut and migration-corridor staging phase (October 25–November 10), the primary rut (November 11–25), and the late-rut and winter-consolidation phase (November 26–December 31). This is an extended calendar that covers the entire archery and rifle season cycle for mule deer.
Is Unit 682 a realistic choice for a hunter with no preference points?
Unit 682 offers no public-land mule deer hunting and is functionally private-land-only. A hunter with no points cannot pursue mule deer here in any meaningful way without leased or private access. The draw difficulty is antlerless-only, but that opportunity requires permission on private ground first.
Data sources & methodology
- Colorado Parks & Wildlife — Big Game hunting — seasons, weapons, hunt codes and license types
- CPW — Primary Draw rules — how preference points and the hybrid draw work
- CPW — Deer statistics, draw recap and Drawn Out At reports — the point levels behind the draw-difficulty bands
- CPW — Secondary Draw — licenses remaining after the primary draw
- CPW — Maps and GIS (Species Activity Mapping) — mule deer seasonal range
- CPW — State Trust Land Finder — which State Trust acreage is enrolled and open to public hunting
- Federal and state land-ownership datasets — land ownership and access
- NOAA climate normals — fall weather
Draw difficulty is a qualitative band, not published odds — the note under the summary above states exactly which hunt code it describes. Land shares are separate, non-overlapping categories: publicly owned is not the same as open to hunting, and State Trust Land is huntable only where CPW has enrolled it. Unit data last updated August 31, 2026.