AmmoSight

Colorado Elk EF851L3R — GMU 851

elk female rifle late season GMU 851 [851 - Bosque del Oso SWA ONLY]

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GMU 851 within Colorado
Everything about GMU 851
What you may take
elk female rifle late season GMU 851 [851 - Bosque del Oso SWA ONLY]
Weapon
Rifle
Where
GMU 851
13% public of 280,395 acres
Season (2026)
Dec 26 – Jan 3, 2027
Tags (2026)
6
for 2 first-choice applicants · nonresidents capped at 25%
Hunter success here (2024)
30%
of everyone who hunted the area

Showing nonresident results (Standard class). Switch to resident · Standard Youth

Odds by point level — 2026 draw

Undersubscribed: 2 of 5 tags claimed by first-choice nonresident applicants in 2026. Everyone who applied drew and the rest went to the leftover draw — the 100% reflects low demand, not a great tag. A code like this can flip the year demand catches up.

Prior-draw probability for a first-choice nonresident applicant. 5 tags, 2 first-choice applicants, drew out at 0 points. Source: 2026 Primary ELK Post Draw... · p. 947.

Points Your chance Applicants Drawn
0 100% 2 2
1–10 100% same chance at every one of these levels — —

Preference points, computed from published point-level pools. A dash means Colorado Parks and Wildlife did not publish a count for that level. How we compute these.

What it costs (2026 nonresident fees)

Cash to apply
$129.11
Out of pocket if unsuccessful
$129.11
Total if drawn
$974.27
Refunded if unsuccessful
$0

At the 2026 odds, expected cost per hunt-year ranges from $974.27 (enough points to draw) .

Nonresident limited-license application-processing fee (per species, per draw) · paid at application $11.49 source
Nonresident annual small game license (cheapest qualifying license to enter the draws; base $102.11 + surcharges) · paid at application $104.86 or $194.21 source
Colorado Wildlife Habitat Stamp (ages 18-64, once per license year, added automatically) · paid at application $12.76 source
Preference point fee, deer/elk/pronghorn (none until the 2028 draw) · only for a point bought without applying — an unsuccessful applicant gets the point free $0 source
Nonresident elk license (bull, either-sex or cow; includes annual fishing combo; base $842.41 + surcharges) - charged only if drawn · paid if drawn, refundable $845.16 source

Optional, not counted above: Hunt-code exchange fee (same species, quota remaining, before season starts) $5 and License refund processing fee (most refunds) $15.

Not applying this year? A point-only purchase costs $0 (Mar 1 – Apr 7, expected) and keeps you moving toward the 0-point cut.

Next application window: opens Mar 1, closes Apr 7, 2027 (expected) · results ~May 26. Last cycle's schedule rolled forward — confirm when the agency publishes.

Point creep & years to draw

Drew out at 0 → 0 → 0 → 0 → 0 points (2022–2026): no creep — drew at 0 points each year. Projecting that pace forward:

Your points nowYears until a sure thing
0now

A projection of the last five draws' median creep (capped at 2 points/yr), not a forecast. Random-pass odds still apply every year you're below the cut.

Seasons (2026)

Split 1: Dec 26 – Jan 3, 2027 p. 947

How this tag has hunted

Across every license type in GMU 851, Colorado Parks and Wildlife counted 579 hunters and 175 elk taken in 2024 — 30% of them killed something. Full GMU 851 profile: maps, public land, five years of harvest →

Colorado's figures come from CPW's post-season hunter survey. CPW's 2025 report dropped the per-GMU table in favour of hunt-code rows, so the newest year shown here is 2024. Source: 2024 Statewide Elk Harvest 2023 Statewide Elk Hunting Harvest Estimates

As a lower choice

2nd choice
0%

Tags issued to lower choices ÷ lower-choice applicants, as published. Points do not help a lower choice.

Year by year

The standard draw for nonresidents, one row per year. Colorado runs a second, random pass after the points pass; it is shown beside the year it belongs to.

Year Tags Applicants Applicants per tag Points needed Random pass Source
2026 6 2 0.3 0 1 tagfrom 1 applications 2026 Primary ELK Post Draw... · p. 947
2025 2 2 1.0 0 — 2025 Primary ELK Post Draw... · p. 838
2024 7 5 0.7 0 1 tagfrom 3 applications 2024 Primary ELK Post Draw... · p. 797
2023 1 1 1.0 0 — 2023 Primary ELK Post Draw... · p. 808
2022 11 8 0.7 0 1 tagfrom 1 applications 2022 Primary ELK Post Draw... · p. 710
2021 10 10 1.0 0 — 2021 Primary Elk Post Draw... · p. 733

Other licenses valid in GMU 851

EE085O1M — elk either-sex muzzleloader season 1 GMU 85 [85, 140, 851 Except Bosque del Oso SWA] Muzzleloader EE085O1R — elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 85 Rifle EE085O4R — elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 85 Rifle EE085P1R — elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 85 Rifle EE085V1A — elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 85 [85, 140, 851 except Bosque del Oso SWA] Archery EE851J2R — elk either-sex rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 851 Rifle EE851K2R — elk either-sex rifle youth-only GMU 851 [851 Bosque del Oso SWA only Youth Only] Rifle EE851K3R — elk either-sex rifle youth-only GMU 851 [851 Bosque del Oso SWA only Youth Only] Rifle EE851O1A — elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 851 [851 Bosque del Oso SWA only] Archery EE851W1R — elk either-sex rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 851 Rifle EE851W2R — elk either-sex rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 851 Rifle EE851W4R — elk either-sex rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 851 Rifle EF085L1R — elk female rifle late season GMU 85 [85, 140, 851, except the Bosque del Oso State Wildlife Area] Rifle EF085O1M — elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 85 [85, 140, 851 Except Bosque del Oso SWA] Muzzleloader EF085O2R — elk female rifle season 2 GMU 85 Rifle EF085O3R — elk female rifle season 3 GMU 85 [85, 140, 851 except Bosque del Oso SWA] Rifle EF085O4R — elk female rifle season 4 GMU 85 Rifle EF085P5R — elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 85 [85, 140, 851] Rifle EF085P6R — elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 85 Rifle EF085V1A — elk female archery nonresident-only GMU 85 [85, 140, 851 except Bosque del Oso SWA] Archery EF851L1R — elk female rifle late season GMU 851 [851 - Bosque del Oso SWA ONLY] Rifle EF851L2R — elk female rifle late season GMU 851 [851 - Bosque del Oso SWA ONLY] Rifle EF851O1M — elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 851 Muzzleloader EF851O3R — elk female rifle season 3 GMU 851 Rifle EF851W1R — elk female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 851 Rifle EF851W2R — elk female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 851 Rifle EF851W4R — elk female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 851 Rifle EF851W6R — elk female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 851 Rifle EM851O1M — elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 851 [851 Bosque del Oso SWA only] Muzzleloader EM851O1R — elk male rifle season 1 GMU 851 Rifle EM851O2R — elk male rifle season 2 GMU 851 [851 Bosque del Oso SWA only] Rifle EM851O3R — elk male rifle season 3 GMU 851 [851 Bosque del Oso SWA only] Rifle EM851O4R — elk male rifle season 4 GMU 851 Rifle

Legal cartridges for elk in Colorado

From the Colorado hunting laws rules on file for a rifle. "Depends" means the rule turns on your specific load — check the state page.

.243 Winchester depends from $1.11/rd
.25-06 Remington
6.5 Creedmoor
6.5 Grendel
.270 Winchester from $0.16/rd
7mm-08 Remington
7mm Remington Magnum
.30-06 Springfield
.300 AAC Blackout from $0.56/rd
.300 Winchester Magnum from $1.25/rd
.30-30 Winchester
.308 Winchester
.338 Winchester Magnum
.350 Legend from $1.07/rd
.35 Whelen
.360 Buckhammer
.400 Legend
.444 Marlin
.450 Bushmaster from $2.00/rd
.45-70 Government from $1.97/rd
.50 Beowulf
Spot a data error on this page? Tell us.

Every report is checked against the agency source before we change anything.

How to read these numbers

Every percentage on this page is a prior-draw probability: the chance an applicant with that many points would have drawn in the draw year shown, computed from the agency's published results. It is not a forecast — quotas, applicant numbers, and point creep change every year. Every figure links to the agency document it came from. Where a state does not publish a number, we show a dash, never a zero. Hunts with fewer than five tags show counts instead of percentages. Fees show the fee year used. Read the methodology for the engine details.

Not an application service

This page is informational only. Draw rules, quotas, fees, and deadlines are set by the state agency and change by commission action — confirm everything on the agency's own site before you apply, and apply through the agency, not here. We disclaim all liability for reliance on this page.