AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 1

Colorado GMU 1 covers 81,261 acres and lies 76 miles west of Craig. 91% of it is public land, mostly BLM (61%) and national park (23%). In 2024, 82 people hunted elk here and took 30 — 37% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 25 tags here for 1 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):128 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:259 Hunter success (2024):37% Public land:91% Size:81,261 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 1, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

18 licenses on offer · 128 tags · 259 applicants in the 2026 draw

Chances are from the 2026 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level
  • EE001E1R elk either-sex rifle early season GMU 1 [1] 1 tags · 161 applicants · needed 32 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE001E1R elk either-sex rifle early season GMU 1 [1] 11 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE001O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 1 [1] 1 tags · 65 applicants · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE001O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 1 [1] 5 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF001L1R elk female rifle late season GMU 1 [1] 2 tags · 3 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF001L1R elk female rifle late season GMU 1 [1] 10 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% as 2nd choice
  • EF001O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 1 [1] 0 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF001O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 1 [1] 1 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF001O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 1 6 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF001O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 1 2 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF001O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 1 [1] 3 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 26% as 2nd choice
  • EF001O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 1 [1] 25 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF001O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 1 [1] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Undersubscribed
  • EF001O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 1 [1] 20 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF001O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 1 3 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 17% as 2nd choice
  • EF001O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 1 25 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF001P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 1 [1] 12 tags · 3 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EM001O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 1 [1] 1 tags · 12 applicants · needed 26 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
What these columns mean
Your odds
—
the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2026 draw. Not a forecast: quotas and demand move every year.
The badge
—
plain language for that number. Likely draw 75% or better · Real chance 40%+ · Long shot 15%+ · Point builder below that, so you are applying mainly to bank a point · Undersubscribed means fewer first-choice applicants than tags, so everyone who applied drew.
As 2nd choice
—
Colorado lets you name more than one hunt on the application. Miss on your first choice and you go into the pot for whatever tags are left, alongside everyone else's second choices. Points never help a lower choice, so this number is the same whatever you have banked — it is usually worth naming a hunt that goes undersubscribed.
Points needed
—
the lowest point total that still got a tag in the 2026 draw, and how that cut has moved since the earliest draw we hold.
Tags / applicants
—
tags on offer and first-choice applicants for them, as the agency published them. Under five tags we print counts instead of a percentage, because one applicant either way swings it.

What it costs to apply (2026 nonresident fees)

License Up front Gone if you miss If you draw
Standard license $129.11 $129.11 $974.27
Youth license $129.11 $129.11 $974.27

Application window: opens Mar 1, closes Apr 7, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

The country

Craig Rifle Fruita Delta Boulder
GMU 1 within Colorado
2 201
GMU 1 and its neighbours
Zoomable USGS topo, aerial imagery and shaded relief, with the neighboring areas drawn on.

Boundaries are drawn for orientation only — the written boundary description in the regulations governs.

Who owns the ground

  • BLM 49,723 ac · 61%
  • National Park Service 18,863 ac · 23%
  • Private 7,516 ac · 9%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 3,963 ac · 5%
  • County or city land 1,161 ac · 1%

Source: BLM Colorado Surface Management Agency

Nearby areas

How the hunting has gone

What Colorado Parks and Wildlife publishes for this area after each season — harvest statistics for everyone who hunted it, not draw odds and not a forecast. 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.

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2024 82 30 37%
2023 106 40 38%
2022 79 36 46%
2021 81 7 9%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 30 · 100% · 77 hunters, 39% success
  • Archery 0 · 0% · 2 hunters, 0% success
  • Muzzleloader 0 · 0% · 3 hunters, 0% success

Boundary: CPW GMU Boundary (Big Game)

Harvest: 2024 Statewide Elk Harvest

Harvest: 2023 Statewide Elk Hunting Harvest Estimates

Harvest: 2022 Statewide Elk Harvest

How we compute draw odds · All Colorado elk hunts