AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 15

Colorado GMU 15 covers 314,999 acres and lies 23 miles south of Steamboat Springs and 38 miles north of Gypsum. 67% of it is public land, mostly national forest (51%) and BLM (10%). In 2024, 3,738 people hunted elk here and took 407 — 11% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 620 tags here for 4 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):3,017 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:464 Hunter success (2024):11% Public land:67% Size:314,999 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 15, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

24 licenses on offer · 3,017 tags · 464 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
  • EE015O1M elk either-sex muzzleloader season 1 GMU 15 [15, 27] 53 tags · 94 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE015O1M elk either-sex muzzleloader season 1 GMU 15 [15, 27] 200 tags · 3 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EE015O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 15 77 tags · 85 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    65% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE015O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 15 200 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE015O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 15 [15] 33 tags · 6 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 44% as 2nd choice
  • EE015O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 15 [15] 95 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE015P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 15 69 tags · 12 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 25% as 2nd choice
  • EE015P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 15 50 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EE015P2R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 15 [15] 74 tags · 19 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 40% as 2nd choice
  • EE015P3R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 15 70 tags · 18 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EE015P4R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 15 93 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 100% as 2nd choice
  • EE015P4R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 15 50 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 100% as 2nd choice
  • EE015V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 15 [15, 27] 508 tags · 175 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 29% as 2nd choice
  • EE015V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 15 [15, 27] 620 tags · 4 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 29% as 2nd choice
  • EF015O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 15 [15, 27] 9 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 50% as 2nd choice
  • EF015O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 15 [15, 27] 7 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 50% as 2nd choice
  • EF015O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 15 66 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants 23% as 2nd choice
  • EF015O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 15 65 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF015O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 15 [15] 193 tags · 13 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 40% as 2nd choice
  • EF015O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 15 [15] 176 tags · 4 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF015O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 15 134 tags · 11 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF015O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 15 75 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Cut level
  • EF015P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 15 50 tags · 4 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF015P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 15 50 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    50% Real chance
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

Steamboat Springs Gypsum Boulder Loveland Lakewood
GMU 15 within Colorado
12 13 131 14 16 17 171 18 181 214 23 231 24 25 26 27 28 301 33 34 35 36 361 37 371 39 44 441 Steamboat Springs Gypsum Craig
GMU 15 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

  • National Forest 161,748 ac · 51%
  • Private 104,802 ac · 33%
  • BLM 32,718 ac · 10%
  • County or city land 11,379 ac · 4%
  • State land 4,351 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 3,738 407 11%
2023 4,336 378 9%
2022 4,314 418 10%
2021 4,715 382 8%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 298 · 73% · 2,395 hunters, 12% success
  • Archery 73 · 18% · 1,120 hunters, 7% success
  • Muzzleloader 36 · 9% · 223 hunters, 16% 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