AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 18

Colorado GMU 18 covers 413,238 acres and lies 41 miles west of Boulder. 88% of it is public land, mostly national forest (53%) and national park (23%). In 2024, 4,997 people hunted elk here and took 662 — 13% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 271 tags here for 137 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):1,956 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:573 Hunter success (2024):13% Public land:88% Size:413,238 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 18, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

25 licenses on offer · 1,956 tags · 573 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
  • EE018O1M elk either-sex muzzleloader season 1 GMU 18 [18, 181] 109 tags · 117 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    80% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE018O1M elk either-sex muzzleloader season 1 GMU 18 [18, 181] 5 tags · 6 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    60% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE018O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 18 [18, 181] 111 tags · 217 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    38% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE018O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 18 [18, 181] 10 tags · 7 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    25% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE018O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 18 37 tags · 31 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 40% as 2nd choice
  • EE018O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 18 3 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 33% as 2nd choice
  • EE018P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 18 [18, 181] 238 tags · 6 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 64% as 2nd choice
  • EE018P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 18 [18, 181] 130 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE018P4R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 18 [18, 181] 259 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE018V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 18 [18, 181] 271 tags · 137 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 31% as 2nd choice
  • EE018V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 18 [18, 181] 132 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF018L1R elk female rifle late season GMU 18 [18] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • EF018O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 18 [18, 181] 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Undersubscribed
  • EF018O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 18 [18, 181] 55 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF018O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 18 9 tags · 5 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF018O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 18 3 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF018O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 18 28 tags · 21 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 9% as 2nd choice
  • EF018O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 18 250 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% as 2nd choice
  • EF018O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 18 [18] 22 tags · 16 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 3% as 2nd choice
  • EF018O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 18 [18] 200 tags · 1 applicants · needed 2 pts · Youth
    0% Undersubscribed
  • EF018O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 18 3 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Undersubscribed
  • EF018O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 18 50 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF018P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 18 [18] 10 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    0% Point builder
  • EF018P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 18 [18] 10 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF018V1A elk female archery nonresident-only GMU 18 [18, 181] 10 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 7% 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

Boulder Steamboat Springs Loveland Lakewood Gypsum
GMU 18 within Colorado
14 15 16 17 171 181 19 20 27 28 29 35 361 38 Boulder Longmont Steamboat Springs Superior Arvada
GMU 18 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 217,547 ac · 53%
  • National Park Service 96,548 ac · 23%
  • Private 50,174 ac · 12%
  • BLM 44,440 ac · 11%
  • County or city land 3,690 ac · 1%
  • State land 836 ac · 0%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 0 ac · 0%

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 4,997 662 13%
2023 5,500 572 10%
2022 5,335 599 11%
2021 4,683 482 10%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 538 · 81% · 3,544 hunters, 15% success
  • Archery 73 · 11% · 1,070 hunters, 7% success
  • Muzzleloader 51 · 8% · 382 hunters, 13% 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