AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 20

Colorado GMU 20 covers 772,317 acres and lies 17 miles west of Loveland. 49% of it is public land, mostly national forest (25%) and national park (22%). In 2024, 875 people hunted elk here and took 355 — 41% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 502 tags here for 13 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):861 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:491 Hunter success (2024):41% Public land:49% Size:772,317 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 20, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

28 licenses on offer · 861 tags · 491 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
  • EE020O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 20 [20 excluding the area around the town of Estes Park bounded by Rocky Mountain National Park on the north and west and by] 24 tags · 91 applicants · needed 7 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE020O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 20 [20 excluding the area around the town of Estes Park bounded by Rocky Mountain National Park on the north and west and by] 3 tags · 5 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF020L1R elk female rifle late season GMU 20 [20] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • EF020L3R elk female rifle late season GMU 20 [(Lefthand Canyon Drive); and on the west by Geer Canyon Drive, Boulder County Trail Wapiti, Boulder County Trail Pondero] 7 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Undersubscribed
  • EF020O1A elk female archery season 1 GMU 20 [20] 2 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    33% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF020O1A elk female archery season 1 GMU 20 [20] 10 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF020O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 20 [20] 3 tags · 1 applicants · needed 6 pts · Standard
    0% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF020O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 20 1 tags · 1 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF020O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 20 0 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • EF020O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 20 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF020O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 20 10 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF020P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 20 [20] 502 tags · 13 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020L1R elk male rifle late season GMU 20 [20] 11 tags · 85 applicants · needed 13 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020L1R elk male rifle late season GMU 20 [20] 55 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020L2R elk male rifle late season GMU 20 [20] 9 tags · 63 applicants · needed 17 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020L2R elk male rifle late season GMU 20 [20] 55 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020O1A elk male archery season 1 GMU 20 [20] 2 tags · 38 applicants · needed 14 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020O1A elk male archery season 1 GMU 20 [20] 10 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EM020O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 20 [20] 6 tags · 21 applicants · needed 14 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 20 [20] 30 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 20 [20] 5 tags · 50 applicants · needed 18 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 20 [20] 25 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 20 [20] 5 tags · 37 applicants · needed 14 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 20 [20] 25 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 20 5 tags · 39 applicants · needed 10 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 20 25 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 20 5 tags · 29 applicants · needed 9 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM020O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 20 25 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    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

Longmont Fort Collins Arvada Lone Tree Steamboat Springs
GMU 20 within Colorado
17 171 18 181 19 191 28 29 38 6 7 8 87 9 94 951 Longmont Loveland Boulder Berthoud Fort Collins
GMU 20 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

  • Private 393,412 ac · 51%
  • National Forest 192,121 ac · 25%
  • National Park Service 170,139 ac · 22%
  • County or city land 10,112 ac · 1%
  • State land 4,239 ac · 1%
  • Other public 1,740 ac · 0%
  • BLM 550 ac · 0%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 2 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 875 355 41%
2023 822 405 49%
2022 903 329 36%
2021 942 372 39%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 305 · 86% · 721 hunters, 42% success
  • Archery 37 · 10% · 116 hunters, 32% success
  • Muzzleloader 13 · 4% · 37 hunters, 35% 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