AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 29

Colorado GMU 29 covers 282,388 acres and lies 4 miles south-west of Boulder. 29% of it is public land, mostly national forest (22%) and county or city land (6%). In 2024, 249 people hunted elk here and took 70 — 28% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 90 tags here for 0 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):187 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:57 Hunter success (2024):28% Public land:29% Size:282,388 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 29, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

15 licenses on offer · 187 tags · 57 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
  • EE029O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 29 [29] 7 tags · 20 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE029O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 29 [29] 30 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EF029O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 29 [29] 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Cut level
  • EF029O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 29 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • EF029O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 29 3 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF029O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 29 1 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF029O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 29 2 tags · 1 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Undersubscribed
  • EF029P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 29 [29] 90 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM029O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 29 [29] 7 tags · 20 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM029O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 29 [29] 30 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EM029O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 29 3 tags · 4 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM029O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 29 2 tags · 4 applicants · needed 6 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM029O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 29 [29] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • EM029O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 29 [29] 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM029O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 29 [29] 10 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
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 Lakewood Loveland Castle Rock Monument
GMU 29 within Colorado
18 20 28 38 39 391 94 Boulder Superior Arvada Longmont Golden
GMU 29 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 200,740 ac · 71%
  • National Forest 62,791 ac · 22%
  • County or city land 15,626 ac · 6%
  • BLM 1,881 ac · 1%
  • Other public 721 ac · 0%
  • State land 622 ac · 0%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 1 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 249 70 28%
2023 261 73 28%
2022 227 92 40%
2021 223 59 26%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 42 · 60% · 173 hunters, 24% success
  • Archery 10 · 14% · 28 hunters, 36% success
  • Muzzleloader 18 · 26% · 48 hunters, 38% 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