AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 36

Colorado GMU 36 covers 176,161 acres and lies 27 miles east of Gypsum and 48 miles east of Glenwood Springs. 82% of it is public land, mostly national forest (78%) and BLM (4%). In 2024, 1,196 people hunted elk here and took 185 — 15% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 290 tags here for 8 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):1,351 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:405 Hunter success (2024):15% Public land:82% Size:176,161 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 36, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

22 licenses on offer · 1,351 tags · 405 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
  • EE035O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 35 [35, 36, 361] 55 tags · 123 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE035O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 35 [35, 36, 361] 5 tags · 7 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE035P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 35 [35, 36, 361] 47 tags · 10 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE035P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 35 [35, 36, 361] 30 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EE035V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 35 [35, 36, 361] 215 tags · 146 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 32% as 2nd choice
  • EE035V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 35 [35, 36, 361] 290 tags · 8 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 29% as 2nd choice
  • EE036O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 36 9 tags · 9 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 14% as 2nd choice
  • EE036O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 36 40 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% as 2nd choice
  • EF035L1R elk female rifle late season GMU 35 [35, 36] 3 tags · 2 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF035L1R elk female rifle late season GMU 35 [35, 36] 2 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF035O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 35 [35, 36, 361] 72 tags · 4 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 11% as 2nd choice
  • EF035O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 35 [35, 36, 361] 130 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 20% as 2nd choice
  • EF035O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 35 [35, 36, 361] 20 tags · 10 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 47% as 2nd choice
  • EF035O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 35 [35, 36, 361] 9 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 75% as 2nd choice
  • EF036O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 36 [36, 361] 90 tags · 18 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 56% as 2nd choice
  • EF036O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 36 [36, 361] 68 tags · 4 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 100% as 2nd choice
  • EF036O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 36 8 tags · 6 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF036O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 36 60 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF036O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 36 6 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Cut level
  • EF036P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 36 [36, 361] 123 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • EM035O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 35 [35, 36, 361] 62 tags · 54 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 27% as 2nd choice
  • EM035O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 35 [35, 36, 361] 7 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 33% 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

Gypsum Steamboat Springs Golden Erie Castle Rock
GMU 36 within Colorado
25 26 28 35 361 37 371 44 444 45 500 Gypsum
GMU 36 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 137,184 ac · 78%
  • Private 31,713 ac · 18%
  • BLM 6,978 ac · 4%
  • County or city land 283 ac · 0%
  • State land 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 1,196 185 15%
2023 1,349 125 9%
2022 1,381 145 11%
2021 1,481 95 6%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 115 · 62% · 677 hunters, 17% success
  • Archery 50 · 27% · 419 hunters, 12% success
  • Muzzleloader 20 · 11% · 100 hunters, 20% 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