Colorado Elk — GMU 37

Colorado GMU 37 covers 338,173 acres and lies 44 miles east of Gypsum and 53 miles south-west of Boulder. 71% of it is public land, mostly national forest (65%) and BLM (5%). In 2024, 1,955 people hunted elk here and took 200 — 10% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 330 tags here for 2 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):890 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:336 Hunter success (2024):10% Public land:71% Size:338,173 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 37, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

20 licenses on offer · 890 tags · 336 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
  • EE028O1M elk either-sex muzzleloader season 1 GMU 28 [28, 37, 371] 23 tags · 82 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE028O1M elk either-sex muzzleloader season 1 GMU 28 [28, 37, 371] 1 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE028O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 28 12 tags · 61 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE028O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 28 80 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE028O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 28 19 tags · 27 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    46% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE028O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 28 4 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    50% Real chance
  • EE028P1A elk either-sex archery private-land-only GMU 28 [28, 37, 371] 43 tags · 8 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 25% as 2nd choice
  • EE028P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 28 [28, 37] 31 tags · 8 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE028P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 28 [28, 37] 30 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 100% as 2nd choice
  • EE028P4R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 28 36 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants 75% as 2nd choice
  • EE028V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 28 [28, 37, 371] 249 tags · 92 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 35% as 2nd choice
  • EE028V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 28 [28, 37, 371] 330 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF028O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 28 [28, 37, 371] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents
  • EF028O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 28 2 tags · 7 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF028O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 28 [28, 37] 0 tags · 26 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF028O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 28 [28, 37] 10 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EF028O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 28 0 tags · 4 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF028O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 28 10 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF028O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 28 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Not open to nonresidents
  • EF028P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 28 10 tags · 10 applicants · Standard
    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.
1 hunt not offered in 2026 is hidden — show discontinued hunts.

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.

Other licenses valid in GMU 37

Not in the table above because they had no result in the 2026 draw.

The country

Gypsum Golden Erie Steamboat Springs Castle Rock
GMU 37 within Colorado
12 13 131 15 18 181 20 231 24 25 26 27 28 29 34 35 36 361 371 38 39 391 43 431 44 444 45 46 461 47 471 48 49 50 500 501 51 511 512 521 94 Gypsum Golden Boulder Westminster Littleton
GMU 37 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 220,653 ac · 65%
  • Private 98,130 ac · 29%
  • BLM 17,879 ac · 5%
  • County or city land 1,398 ac · 0%
  • Other public 96 ac · 0%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 14 ac · 0%

Source: BLM Colorado Surface Management Agency

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 1,955 200 10%
2023 2,113 221 10%
2022 2,354 286 12%
2021 2,545 156 6%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 146 · 73% · 1,054 hunters, 14% success
  • Archery 44 · 22% · 796 hunters, 6% success
  • Muzzleloader 10 · 5% · 105 hunters, 10% 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