AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 39

Colorado GMU 39 covers 236,179 acres and lies 21 miles west of Golden. 65% of it is public land, mostly national forest (62%) and county or city land (3%). In 2024, 459 people hunted elk here and took 143 — 31% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 154 tags here for 3 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):336 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:191 Hunter success (2024):31% Public land:65% Size:236,179 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 39, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

18 licenses on offer · 336 tags · 191 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
  • EE039O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 39 [39] 25 tags · 66 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF039O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 39 [39] 2 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF039O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 39 [39] 15 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF039O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 39 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • EF039O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 39 1 tags · 4 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF039O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 39 7 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF039O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 39 20 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF039O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 39 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Undersubscribed
  • EF039P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 39 [39] 35 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF391P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 391 [391- all portions within Jefferson County, 39] 154 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM039O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 39 [39] 17 tags · 43 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM039O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 39 [39] 1 tags · 5 applicants · needed 6 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM039O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 39 14 tags · 29 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM039O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 39 1 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM039O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 39 10 tags · 14 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    14% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM039O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 39 [39] 10 tags · 13 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    20% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM039O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 39 [39] 4 tags · 7 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM039O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 39 [39] 20 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 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

Golden Erie Castle Rock Monument Loveland
GMU 39 within Colorado
28 37 371 38 391 46 461 500 51 Golden Arvada Superior Littleton
GMU 39 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 145,814 ac · 62%
  • Private 83,385 ac · 35%
  • County or city land 6,061 ac · 3%
  • State land 891 ac · 0%
  • BLM 26 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 459 143 31%
2023 425 117 27%
2022 414 136 33%
2021 396 124 31%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 80 · 56% · 292 hunters, 27% success
  • Archery 32 · 22% · 83 hunters, 39% success
  • Muzzleloader 32 · 22% · 84 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