AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 40

Colorado GMU 40 covers 475,151 acres and lies 15 miles south of Fruita and 41 miles west of Delta. 62% of it is public land, mostly BLM (56%) and national park (4%). In 2024, 518 people hunted elk here and took 308 — 60% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 204 tags here for 10 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):686 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:516 Hunter success (2024):60% Public land:62% Size:475,151 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 40, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

27 licenses on offer · 686 tags · 516 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
  • EE040O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 40 [40] 10 tags · 120 applicants · needed 24 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE040O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 40 [40] 65 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE040O1M elk either-sex muzzleloader season 1 GMU 40 [40] 5 tags · 49 applicants · needed 28 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE040O1M elk either-sex muzzleloader season 1 GMU 40 [40] 35 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE040O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 40 4 tags · 89 applicants · needed 29 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE040O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 40 30 tags · 12 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE040O2R elk either-sex rifle season 2 GMU 40 [40] 4 tags · 67 applicants · needed 27 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE040O2R elk either-sex rifle season 2 GMU 40 [40] 25 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE040O3R elk either-sex rifle season 3 GMU 40 4 tags · 66 applicants · needed 26 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE040O3R elk either-sex rifle season 3 GMU 40 25 tags · 13 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE040O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 40 3 tags · 49 applicants · needed 25 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE040O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 40 20 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE040W1R elk either-sex rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 40 3 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • EF040L1R elk female rifle late season GMU 40 [40] 2 tags · 6 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    20% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF040O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 40 [40] 0 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF040O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 40 2 tags · 4 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF040O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 40 35 tags · 3 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF040O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 40 2 tags · 5 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF040O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 40 35 tags · 1 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF040O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 40 [40] 3 tags · 5 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    60% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF040O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 40 [40] 35 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF040O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 40 12 tags · 7 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 8% as 2nd choice
  • EF040O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 40 80 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 100% as 2nd choice
  • EF040P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 40 [40] 204 tags · 10 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 70% as 2nd choice
  • EF040P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 40 [40] 4 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF040W1R elk female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 40 20 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • EF040W2R elk female rifle Ranching for Wildlife GMU 40 19 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
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

Grand Junction Delta Rifle Cortez Craig
GMU 40 within Colorado
30 31 41 411 42 421 52 60 61 62 64 Grand Junction Delta Montrose
GMU 40 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

  • BLM 265,991 ac · 56%
  • Private 179,322 ac · 38%
  • National Park Service 20,428 ac · 4%
  • National Forest 7,429 ac · 2%
  • County or city land 1,780 ac · 0%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 161 ac · 0%
  • Other public 24 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 518 308 60%
2023 507 305 60%
2022 470 248 53%
2021 465 221 48%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 248 · 81% · 414 hunters, 60% success
  • Archery 44 · 14% · 63 hunters, 70% success
  • Muzzleloader 16 · 5% · 41 hunters, 39% 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