Colorado Elk — GMU 41

Colorado GMU 41 covers 209,743 acres and lies 17 miles east of Grand Junction and 27 miles east of Fruita. 63% of it is public land, mostly BLM (35%) and national forest (27%). In 2024, 1,702 people hunted elk here and took 348 — 20% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 1,036 tags here for 484 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):3,978 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:1,906 Hunter success (2024):20% Public land:63% Size:209,743 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 41, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

25 licenses on offer · 3,978 tags · 1,906 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
  • EE041O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 1,036 tags · 484 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 43% as 2nd choice
  • EE041O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 539 tags · 13 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 20% as 2nd choice
  • EE041P1A elk either-sex archery private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 279 tags · 75 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 9% as 2nd choice
  • EE041P1A elk either-sex archery private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 421] 89 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EE041P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421 521] 203 tags · 116 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 14% as 2nd choice
  • EE041P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421 521] 200 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 25% as 2nd choice
  • EE041P4R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421 521] 182 tags · 30 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 22% as 2nd choice
  • EE041P4R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421 521] 32 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF041O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421] 59 tags · 33 applicants · Standard
    95% Likely draw 34% as 2nd choice
  • EF041O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421] 26 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 80% as 2nd choice
  • EF041O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421] 40 tags · 43 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    72% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF041O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421] 1 tags · 7 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    67% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF041O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 41 [41] 22 tags · 17 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 61% as 2nd choice
  • EF041O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 41 [41] 4 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF041O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 41 [41] 15 tags · 9 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 17% as 2nd choice
  • EF041O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 41 [41] 6 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF041O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 41 4 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF041O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 41 3 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF041P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41] 204 tags · 20 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 50% as 2nd choice
  • EM041O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421, 521] 288 tags · 383 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    42% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM041O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421, 521] 13 tags · 15 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    42% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM041O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421, 521] 614 tags · 562 applicants · Standard
    99% Likely draw 1% as 2nd choice
  • EM041O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421, 521] 20 tags · 42 applicants · Youth
    95% Likely draw 5% as 2nd choice
  • EM041O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421, 521] 75 tags · 46 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 35% as 2nd choice
  • EM041O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421, 521] 24 tags · 5 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 67% 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

Grand Junction Delta Rifle Craig Cortez
GMU 41 within Colorado
30 40 411 421 52 Grand Junction Delta Fruita
GMU 41 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 78,308 ac · 37%
  • BLM 72,744 ac · 35%
  • National Forest 57,452 ac · 27%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 505 ac · 0%
  • County or city land 373 ac · 0%
  • Other public 359 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 1,702 348 20%
2023 1,685 306 18%
2022 1,646 286 17%
2021 1,844 195 11%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 296 · 85% · 1,152 hunters, 26% success
  • Archery 39 · 11% · 425 hunters, 9% success
  • Muzzleloader 13 · 4% · 126 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