AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 421

Colorado GMU 421 covers 346,012 acres and lies 24 miles south of Rifle and 33 miles north of Delta. 66% of it is public land, mostly national forest (54%) and BLM (10%). In 2024, 3,432 people hunted elk here and took 657 — 19% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 1,036 tags here for 484 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):4,534 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:1,978 Hunter success (2024):19% Public land:66% Size:346,012 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 421, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

25 licenses on offer · 4,534 tags · 1,978 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
  • EF421O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 421 168 tags · 44 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 29% as 2nd choice
  • EF421O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 421 113 tags · 11 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF421O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 421 [421] 52 tags · 19 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 27% as 2nd choice
  • EF421O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 421 [421] 115 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF421O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 421 4 tags · 3 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 5% as 2nd choice
  • EF421P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 421 [421] 356 tags · 42 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 27% as 2nd choice
  • EF421P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 421 [421] 6 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 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

Rifle Delta Grand Junction Craig Cortez
GMU 421 within Colorado
31 32 41 411 42 43 52 521 53 Rifle Grand Junction Glenwood Springs
GMU 421 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 188,463 ac · 54%
  • Private 117,415 ac · 34%
  • BLM 34,930 ac · 10%
  • County or city land 4,095 ac · 1%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 1,108 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 3,432 657 19%
2023 3,165 540 17%
2022 3,502 515 15%
2021 3,663 541 15%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 455 · 69% · 1,988 hunters, 23% success
  • Archery 156 · 24% · 1,165 hunters, 13% success
  • Muzzleloader 45 · 7% · 279 hunters, 16% 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