Colorado Elk — GMU 47

Colorado GMU 47 covers 187,996 acres and lies 28 miles south-east of Gypsum and 39 miles south-east of Glenwood Springs. 92% of it is public land, mostly national forest (89%) and BLM (2%). In 2024, 543 people hunted elk here and took 78 — 14% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 498 tags here for 461 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):1,316 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:860 Hunter success (2024):14% Public land:92% Size:187,996 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 47, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

15 licenses on offer · 1,316 tags · 860 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
  • EE044O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 44 [44, 45, 47, 444] 498 tags · 461 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 10% as 2nd choice
  • EE044O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 44 [44, 45, 47, 444] 25 tags · 12 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 20% as 2nd choice
  • EF044O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 44 [44, 45, 47, 444] 12 tags · 8 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 29% as 2nd choice
  • EF044O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 44 [44, 45, 47, 444] 125 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 33% as 2nd choice
  • EF044O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 44 [44, 45, 47, 444] 29 tags · 27 applicants · Standard
    100% Likely draw 4% as 2nd choice
  • EF044O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 44 [44, 45, 47, 444] 3 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF047O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 47 [47] 114 tags · 11 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 5% as 2nd choice
  • EF047O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 47 [47] 165 tags · 6 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF047O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 47 [47] 109 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 60% as 2nd choice
  • EF047O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 47 30 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Cut level
  • EM044O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 44 [44, 45, 47, 444] 131 tags · 153 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    48% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM044O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 44 [44, 45, 47, 444] 6 tags · 7 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM044O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 44 [44, 45, 47, 444] 29 tags · 156 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM044O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 44 [44, 45, 47, 444] 4 tags · 5 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM047O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 47 36 tags · 7 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 55% 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 47

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

The country

Gypsum Delta Steamboat Springs Golden Grand Junction
GMU 47 within Colorado
43 431 444 45 471 48
GMU 47 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 167,756 ac · 89%
  • Private 15,927 ac · 8%
  • BLM 3,866 ac · 2%
  • County or city land 447 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 543 78 14%
2023 440 77 17%
2022 371 75 20%
2021 480 86 18%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 66 · 85% · 389 hunters, 17% success
  • Archery 8 · 10% · 127 hunters, 6% success
  • Muzzleloader 4 · 5% · 27 hunters, 15% 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