AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 471

Colorado GMU 471 covers 66,588 acres and lies 39 miles south of Gypsum and 64 miles south-east of Rifle. 90% of it is public land, mostly national forest (90%). In 2024, 280 people hunted elk here and took 30 — 11% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 394 tags here for 134 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):983 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:336 Hunter success (2024):11% Public land:90% Size:66,588 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 471, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

17 licenses on offer · 983 tags · 336 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
  • EE043O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 43 [43, 431, 471] 84 tags · 97 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    60% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE043O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 43 [43, 431, 471] 9 tags · 5 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    25% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE043P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 43 [43, 431, 471] 11 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EE043V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 43 [43, 431, 471] 394 tags · 134 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 38% as 2nd choice
  • EE043V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 43 [43, 431, 471] 259 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 69% as 2nd choice
  • EE471O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 471 22 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Undersubscribed
  • EF043O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 43 [43, 431, 471] 2 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    0% Point builder 4% as 2nd choice
  • EF043O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 43 [43, 431, 471] 1 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF043V1A elk female archery nonresident-only GMU 43 [43, 431, 471] 6 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 21% as 2nd choice
  • EF043V1A elk female archery nonresident-only GMU 43 [43, 431, 471] 5 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF471O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 471 [471] 21 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Cut level
  • EF471O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 471 [471] 25 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF471O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 471 [471] 7 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Cut level
  • EF471O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 471 10 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Cut level
  • EF471P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 471 [471] 16 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • EM043O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 43 [43, 431, 471] 100 tags · 92 applicants · Standard
    93% Likely draw 34% as 2nd choice
  • EM043O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 43 [43, 431, 471] 11 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    100% Likely draw 17% 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

Gypsum Montrose Cañon City Golden Steamboat Springs
GMU 471 within Colorado
431 47 48
GMU 471 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 59,614 ac · 90%
  • Private 6,973 ac · 10%

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 280 30 11%
2023 288 12 4%
2022 372 46 12%
2021 329 40 12%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 13 · 45% · 112 hunters, 12% success
  • Archery 16 · 55% · 162 hunters, 10% success
  • Muzzleloader 0 · 0% · 6 hunters, 0% 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