AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 49

Colorado GMU 49 covers 344,454 acres and lies 55 miles south-east of Gypsum and 66 miles south-west of Golden. 72% of it is public land, mostly national forest (60%) and BLM (9%). In 2024, 971 people hunted elk here and took 378 — 39% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 170 tags here for 4 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):907 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:847 Hunter success (2024):39% Public land:72% Size:344,454 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 49, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

23 licenses on offer · 907 tags · 847 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
  • EE049O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 49 [49] 29 tags · 262 applicants · needed 13 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE049O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 49 [49] 170 tags · 4 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF049O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 49 [49] 10 tags · 11 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF049O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 49 [49] 3 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF049O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 49 18 tags · 27 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF049O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 49 130 tags · 4 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF049O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 49 13 tags · 16 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF049O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 49 [49] 9 tags · 10 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    50% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF049O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 49 [49] 130 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% as 2nd choice
  • EF049S2R elk female rifle special/split season GMU 49 3 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF049S2R elk female rifle special/split season GMU 49 50 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF049S3R elk female rifle special/split season GMU 49 [49 within Lake County ONLY] 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • EF049S4R elk female rifle special/split season GMU 49 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Cut level
  • EM049O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 49 [49] 11 tags · 100 applicants · needed 20 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM049O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 49 [49] 70 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EM049O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 49 12 tags · 175 applicants · needed 23 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM049O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 49 80 tags · 10 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM049O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 49 16 tags · 148 applicants · needed 14 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM049O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 49 80 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM049O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 49 8 tags · 54 applicants · needed 8 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM049O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 49 40 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM049O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 49 4 tags · 16 applicants · needed 7 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM049O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 49 20 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% 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 Golden Cañon City Monument Castle Rock
GMU 49 within Colorado
34 37 39 391 43 431 44 444 45 46 461 47 471 48 481 50 500 501 51 511 54 55 56 57 58 581 Gypsum
GMU 49 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 205,595 ac · 60%
  • Private 96,148 ac · 28%
  • BLM 29,765 ac · 9%
  • County or city land 10,349 ac · 3%
  • State land 2,508 ac · 1%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 84 ac · 0%
  • Other public 3 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 971 378 39%
2023 961 346 36%
2022 876 337 38%
2021 852 307 36%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 262 · 69% · 676 hunters, 39% success
  • Archery 53 · 14% · 163 hunters, 33% success
  • Muzzleloader 63 · 17% · 132 hunters, 48% 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