AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 501

Colorado GMU 501 covers 321,077 acres and lies 31 miles south-west of Littleton. 90% of it is public land, mostly national forest (89%). In 2024, 378 people hunted elk here and took 125 — 33% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 70 tags here for 1 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):352 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:367 Hunter success (2024):33% Public land:90% Size:321,077 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 501, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

19 licenses on offer · 352 tags · 367 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
  • EE501O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 501 [501] 15 tags · 141 applicants · needed 10 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE501O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 501 [501] 70 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EF501L1R elk female rifle late season GMU 501 [501] 0 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF501O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 501 [501] 7 tags · 4 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    67% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF501O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 501 5 tags · 13 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF501O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 501 50 tags · 2 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF501O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 501 1 tags · 2 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF501O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 501 50 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF501O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 501 4 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF501P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 501 [501] 31 tags · 4 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    33% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM501O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 501 [501] 6 tags · 19 applicants · needed 9 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM501O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 501 5 tags · 65 applicants · needed 16 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM501O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 501 25 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EM501O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 501 9 tags · 60 applicants · needed 8 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM501O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 501 40 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EM501O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 501 [501] 8 tags · 22 applicants · needed 6 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM501O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 501 [501] 2 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EM501O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 501 [501] 4 tags · 22 applicants · needed 8 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM501O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 501 [501] 20 tags · 1 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

Castle Rock Monument Lakewood Cañon City Boulder
GMU 501 within Colorado
104 110 37 371 39 391 45 46 461 48 481 49 50 500 51 511 512 581 Castle Rock Littleton Monument Castle Pines Colorado Springs
GMU 501 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 286,667 ac · 89%
  • Private 33,703 ac · 10%
  • County or city land 704 ac · 0%
  • BLM 2 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 378 125 33%
2023 356 103 29%
2022 387 92 24%
2021 376 111 30%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 82 · 66% · 257 hunters, 32% success
  • Archery 28 · 22% · 61 hunters, 46% success
  • Muzzleloader 15 · 12% · 61 hunters, 25% 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