AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 51

Colorado GMU 51 covers 321,976 acres and lies 11 miles south-west of Castle Rock. 46% of it is public land, mostly national forest (44%) and county or city land (3%). In 2024, 623 people hunted elk here and took 188 — 30% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 285 tags here for 2 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):767 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:96 Hunter success (2024):30% Public land:46% Size:321,976 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 51, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

16 licenses on offer · 767 tags · 96 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
  • EE051O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 51 [51] 19 tags · 33 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF051O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 51 [51] 1 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF051O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 51 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Undersubscribed
  • EF051O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 51 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • EF051O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 51 1 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 67% as 2nd choice
  • EF051O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 51 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • EF051P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 51 [51] 285 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 50% as 2nd choice
  • EF051P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 51 [51] 280 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% as 2nd choice
  • EM051O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 51 [51] 10 tags · 30 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM051O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 51 [51] 50 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EM051O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 51 8 tags · 12 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM051O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 51 50 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM051O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 51 4 tags · 4 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    50% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM051O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 51 50 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EM051O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 51 [51] 8 tags · 8 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM051O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 51 [51] 1 tags · 3 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    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 Boulder Fountain
GMU 51 within Colorado
104 110 39 391 46 461 50 500 501 511 512 Castle Rock Castle Pines Littleton Monument Lakewood
GMU 51 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

  • Private 172,798 ac · 54%
  • National Forest 141,057 ac · 44%
  • County or city land 8,120 ac · 3%

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 623 188 30%
2023 578 163 28%
2022 524 176 34%
2021 495 149 30%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 137 · 73% · 466 hunters, 29% success
  • Archery 25 · 13% · 85 hunters, 29% success
  • Muzzleloader 26 · 14% · 71 hunters, 37% 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