AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 521

Colorado GMU 521 covers 324,935 acres and lies 36 miles south of Glenwood Springs. 75% of it is public land, mostly national forest (68%) and BLM (7%). In 2024, 2,197 people hunted elk here and took 407 — 19% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 614 tags here for 562 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):2,673 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:1,868 Hunter success (2024):19% Public land:75% Size:324,935 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 521, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

21 licenses on offer · 2,673 tags · 1,868 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
  • EE041P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421 521] 203 tags · 116 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 14% as 2nd choice
  • EE041P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421 521] 200 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 25% as 2nd choice
  • EE041P4R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421 521] 182 tags · 30 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 22% as 2nd choice
  • EE041P4R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421 521] 32 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE052P1A elk either-sex archery private-land-only GMU 52 [52, 411, 521] 288 tags · 5 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 16% as 2nd choice
  • EE521O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 521 [521] 578 tags · 533 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 7% as 2nd choice
  • EE521O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 521 [521] 31 tags · 14 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF521O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 521 [521] 5 tags · 18 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF521O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 521 [521] 20 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 20% as 2nd choice
  • EF521O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 521 10 tags · 19 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF521O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 521 40 tags · 2 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF521O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 521 [521] 8 tags · 50 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF521O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 521 [521] 35 tags · 5 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    50% Real chance
  • EF521O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 521 [521] 7 tags · 19 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF521O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 521 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • EM041O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421, 521] 288 tags · 383 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    42% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM041O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421, 521] 13 tags · 15 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    42% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM041O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421, 521] 614 tags · 562 applicants · Standard
    99% Likely draw 1% as 2nd choice
  • EM041O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421, 521] 20 tags · 42 applicants · Youth
    95% Likely draw 5% as 2nd choice
  • EM041O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421, 521] 75 tags · 46 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 35% as 2nd choice
  • EM041O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 41 [41, 42, 52, 411, 421, 521] 24 tags · 5 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 67% 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

Glenwood Springs Delta Grand Junction Craig Durango
GMU 521 within Colorado
41 411 42 421 43 431 444 47 471 52 53 54 55 63 64 Delta
GMU 521 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 219,738 ac · 68%
  • Private 80,194 ac · 25%
  • BLM 23,391 ac · 7%
  • County or city land 1,491 ac · 0%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 119 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 2,197 407 19%
2023 2,394 361 15%
2022 2,800 414 15%
2021 2,887 305 11%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 193 · 47% · 1,236 hunters, 16% success
  • Archery 191 · 47% · 862 hunters, 22% success
  • Muzzleloader 23 · 6% · 99 hunters, 23% 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