Colorado Elk · GMU 54
Colorado GMU 54 covers 374,043 acres and lies 42 miles east of Montrose and 53 miles east of Delta. 78% of it is public land, mostly national forest (60%) and BLM (13%). In 2024, 2,242 people hunted elk here and took 498, a 22% success rate. Its most applied-for hunt, EE054O1A, put up 245 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 209 nonresident first-choice applicants, 58 of whom drew, and the last tag went to someone with 4 points.
22 licenses · NR capped at 25%
first choice, NR
2024, all licenses
60% Forest Service
374,043 acres
Boundaries are drawn for orientation only. The written boundary description in the regulations governs.
Best Bets at 0 Points
Ranked by your odds times how often that license type's hunters filled their tag in 2024. Nonresident, first choice, 2026 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.
- Success
- 22%
- Season
- Sep 12–20
- Tags / Apps
- 50 / 6
- If Drawn
- $974.27
- Success
- 22%
- Season
- Nov 18–22
- Tags / Apps
- 60 / 6
- If Drawn
- $974.27
- Success
- 22%
- Season
- Oct 24 – Nov 1
- Tags / Apps
- 800 / 129
- If Drawn
- $974.27
- Success
- 22%
- Season
- Nov 7–15
- Tags / Apps
- 480 / 56
- If Drawn
- $974.27
Every License in GMU 54
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EE054O1A Standard | Elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 54 | 0% | 4 ▲3 | |
| EE054O1A Youth | Elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 54 | 0% (small sample) | — | |
| EF054O1M Standard | Elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 54 | 100% | — | |
| EF054O1R Standard | Elk female rifle season 1 GMU 54 | 67% | — | |
| EF054O1R Youth | Elk female rifle season 1 GMU 54 | 100% (small sample) | — | |
| EF054O2R Standard | Elk female rifle season 2 GMU 54 | 80% | 0 ▼1 | |
| EF054O2R Youth | Elk female rifle season 2 GMU 54 | 100% (small sample) | 0 | |
| EF054O3R Standard | Elk female rifle season 3 GMU 54 | 0% | 2 ▲1 | |
| EF054O3R Youth | Elk female rifle season 3 GMU 54 | 0% (small sample) | — | |
| EF054O4R Standard | Elk female rifle season 4 GMU 54 | 100% | — | |
| EF054O4R Youth | Elk female rifle season 4 GMU 54 | 100% (small sample) | — | |
| EF054P5R Standard · private | Elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 54 | 100% | — | |
| EM054O1M Standard | Elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 54 | 0% | 8 ▲5 | |
| EM054O1M Youth | Elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 54 | 0% (small sample) | — | |
| EM054O1R Standard | Elk male rifle season 1 GMU 54 | 0% | 3 ▲3 | |
| EM054O1R Youth | Elk male rifle season 1 GMU 54 | 0% (small sample) | 0 | |
| EM054O2R Standard | Elk male rifle season 2 GMU 54 | 100% | — | |
| EM054O2R Youth | Elk male rifle season 2 GMU 54 | 100% | — | |
| EM054O3R Standard | Elk male rifle season 3 GMU 54 | 88% | — | |
| EM054O3R Youth | Elk male rifle season 3 GMU 54 | 100% | — | |
| EM054O4R Standard | Elk male rifle season 4 GMU 54 | 74% | 0 | |
| EM054O4R Youth | Elk male rifle season 4 GMU 54 | 0% (small sample) | — |
First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file.
Draw results: CPW 2026 Primary ELK Post Draw Report, retrieved Aug 31, 2026.
If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): Standard $974.27 ($129.11 to apply) · Youth $974.27 ($129.11 to apply). Open Mar 1 – Apr 6, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.
Harvest
| Year | Hunters | Elk | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2,242 | 498 | 22% |
| 2023 | 2,299 | 425 | 18% |
| 2022 | 2,266 | 573 | 25% |
| 2021 | 2,205 | 417 | 19% |
2024 split: rifle 429 (86%) from 1,978 hunters, 22%, archery 52 (10%) from 191 hunters, 27%, muzzleloader 17 (3%) from 74 hunters, 23%
What Colorado Parks and Wildlife publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. 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. Source: CPW 2024 Statewide Elk Harvest; CPW 2023 Statewide Elk Hunting Harvest Estimates; CPW 2022 Statewide Elk Harvest.
The Ground
| National Forest | 225,619 ac | 60% |
| Private | 81,147 ac | 22% |
| BLM | 47,914 ac | 13% |
| State land | 14,818 ac | 4% |
| Bureau of Reclamation | 4,408 ac | 1% |
| County or city land | 135 ac | <1% |
| Other public | 0 ac | <1% |
Source: Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office 2026 BLM Surface Management Agency.
▸ Sources 10
- CPW 2026 Primary ELK Post Draw Report draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2026 2 CCR 406-0 Chapter W-0 General… fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2026 Big Game Hunting brochure fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2026 web page fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2024 Statewide Elk Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2023 Statewide Elk Hunting Harvest Estimates harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2022 Statewide Elk Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2021 Statewide Elk Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2026 GMU Boundary, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office 2026 BLM Surface Management Agency land ownership, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
About These Numbers
Odds are from the 2026 draw, the latest on file, computed from Colorado Parks and Wildlife's published results. They are what happened in that draw, not a forecast. Under five tags a percentage carries a *, because one applicant either way swings it. A dash means the agency did not publish the number, and a date marked expected is last cycle's schedule rolled forward. How we compute these.
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We don't take applications: check Colorado Parks and Wildlife's site and apply there.
Prior-draw odds from Colorado Parks and Wildlife's results, not a forecast · Methodology · All Colorado elk hunts