AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 561

Colorado GMU 561 covers 81,884 acres and lies 53 miles west of Cañon City and 70 miles north of Alamosa. 91% of it is public land, mostly national forest (84%) and BLM (6%). In 2024, 283 people hunted elk here and took 45 — 16% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 80 tags here for 1 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):301 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:87 Hunter success (2024):16% Public land:91% Size:81,884 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 561, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

18 licenses on offer · 301 tags · 87 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
  • EE561O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 561 [561] 24 tags · 28 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    36% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE561O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 561 [561] 80 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EF561O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 561 [561] 6 tags · 5 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 15% as 2nd choice
  • EF561O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 561 [561] 1 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 50% as 2nd choice
  • EF561O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 561 3 tags · 2 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF561O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 561 30 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF561O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 561 2 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF561O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 561 10 tags · 3 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 100% as 2nd choice
  • EM561O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 561 [561] 15 tags · 17 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    10% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM561O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 561 [561] 35 tags · 4 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM561O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 561 7 tags · 21 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM561O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 561 30 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM561O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 561 2 tags · 2 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM561O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 561 30 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM561O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 561 [561] 2 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM561O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 561 [561] 1 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM561O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 561 3 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Undersubscribed
  • EM561O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 561 20 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% 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

Cañon City Alamosa Colorado Springs Montrose Gypsum
GMU 561 within Colorado
551 56 681
GMU 561 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 68,854 ac · 84%
  • Private 7,238 ac · 9%
  • BLM 5,062 ac · 6%
  • County or city land 690 ac · 1%
  • State land 39 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 283 45 16%
2023 260 48 19%
2022 258 59 23%
2021 271 58 21%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 33 · 72% · 173 hunters, 19% success
  • Archery 11 · 24% · 68 hunters, 16% success
  • Muzzleloader 2 · 4% · 43 hunters, 5% 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