Colorado Elk — GMU 57

Colorado GMU 57 covers 174,990 acres and lies 43 miles west of Cañon City and 65 miles west of Colorado Springs. 76% of it is public land, mostly national forest (54%) and BLM (17%). In 2024, 483 people hunted elk here and took 163 — 34% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 256 tags here for 6 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):1,335 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:699 Hunter success (2024):34% Public land:76% Size:174,990 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 57, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

24 licenses on offer · 1,335 tags · 699 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
  • EE057O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 57 [57, 58] 41 tags · 168 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE057O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 57 [57, 58] 5 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EF057O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 57 [57, 58] 8 tags · 7 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 6% as 2nd choice
  • EF057O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 57 [57, 58] 90 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF057O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 57 13 tags · 16 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    33% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF057O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 57 100 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF057O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 57 [57, 58] 12 tags · 8 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    50% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF057O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 57 [57, 58] 5 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 50% as 2nd choice
  • EF057O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 57 12 tags · 12 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF057O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 57 145 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 67% as 2nd choice
  • EF057O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 57 8 tags · 5 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF057O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 57 130 tags · 1 applicants · needed 2 pts · Youth
    0% Undersubscribed
  • EF057P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 57 [57, 58] 256 tags · 6 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 10% as 2nd choice
  • EF057P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 57 [57, 58] 250 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EM057O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 57 [57, 58] 23 tags · 116 applicants · needed 7 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM057O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 57 [57, 58] 3 tags · 6 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM057O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 57 16 tags · 110 applicants · needed 9 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM057O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 57 80 tags · 7 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM057O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 57 20 tags · 91 applicants · needed 5 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM057O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 57 4 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM057O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 57 [57, 58] 16 tags · 89 applicants · needed 5 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM057O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 57 [57, 58] 80 tags · 5 applicants · needed 5 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM057O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 57 17 tags · 45 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM057O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 57 1 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
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 Colorado Springs Castle Rock Lakewood Alamosa
GMU 57 within Colorado
471 48 481 49 511 55 551 56 561 58 581 681 69 691 Cañon City
GMU 57 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 95,366 ac · 54%
  • Private 42,430 ac · 24%
  • BLM 29,644 ac · 17%
  • County or city land 4,679 ac · 3%
  • State land 2,869 ac · 2%

Source: BLM Colorado Surface Management Agency

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 483 163 34%
2023 584 183 31%
2022 581 153 26%
2021 601 150 25%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 135 · 83% · 370 hunters, 36% success
  • Archery 19 · 12% · 67 hunters, 28% success
  • Muzzleloader 9 · 6% · 47 hunters, 19% 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