AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 61

Colorado GMU 61 covers 589,823 acres and lies 33 miles south-west of Delta and 47 miles south of Grand Junction. 85% of it is public land, mostly national forest (49%) and BLM (36%). In 2024, 1,296 people hunted elk here and took 727 — 56% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 151 tags here for 2 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):1,124 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:2,048 Hunter success (2024):56% Public land:85% Size:589,823 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 61, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

26 licenses on offer · 1,124 tags · 2,048 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
  • EE061E1R elk either-sex rifle early season GMU 61 [elk license seasons or valid. If t to private] 6 tags · 293 applicants · needed 32 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE061E1R elk either-sex rifle early season GMU 61 [elk license seasons or valid. If t to private] 40 tags · 18 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE061O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 61 [61] 14 tags · 526 applicants · needed 28 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE061O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 61 [61] 90 tags · 15 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF061O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 61 [61] 10 tags · 23 applicants · needed 5 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF061O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 61 [61] 50 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    50% Real chance
  • EF061O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 61 17 tags · 32 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF061O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 61 1 tags · 3 applicants · needed 2 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF061O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 61 52 tags · 62 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF061O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 61 7 tags · 13 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    50% Real chance
  • EF061O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 61 [61] 56 tags · 76 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF061O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 61 [61] 5 tags · 10 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF061O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 61 [61] 24 tags · 17 applicants · Standard
    90% Likely draw 9% as 2nd choice
  • EF061O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 61 [61] 6 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF061P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 61 [61] 151 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF061P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 61 [61] 150 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM061O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 61 [61] 7 tags · 194 applicants · needed 30 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM061O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 61 [61] 45 tags · 8 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM061O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 61 20 tags · 321 applicants · needed 27 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM061O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 61 130 tags · 22 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM061O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 61 19 tags · 182 applicants · needed 26 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM061O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 61 120 tags · 4 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM061O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 61 8 tags · 129 applicants · needed 25 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM061O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 61 50 tags · 10 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM061O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 61 6 tags · 77 applicants · needed 25 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM061O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 61 40 tags · 6 applicants · Youth
    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

Delta Grand Junction Cortez Rifle Craig
GMU 61 within Colorado
40 41 411 421 43 431 52 521 53 54 60 62 63 64 65 66 67 70 71 711 74 76 Delta Montrose Grand Junction
GMU 61 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 289,067 ac · 49%
  • BLM 210,476 ac · 36%
  • Private 89,617 ac · 15%
  • State land 663 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 1,296 727 56%
2023 1,114 588 53%
2022 1,181 631 53%
2021 1,146 607 53%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 621 · 85% · 1,127 hunters, 55% success
  • Archery 61 · 8% · 90 hunters, 68% success
  • Muzzleloader 46 · 6% · 79 hunters, 58% 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