AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 63

Colorado GMU 63 covers 236,200 acres and lies 17 miles north-east of Montrose and 27 miles east of Delta. 57% of it is public land, mostly national forest (25%) and BLM (22%). In 2024, 1,480 people hunted elk here and took 292 — 20% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 369 tags here for 0 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):2,263 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:327 Hunter success (2024):20% Public land:57% Size:236,200 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 63, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

25 licenses on offer · 2,263 tags · 327 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
  • EE053P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 53 [53, 63] 117 tags · 20 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 25% as 2nd choice
  • EE053P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 53 [53, 63] 32 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 100% as 2nd choice
  • EE053P4R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 53 [53, 63] 114 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 50% as 2nd choice
  • EE053P4R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 53 [53, 63] 65 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EE063V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 63 [63] 245 tags · 119 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 42% as 2nd choice
  • EE063V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 63 [63] 330 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 60% as 2nd choice
  • EF053P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 53 [53, 63 -Delta County only] 101 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 50% as 2nd choice
  • EF053P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 53 [53, 63 -Delta County only] 100 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF063O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 63 [63] 10 tags · 3 applicants · Standard
    67% Real chance 33% as 2nd choice
  • EF063O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 63 [63] 35 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 67% as 2nd choice
  • EF063O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 63 44 tags · 20 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 9% as 2nd choice
  • EF063O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 63 100 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% as 2nd choice
  • EF063O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 63 [63] 33 tags · 32 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    93% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF063O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 63 [63] 80 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF063O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 63 [63] 12 tags · 12 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    25% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF063O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 63 [63] 45 tags · 2 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Undersubscribed
  • EF063O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 63 9 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 9% as 2nd choice
  • EF063O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 63 30 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF063P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 63 [63 - West of Hwy 92] 369 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% as 2nd choice
  • EF063P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 63 [63 - West of Hwy 92] 200 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% as 2nd choice
  • EM063O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 63 [63] 19 tags · 33 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    14% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM063O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 63 [63] 3 tags · 3 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EM063O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 63 62 tags · 60 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 6% as 2nd choice
  • EM063O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 63 100 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM063O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 63 8 tags · 10 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    25% Long shot 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

Montrose Grand Junction Rifle Durango Alamosa
GMU 63 within Colorado
411 52 53 54 62 64 Montrose Delta
GMU 63 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

  • Private 100,593 ac · 43%
  • National Forest 58,585 ac · 25%
  • BLM 51,077 ac · 22%
  • National Park Service 25,163 ac · 11%
  • County or city land 690 ac · 0%
  • Other public 80 ac · 0%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 8 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 1,480 292 20%
2023 1,502 248 17%
2022 1,480 288 19%
2021 1,481 225 15%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 167 · 57% · 869 hunters, 19% success
  • Archery 114 · 39% · 559 hunters, 20% success
  • Muzzleloader 10 · 3% · 52 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