AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 65

Colorado GMU 65 covers 429,778 acres and lies 21 miles south-east of Montrose and 45 miles south-east of Delta. 53% of it is public land, mostly national forest (40%) and BLM (10%). In 2024, 3,000 people hunted elk here and took 755 — 25% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 326 tags here for 165 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):2,928 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:774 Hunter success (2024):25% Public land:53% Size:429,778 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 65, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

27 licenses on offer · 2,928 tags · 774 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
  • EE064O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 64 [64, 65] 252 tags · 265 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    81% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE064O1R elk either-sex rifle season 1 GMU 64 [64, 65] 10 tags · 23 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    76% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE064O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 64 39 tags · 29 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 11% as 2nd choice
  • EE064O4R elk either-sex rifle season 4 GMU 64 100 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE064P1A elk either-sex archery private-land-only GMU 64 [64, 65] 138 tags · 45 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 28% as 2nd choice
  • EE064P1A elk either-sex archery private-land-only GMU 64 [64, 65] 100 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 33% as 2nd choice
  • EE064P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 64 179 tags · 44 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 38% as 2nd choice
  • EE064P1R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 64 130 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EE064P4R elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 64 [64, 65] 121 tags · 12 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 25% as 2nd choice
  • EE064V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 64 [64, 65] 326 tags · 165 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 45% as 2nd choice
  • EE064V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 64 [64, 65] 156 tags · 5 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 40% as 2nd choice
  • EF064O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 64 [64, 65] 29 tags · 11 applicants · Standard
    89% Likely draw 52% as 2nd choice
  • EF064O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 64 [64, 65] 100 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 50% as 2nd choice
  • EF064O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 64 17 tags · 3 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 29% as 2nd choice
  • EF064O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 64 14 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 50% as 2nd choice
  • EF064O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 64 [64, 65] 31 tags · 23 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 70% as 2nd choice
  • EF064O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 64 [64, 65] 6 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF064O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 64 38 tags · 31 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 14% as 2nd choice
  • EF064O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 64 3 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 50% as 2nd choice
  • EF064O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 64 35 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 17% as 2nd choice
  • EF064P1R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 64 193 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    0% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF064P2R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 64 [64, 65] 253 tags · 13 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 100% as 2nd choice
  • EF064P2R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 64 [64, 65] 150 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF064P3R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 64 151 tags · 12 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 33% as 2nd choice
  • EF064P4R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 64 187 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM064O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 64 [64, 65] 60 tags · 82 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    51% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM064O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 64 [64, 65] 110 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 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 Durango Grand Junction Rifle Alamosa
GMU 65 within Colorado
54 55 551 61 62 63 64 66 67 70 71 711 74 76 79 Montrose Delta
GMU 65 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 202,507 ac · 47%
  • National Forest 171,923 ac · 40%
  • BLM 42,657 ac · 10%
  • County or city land 11,875 ac · 3%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 494 ac · 0%
  • State land 237 ac · 0%
  • National Park Service 83 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 3,000 755 25%
2023 3,410 607 18%
2022 3,255 660 20%
2021 3,308 586 18%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 594 · 79% · 1,901 hunters, 31% success
  • Archery 141 · 19% · 968 hunters, 15% success
  • Muzzleloader 20 · 3% · 131 hunters, 15% 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