AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 66

Colorado GMU 66 covers 575,447 acres and lies 39 miles south-east of Montrose and 61 miles south-east of Delta. 81% of it is public land, mostly BLM (43%) and national forest (35%). In 2024, 1,196 people hunted elk here and took 503 — 42% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 150 tags here for 7 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):485 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:1,402 Hunter success (2024):42% Public land:81% Size:575,447 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 66, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

22 licenses on offer · 485 tags · 1,402 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
  • EE066O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 66 [66] 30 tags · 263 applicants · needed 15 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE066O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 66 [66] 150 tags · 7 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF066O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 66 [66] 3 tags · 6 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF066O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 66 [66] 1 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF066O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 66 22 tags · 40 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF066O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 66 2 tags · 7 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    50% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF066O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 66 [66] 30 tags · 34 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    27% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF066O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 66 [66] 2 tags · 5 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 13% as 2nd choice
  • EF066O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 66 32 tags · 47 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    32% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF066O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 66 1 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF066O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 66 12 tags · 37 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF066O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 66 2 tags · 4 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM066O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 66 [66] 7 tags · 77 applicants · needed 23 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM066O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 66 [66] 45 tags · 3 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM066O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 66 42 tags · 359 applicants · needed 11 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM066O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 66 2 tags · 25 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM066O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 66 44 tags · 255 applicants · needed 7 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM066O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 66 6 tags · 10 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM066O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 66 [66] 37 tags · 150 applicants · needed 5 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM066O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 66 [66] 6 tags · 5 applicants · needed 6 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM066O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 66 8 tags · 57 applicants · needed 7 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM066O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 66 1 tags · 9 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

Montrose Durango Alamosa Grand Junction Glenwood Springs
GMU 66 within Colorado
53 54 55 551 56 561 61 62 63 64 65 67 68 681 682 70 71 74 76 79 791 80 Montrose Delta
GMU 66 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

  • BLM 249,110 ac · 43%
  • National Forest 199,886 ac · 35%
  • Private 111,246 ac · 19%
  • National Park Service 14,077 ac · 2%
  • County or city land 1,055 ac · 0%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 70 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 1,196 503 42%
2023 1,151 389 34%
2022 1,159 485 42%
2021 1,141 417 37%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 425 · 84% · 984 hunters, 43% success
  • Archery 47 · 9% · 138 hunters, 34% success
  • Muzzleloader 31 · 6% · 74 hunters, 42% 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