Colorado Elk — GMU 681

Colorado GMU 681 covers 284,294 acres and lies 55 miles north of Alamosa and 87 miles west of Pueblo. 88% of it is public land, mostly national forest (50%) and BLM (37%). In 2024, 1,519 people hunted elk here and took 153 — 10% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 405 tags here for 209 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):880 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:624 Hunter success (2024):10% Public land:88% Size:284,294 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 681, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

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

EE068V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 68 [68, 681] 405 tags · 209 applicants · Standard

100% Undersubscribed 50% as 2nd choice
EE068V1A elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 68 [68, 681] 191 tags · 5 applicants · Youth

100% Undersubscribed 60% as 2nd choice
EF068O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 68 [68, 681] 2 tags · 1 applicants · Standard

0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
EF068O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 68 [68, 681] 1 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth

100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
EF068O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 68 11 tags · 34 applicants · needed 2 pts · Standard

0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
EF068O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 68 2 tags · 3 applicants · Youth

0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
EF068O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 68 [68, 681] 8 tags · 18 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard

0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
EF068O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 68 [68, 681] 60 tags · 4 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth

0% Undersubscribed
EF068O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 68 10 tags · 11 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard

73% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
EM068O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 68 [68, 681] 23 tags · 59 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard

0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
EM068O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 68 [68, 681] 2 tags · 3 applicants · needed 2 pts · Youth

0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
EM068O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 68 [68, 681] 110 tags · 221 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard

3% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
EM068O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 68 [68, 681] 16 tags · 18 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth

0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
EM068O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 68 [68, 681] 38 tags · 36 applicants · Standard

100% Undersubscribed 24% as 2nd choice
EM068O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 68 [68, 681] 1 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth

100% Undersubscribed

Hunt	Your odds (0 pts)	As 2nd choice	Points needed	Tags / applicants	License	Season
EE068V1A ↗ elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 68 [68, 681] Archery	100% Undersubscribed	50%	—	405 / 209 undersubscribed	Standard	Sep 2–30, 2026
EE068V1A ↗ elk either-sex archery nonresident-only GMU 68 [68, 681] Archery	100% Undersubscribed	60%	—	191 / 5 undersubscribed	Youth	Sep 2–30, 2026
EF068O1M ↗ elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 68 [68, 681] Muzzleloader	0% Point builder	0%	— −2 since 2021	2 / 1	Standard	Sep 12–20, 2026
EF068O1M ↗ elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 68 [68, 681] Muzzleloader	100% Undersubscribed	0%	0	1 / 1 undersubscribed	Youth	Sep 12–20, 2026
EF068O2R ↗ elk female rifle season 2 GMU 68 Rifle	0% Point builder	0%	2	11 / 34	Standard	Oct 24 – Nov 1, 2026
EF068O2R ↗ elk female rifle season 2 GMU 68 Rifle	0% Point builder	0%	—	2 / 3	Youth	Oct 24 – Nov 1, 2026
EF068O3R ↗ elk female rifle season 3 GMU 68 [68, 681] Rifle	0% Point builder	0%	3 steady since 2025	8 / 18	Standard	Nov 7–15, 2026
EF068O3R ↗ elk female rifle season 3 GMU 68 [68, 681] Rifle	0% Undersubscribed	—	1	60 / 4 undersubscribed	Youth	Nov 7–15, 2026
EF068O4R ↗ elk female rifle season 4 GMU 68 Rifle	73% Real chance	0%	0	10 / 11	Standard	Nov 18–22, 2026
EM068O1M ↗ elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 68 [68, 681] Muzzleloader	0% Point builder	0%	1 +1 since 2021	23 / 59	Standard	Sep 12–20, 2026
EM068O1M ↗ elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 68 [68, 681] Muzzleloader	0% Point builder	0%	2 +1 since 2022	2 / 3	Youth	Sep 12–20, 2026
EM068O1R ↗ elk male rifle season 1 GMU 68 [68, 681] Rifle	3% Point builder	0%	0 steady since 2025	110 / 221	Standard	Oct 14–18, 2026
EM068O1R ↗ elk male rifle season 1 GMU 68 [68, 681] Rifle	0% Point builder	0%	1 +1 since 2021	16 / 18	Youth	Oct 14–18, 2026
EM068O4R ↗ elk male rifle season 4 GMU 68 [68, 681] Rifle	100% Undersubscribed	24%	—	38 / 36 undersubscribed	Standard	Nov 18–22, 2026
EM068O4R ↗ elk male rifle season 4 GMU 68 [68, 681] Rifle	100% Undersubscribed	—	0 steady since 2021	1 / 1 undersubscribed	Youth	Nov 18–22, 2026

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.

3 hunts not offered in 2026 are hidden — show discontinued hunts.

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.

Other licenses valid in GMU 681

Not in the table above because they had no result in the 2026 draw.

EF681O2R — elk female rifle season 2 GMU 681 [10/26/2024 – 11/03/2024 Antlerless] Youth EF681O3R — elk female rifle season 3 GMU 681 [681 11/09/2024 – 11/15/2024 Antlerless] Standard EF681O4R — elk female rifle season 4 GMU 681 [11/20/2024 – 11/24/2024 Antlerless] Standard

The country

GMU 681 within Colorado

GMU 681 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 142,426 ac · 50%
BLM 104,975 ac · 37%
Private 34,555 ac · 12%
County or city land 2,336 ac · 1%
Bureau of Reclamation 0 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.