Colorado Elk — GMU 69

Colorado GMU 69 covers 186,737 acres and lies 11 miles south of Cañon City and 35 miles west of Pueblo. 36% of it is public land, mostly national forest (26%) and BLM (6%). In 2024, 293 people hunted elk here and took 77 — 26% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 655 tags here for 28 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):1,172 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:493 Hunter success (2024):26% Public land:36% Size:186,737 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 69, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

22 licenses on offer · 1,172 tags · 493 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
  • EE069O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 69 [69, 84] 23 tags · 145 applicants · needed 8 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE069O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 69 [69, 84] 115 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EF069O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 69 [69, 84] 7 tags · 5 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF069O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 69 [69, 84] 30 tags · 1 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Undersubscribed
  • EF069O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 69 [69, 84] 11 tags · 7 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF069O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 69 [69, 84] 2 tags · 2 applicants · needed 2 pts · Youth
    0% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF069O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 69 8 tags · 7 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    50% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF069O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 69 75 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF069O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 69 1 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Undersubscribed
  • EF069O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 69 45 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF069P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 69 [69, 84] 655 tags · 28 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 54% as 2nd choice
  • EF069P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 69 [69, 84] 5 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 100% as 2nd choice
  • EM069O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 69 [69, 84] 11 tags · 49 applicants · needed 10 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM069O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 69 [69, 84] 55 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder
  • EM069O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 69 15 tags · 129 applicants · needed 11 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM069O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 69 75 tags · 4 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM069O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 69 17 tags · 53 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM069O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 69 2 tags · 5 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM069O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 69 11 tags · 32 applicants · needed 5 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM069O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 69 1 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM069O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 69 7 tags · 15 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM069O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 69 1 tags · 4 applicants · needed 4 pts · 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

Cañon City Colorado Springs Alamosa Castle Rock Lakewood
GMU 69 within Colorado
591 691 84 86 Cañon City
GMU 69 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 119,837 ac · 64%
  • National Forest 48,943 ac · 26%
  • BLM 12,000 ac · 6%
  • County or city land 4,711 ac · 3%
  • State land 1,240 ac · 1%
  • Other public 4 ac · 0%

Source: BLM Colorado Surface Management Agency

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 293 77 26%
2023 335 89 27%
2022 283 66 24%
2021 237 49 21%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 64 · 83% · 228 hunters, 28% success
  • Archery 5 · 6% · 35 hunters, 14% success
  • Muzzleloader 8 · 10% · 31 hunters, 26% 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