Colorado Elk · GMU 70
Colorado GMU 70 covers 965,795 acres and lies 43 miles south-west of Montrose and 52 miles south-west of Delta. 70% of it is public land, mostly BLM (49%) and national forest (16%). In 2024, 3,448 people hunted elk here and took 1,275, a 37% success rate. Its most applied-for hunt, EM070O1A, put up 450 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 390 nonresident first-choice applicants, 350 of whom drew.
33 licenses · NR capped at 25%
first choice, NR
2024, all licenses
53% BLM
965,795 acres
Boundaries are drawn for orientation only. The written boundary description in the regulations governs.
Best Bets at 0 Points
Ranked by your odds times how often that license type's hunters filled their tag in 2024. Nonresident, first choice, 2026 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.
- Success
- 37%
- Season
- Sep 2–30
- Tags / Apps
- 200 / 26
- If Drawn
- $974.27
- Success
- 37%
- Season
- Sep 12–20
- Tags / Apps
- 50 / 12
- If Drawn
- $974.27
- Success
- 37%
- Season
- Nov 18–22
- Tags / Apps
- 55 / 9
- If Drawn
- $974.27
- Success
- 37%
- Season
- Sep 2–30
- Tags / Apps
- 450 / 390
- If Drawn
- $974.27
Every License in GMU 70
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EE070P1A Standard · private | Elk either-sex archery private-land-only GMU 70 | 100% | — | |
| EE070P1A Youth · private | Elk either-sex archery private-land-only GMU 70 | 100% (small sample) | — | |
| EE070P1R Standard · private | Elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 70 | 100% | — | |
| EE070P1R Youth · private | Elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 70 | 100% | — | |
| EE070P4R Standard · private | Elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 70 | 100% | — | |
| EE070P4R Youth · private | Elk either-sex rifle private-land-only GMU 70 | 100% | — | |
| EF070O1A Standard | Elk female archery season 1 GMU 70 | 96% | — | |
| EF070O1A Youth | Elk female archery season 1 GMU 70 | 100% (small sample) | — | |
| EF070O1M Standard | Elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 70 | 100% | — | |
| EF070O1M Youth | Elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 70 | 100% (small sample) | 0 | |
| EF070O1R Standard | Elk female rifle season 1 GMU 70 | 0% | 1 | |
| EF070O1R Youth | Elk female rifle season 1 GMU 70 | 0% (small sample) | — | |
| EF070O2R Standard | Elk female rifle season 2 GMU 70 | 0% | 2 ▲1 | |
| EF070O2R Youth | Elk female rifle season 2 GMU 70 | 100% | 0 | |
| EF070O3R Standard | Elk female rifle season 3 GMU 70 | 0% | 1 ▲1 | |
| EF070O3R Youth | Elk female rifle season 3 GMU 70 | 100% | — | |
| EF070O4R Standard | Elk female rifle season 4 GMU 70 | 33% | 0 ▼1 | |
| EF070O4R Youth | Elk female rifle season 4 GMU 70 | 100% (small sample) | — | |
| EF070P2R Standard · private | Elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 70 | 100% | — | |
| EF070P2R Youth · private | Elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 70 | 100% (small sample) | — | |
| EF070P3R Standard · private | Elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 70 | 100% | — | |
| EF070P3R Youth · private | Elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 70 | 100% (small sample) | — | |
| EF070P4R Standard · private | Elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 70 | 100% | — | |
| EF070P4R Youth · private | Elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 70 | 100% (small sample) | — | |
| EF070P5R Standard · private | Elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 70 | 0% | 1 | |
| EM070O1A Standard | Elk male archery season 1 GMU 70 | 87% | 0 | |
| EM070O1A Youth | Elk male archery season 1 GMU 70 | 100% (small sample) | 0 | |
| EM070O1M Standard | Elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 70 | 0% | 4 ▲2 | |
| EM070O1M Youth | Elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 70 | 0% (small sample) | 0 | |
| EM070O1R Standard | Elk male rifle season 1 GMU 70 | 0% | 3 ▲3 | |
| EM070O1R Youth | Elk male rifle season 1 GMU 70 | 0% (small sample) | — | |
| EM070O4R Standard | Elk male rifle season 4 GMU 70 | 0% | 1 | |
| EM070O4R Youth | Elk male rifle season 4 GMU 70 | 0% (small sample) | — |
First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file.
Draw results: CPW 2026 Primary ELK Post Draw Report, retrieved Aug 31, 2026.
If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): Standard $974.27 ($129.11 to apply) · Youth $974.27 ($129.11 to apply). Open Mar 1 – Apr 6, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.
Harvest
| Year | Hunters | Elk | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 3,448 | 1,275 | 37% |
| 2023 | 3,346 | 829 | 25% |
| 2022 | 3,068 | 981 | 32% |
| 2021 | 3,165 | 762 | 24% |
2024 split: rifle 1,054 (83%) from 2,696 hunters, 39%, archery 192 (15%) from 658 hunters, 29%, muzzleloader 29 (2%) from 94 hunters, 31%
What Colorado Parks and Wildlife publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. 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. Source: CPW 2024 Statewide Elk Harvest; CPW 2023 Statewide Elk Hunting Harvest Estimates; CPW 2022 Statewide Elk Harvest.
The Ground
| BLM | 469,804 ac | 49% |
| Private | 220,190 ac | 23% |
| National Forest | 157,828 ac | 16% |
| State land | 45,743 ac | 5% |
| Other public | 552 ac | <1% |
| Bureau of Reclamation | 358 ac | <1% |
| County or city land | 0 ac | <1% |
| Private or other non-public land | 71,319 ac | 7% |
Source: Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office 2026 BLM Surface Management Agency.
▸ Sources 10
- CPW 2026 Primary ELK Post Draw Report draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2026 2 CCR 406-0 Chapter W-0 General… fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2026 Big Game Hunting brochure fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2026 web page fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2024 Statewide Elk Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2023 Statewide Elk Hunting Harvest Estimates harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2022 Statewide Elk Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2021 Statewide Elk Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- CPW 2026 GMU Boundary, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office 2026 BLM Surface Management Agency land ownership, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
About These Numbers
Odds are from the 2026 draw, the latest on file, computed from Colorado Parks and Wildlife's published results. They are what happened in that draw, not a forecast. Under five tags a percentage carries a *, because one applicant either way swings it. A dash means the agency did not publish the number, and a date marked expected is last cycle's schedule rolled forward. How we compute these.
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We don't take applications: check Colorado Parks and Wildlife's site and apply there.
Prior-draw odds from Colorado Parks and Wildlife's results, not a forecast · Methodology · All Colorado elk hunts