AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 72

Colorado GMU 72 covers 625,213 acres and lies 16 miles west of Cortez and 55 miles west of Durango. 29% of it is public land, mostly BLM (29%). A further 38% is tribal land rather than public land. In 2024, 467 people hunted elk here and took 83 — 18% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 490 tags here for 757 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):2,104 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:1,930 Hunter success (2024):18% Public land:29% Size:625,213 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 72, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

31 licenses on offer · 2,104 tags · 1,930 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
  • EE071P1A elk either-sex archery private-land-only GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 169 tags · 151 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    >99% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE071P1A elk either-sex archery private-land-only GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 165 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF071O1A elk female archery season 1 GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 24 tags · 26 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    43% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF071O1A elk female archery season 1 GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 5 tags · 1 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF071O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 6 tags · 21 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF071O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 30 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF071O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 10 tags · 48 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF071O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 1 tags · 4 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF071P1R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 17 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    50% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF071P1R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 15 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF071P4R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 71 25 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF071P4R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 71 25 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF072O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 72 14 tags · 9 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 100% as 2nd choice
  • EF072O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 72 30 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF072O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 72 [72] 16 tags · 12 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 11% as 2nd choice
  • EF072O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 72 [72] 30 tags · 2 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF072O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 72 16 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Undersubscribed
  • EF072P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 72 [72, 711 -South and west of the Dolores River within Dolores County] 210 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% as 2nd choice
  • EF072P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 72 [72, 711 -South and west of the Dolores River within Dolores County] 140 tags · 1 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 67% as 2nd choice
  • EM071O1A elk male archery season 1 GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 490 tags · 757 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    40% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM071O1A elk male archery season 1 GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 34 tags · 9 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    43% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM071O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 143 tags · 331 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM071O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 6 tags · 13 applicants · needed 2 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM071O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 71 228 tags · 411 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    14% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM071O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 71 26 tags · 32 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    13% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM071O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 71 16 tags · 13 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM071O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 71 2 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM071P1R elk male rifle private-land-only GMU 71 76 tags · 58 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 3% as 2nd choice
  • EM071P1R elk male rifle private-land-only GMU 71 75 tags · 9 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EM071P4R elk male rifle private-land-only GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 30 tags · 11 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 33% as 2nd choice
  • EM071P4R elk male rifle private-land-only GMU 71 [71, 72, 73, 711] 30 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 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

Cortez Montrose Grand Junction Rifle Alamosa
GMU 72 within Colorado
65 66 70 71 711 73 74 741 75 751 77 771 Cortez Durango
GMU 72 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

  • Tribal 235,479 ac · 38%
  • Private 207,127 ac · 33%
  • BLM 179,371 ac · 29%
  • County or city land 2,590 ac · 0%
  • National Park Service 407 ac · 0%
  • State land 198 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 467 83 18%
2023 344 48 14%
2022 407 41 10%
2021 396 20 5%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 65 · 78% · 382 hunters, 17% success
  • Archery 15 · 18% · 56 hunters, 27% success
  • Muzzleloader 3 · 4% · 28 hunters, 11% 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