AmmoSight

Colorado Elk — GMU 74

Colorado GMU 74 covers 380,672 acres and lies 22 miles north of Durango and 42 miles east of Cortez. 86% of it is public land, mostly national forest (77%) and BLM (7%). In 2024, 1,537 people hunted elk here and took 329 — 21% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 347 tags here for 337 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):948 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:876 Hunter success (2024):21% Public land:86% Size:380,672 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 74, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

26 licenses on offer · 948 tags · 876 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
  • EE074P1A elk either-sex archery private-land-only GMU 74 [74, 741] 81 tags · 36 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 45% as 2nd choice
  • EE074P1A elk either-sex archery private-land-only GMU 74 [74, 741] 75 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% as 2nd choice
  • EF074O1A elk female archery season 1 GMU 74 [74, 741] 6 tags · 6 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF074O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 74 [74, 741] 2 tags · 4 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    50% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF074O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 74 [74, 741] 1 tags · 7 applicants · needed 3 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF074O1R elk female rifle season 1 GMU 74 [74, 741] 15 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF074O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 74 2 tags · 14 applicants · needed 4 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF074O2R elk female rifle season 2 GMU 74 10 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    33% Long shot
  • EF074O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 74 [74] 2 tags · 7 applicants · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF074O3R elk female rifle season 3 GMU 74 [74] 10 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    67% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF074O4R elk female rifle season 4 GMU 74 1 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF074P1R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 74 [74, 741] 11 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    50% Real chance 30% as 2nd choice
  • EF074P4R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 74 11 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF074P4R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 74 10 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 100% as 2nd choice
  • EM074O1A elk male archery season 1 GMU 74 [74, 741] 347 tags · 337 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    97% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM074O1A elk male archery season 1 GMU 74 [74, 741] 12 tags · 5 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM074O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 74 [74, 741] 126 tags · 188 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    35% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM074O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 74 [74, 741] 4 tags · 7 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    60% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM074O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 74 154 tags · 195 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    59% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM074O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 74 8 tags · 8 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    80% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM074O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 74 9 tags · 8 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 38% as 2nd choice
  • EM074O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 74 1 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM074P1R elk male rifle private-land-only GMU 74 15 tags · 29 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    32% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM074P1R elk male rifle private-land-only GMU 74 15 tags · 3 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    67% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM074P4R elk male rifle private-land-only GMU 74 [74, 741] 10 tags · 11 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    50% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM074P4R elk male rifle private-land-only GMU 74 [74, 741] 10 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

Durango Montrose Alamosa Grand Junction Rifle
GMU 74 within Colorado
65 66 67 70 71 711 72 73 741 75 751 76 77 771 78 Durango Cortez
GMU 74 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 291,303 ac · 77%
  • Private 52,126 ac · 14%
  • BLM 27,085 ac · 7%
  • County or city land 9,792 ac · 3%
  • State land 312 ac · 0%
  • Other public 51 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 1,537 329 21%
2023 1,635 276 17%
2022 1,559 329 21%
2021 1,833 275 15%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 188 · 57% · 873 hunters, 22% success
  • Archery 89 · 27% · 501 hunters, 18% success
  • Muzzleloader 52 · 16% · 162 hunters, 32% 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