Colorado Elk — GMU 87

Colorado GMU 87 covers 714,793 acres and lies 23 miles east of Wellington. 23% of it is public land, mostly national forest (14%) and state land (5%). In 2024, 82 people hunted elk here and took 22 — 27% of them killed something.

Hunter success (2024):27% Public land:23% Size:714,793 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has not offered an elk license in GMU 87 in any draw we hold. It has a page because the agency still publishes harvest for it — the Colorado elk hunts that are on offer are drawn elsewhere.

The country

Wellington Evans Erie Sterling Aurora
GMU 87 within Colorado
19 191 20 88 9 95 951 96 Wellington Severance Greeley
GMU 87 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 552,526 ac · 77%
  • National Forest 100,489 ac · 14%
  • State land 35,173 ac · 5%
  • Other public 14,674 ac · 2%
  • County or city land 11,886 ac · 2%

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 82 22 27%
2023 94 26 28%
2022 92 10 11%
2021 167 40 24%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 22 · 100% · 75 hunters, 29% success
  • Archery 0 · 0% · 7 hunters, 0% 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