Colorado Elk · GMU 96

Colorado GMU 96 covers 157,974 acres and lies 8 miles north-east of Fort Morgan and 33 miles south-west of Sterling. 7% of it is public land, mostly state land (6%) and Bureau of Reclamation (1%). In 2024, 15 people hunted elk here and took 3, a 17% success rate.

Tags
—

0 licenses · NR capped at 25%

Applicants
—

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
17%

2024, all licenses

Public Land
7%

6% State

Size
247 mi²

157,974 acres

Fort Morgan Sterling 96
17%hunter success 2024 · 15 hunters, 3 elk

Boundaries are drawn for orientation only. The written boundary description in the regulations governs.

Licenses

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has not offered an elk license in GMU 96 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.

Harvest

Year Hunters Elk Success
2024 15 3 17%
2023 20 6 29%
2022 10 0 0%
2021 5 0 0%

2024 split: rifle 3 (100%) from 15 hunters, 20%

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

Private 146,235 ac 93%
State land 9,420 ac 6%
Bureau of Reclamation 1,673 ac 1%
BLM 448 ac <1%
County or city land 197 ac <1%

Source: Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office 2026 BLM Surface Management Agency.

▸ Sources 6
  1. CPW 2024 Statewide Elk Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  2. CPW 2023 Statewide Elk Hunting Harvest Estimates harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  3. CPW 2022 Statewide Elk Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  4. CPW 2021 Statewide Elk Harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  5. CPW 2026 GMU Boundary, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  6. Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office 2026 BLM Surface Management Agency land ownership, retrieved Aug 31, 2026

About These Numbers

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.

Report an error on this page

Every report is checked against the agency source before we change anything.

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