Unit 128 (Canon City / Wet Mountain Valley)

CPW's material on unit 128 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its mule deer live. Every place named below sits inside the unit line. Which of them holds animals in your season is for you to find out. The unit lies in Pueblo, Huerfano, Las Animas and Otero counties.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 50 business (W of Avondale), U.S. 50 (E of Avondale) and Colo. 167

CPW has unit 128 bounded on the north by U.S. 50 business (W of Avondale) and U.S. 50 (E of Avondale); on the east by Colo. 167; on the south by Colo. 10; on the west by I-25. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. Those features are what you will check against the map all week, and the divides among them are the ones that matter.

High ground inside the line: Black Ridge, Goat Butte and Sawtooth Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Black Ridge at 5,807 feet, Goat Butte at 5,548 feet, Sawtooth Peak at 5,536 feet, Haystack at 5,434 feet and Maggies Knob at 5,342 feet. None carries a public-land flag we trust, so settle the ownership question before you plan to stand on one. Mule deer on open country use every fold and draw there is, and almost none of the flat.

Holding ground: Rattlesnake Canyon, Tinaja Canyon and Peterson Canyon

Below them sit Rattlesnake Canyon at 5,554 feet, Tinaja Canyon at 5,551 feet, Peterson Canyon at 5,542 feet, Emma Paul Canyon at 5,472 feet and Keystone Canyon at 5,428 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Two you can watch from a single knob is worth more than five you have to drive between.

Public ground to start from: Tinaja Canyon STL, Turkey Ridge STL and Flying A STL

CPW lists Tinaja Canyon STL, Turkey Ridge STL, Flying A STL, Hungerford STL and Pine Arroyo STL inside this unit as ground open to public hunting. Each property sets its own restrictions, and the agency's page for it is where they are written down. Federal land covers about 2% of the unit on top of those.

The herd this unit belongs to: D-45

CPW does not manage mule deer unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit D-45, and unit 128 is one piece of it. The rest of D-45 is unit 133, unit 134, unit 135, unit 136, unit 141, unit 142 and unit 147. So the objective behind your tag was written for that whole area, and a neighbouring unit in the same herd is a fairer comparison than the statewide figure.

Before you apply: who owns this unit

CPW marks this unit: landowner permission is advisable before applying. Most land is private.

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 128 at archery 39% and rifle 45%. That is an ordinary spread for this country, and it rewards whoever scouted. The plan: glass the broken edges at first light, then sit still and keep glassing the same ground.

Glassing from Blue Ridge, Hooker Hills and Badger Hills

Take a position on one of Blue Ridge (5,203 ft), Hooker Hills (4,866 ft), Badger Hills (4,855 ft) and Yellowbank (4,773 ft) and be on it before light. In the dark the air runs downhill. Pick an approach that doesn't send it into the country you want to see, and plan to move once the slope warms. A tripod is worth more here than another hour of walking. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Where unit 128 sits inside D-45

Across D-45, CPW's 2023 mule deer success runs 64% in unit 142, 63% in unit 141, 53% in unit 134, 48% in unit 147 and 47% in unit 136. That puts unit 128 behind 5 of the 7 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 142 carried the better number in the same herd — check its tag count before you read that as an easier hunt.

The way in: U.S. 50, Colo. 167 and Colo. 10

We have no road inventory for this unit, so the only routes we can name are the ones CPW draws the boundary with: U.S. 50, Colo. 167, Colo. 10 and I-25. Those are its edges, not its interior — useful because they are where you leave the pavement, and useless for telling you what the inside is like. Pick the edge nearest the country you mean to hunt and work in from it on foot, rather than driving the perimeter looking for a way through.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Badger Hills, North Rattlesnake Butte, Bradford Mesa and Huerfano Butte as places to see from, and Emma Paul Canyon, Graneros Flats, Hamilton Canyon and Flying A STL as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Take the pair you can reach on one road and treat the rest as a second trip.

What a day here costs you

1,210 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. One good position held through the whole of first light beats three visited in a hurry.

What we can't tell you

CPW marks this unit: landowner permission is advisable before applying. Most land is private. Settle access before the season rather than during it. Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.

CPW draws an exact line around unit 128 and says nothing about where the elk stand inside it. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Pueblo, Huerfano, Las Animas and Otero counties.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 50 business (W of Avondale), U.S. 50 (E of Avondale) and Colo. 167

CPW has unit 128 bounded on the north by U.S. 50 business (W of Avondale) and U.S. 50 (E of Avondale); on the east by Colo. 167; on the south by Colo. 10; on the west by I-25. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. What it does give you is the way in: the rivers and highways you cross, and the divides that decide which drainage you end up in.

High ground inside the line: Haystack Butte, Cone Pinnacle and Blue Ridge

Named high points inside the unit include Haystack Butte at 5,310 feet, Cone Pinnacle at 5,207 feet, Blue Ridge at 5,203 feet, Hooker Hills at 4,866 feet and Badger Hills at 4,855 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Elk on low, open country live on distance and visibility, so they see you first.

Holding ground: Karrick Pocket, West Turkey Canyon and Muddy Flat

Below them sit Karrick Pocket at 5,423 feet, West Turkey Canyon at 5,345 feet, Muddy Flat at 5,321 feet, Bustos Canyon at 5,319 feet and Cedarwood Canyon at 5,248 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Public ground to start from: Rattlesnake STL, Saint Charles STL and Tinaja Canyon STL

CPW lists Rattlesnake STL, Saint Charles STL, Tinaja Canyon STL, Turkey Ridge STL and Flying A STL inside this unit as ground open to public hunting. Each property sets its own restrictions, and the agency's page for it is where they are written down. Federal land covers about 2% of the unit on top of those.

Before you apply: who owns this unit

CPW marks this unit: landowner permission is advisable before applying. Most land is private.

CPW's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 128 at archery 0% and rifle 23%. That is an ordinary spread for this country, and it rewards whoever scouted. The plan: find the feed, find the timber it backs onto, then watch the seam between them at the edges of the day.

Glassing from North Rattlesnake Butte, Hogback and Bradford Mesa

Take a position on one of North Rattlesnake Butte (6,427 ft), Hogback (6,215 ft), Bradford Mesa (6,167 ft) and Huerfano Butte (6,103 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. On the rut hunts, September bugling works where you can get above a drainage and let the thermals carry sound downhill.

The way in: U.S. 50, Colo. 167 and Colo. 10

We have no road inventory for this unit, so the only routes we can name are the ones CPW draws the boundary with: U.S. 50, Colo. 167, Colo. 10 and I-25. Those are its edges, not its interior — useful because they are where you leave the pavement, and useless for telling you what the inside is like. Park on the boundary and walk; a unit you can only enter from its rim rewards whoever is willing to leave the truck at the rim.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Badger Hills, North Rattlesnake Butte, Bradford Mesa and Huerfano Butte as places to see from, and Emma Paul Canyon, Graneros Flats, Hamilton Canyon and Flying A STL as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Take the pair you can reach on one road and treat the rest as a second trip.

What a day here costs you

1,210 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. Decide the night before where you will be at first light, and go there in the dark.

What we can't tell you

CPW marks this unit: landowner permission is advisable before applying. Most land is private. Settle access before the season rather than during it. Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.