Colorado Pronghorn Moose Mule Deer Elk

Unit 161

Colorado Hunting Guide — Pronghorn, Moose, Mule Deer, Elk

Unit 161 lies in Jackson County and covers about 407 square miles. Ground runs from 7,963 to 12,104 feet. CPW bounds it by Colo. 125 and Colo. 14 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put pronghorn success here as high as 64%. Federal land covers about 66% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Colorado Hunting Guide

🏔️

66%

Public Land

⛰️

7,963–10,486 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 161

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Colorado Unit 161 guide around your hunt: three ranked spots with morning, afternoon and evening plays, a day-by-day plan, topo maps with every pin numbered, a camp and access plan, the legal and retrieval rules for this unit, shot discipline, a meat-care and pack-out plan, and a pre-trip checklist. Every coordinate sits on land recorded as public.

Pronghorn guide Moose guide Mule Deer guide Elk guide

Free accounts get one report a year with the top spot unlocked. ProHunt Pro includes unlimited reports, all three spots, the full camp plan, and GPX/KML downloads for onX and Google Earth. Prefer to see one first? Open the builder and pick any unit.

Pronghorn Hunting in Unit 161

Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit 161

CPW's material on unit 161 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its pronghorn 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 Jackson County. It runs to about 407 square miles.

The lines of the unit: Colo. 125, Colo. 14 and CR 12W

CPW has unit 161 bounded on the north by WY; on the east by Colo. 125; on the south by Colo. 14, CRs 12W & 16, Lone Pine Creek and Continental Divide; on the west by Continental Divide. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. 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: Flattop Mountain, Bear Mountain and Red Elephant Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Flattop Mountain at 12,104 feet, Bear Mountain at 11,595 feet, Red Elephant Mountain at 11,559 feet, Davis Peak at 11,407 feet and Buffalo Ridge at 10,933 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Pronghorn stay on the open rolling ground and leave the timber alone.

Holding ground: Elk Park, West Fork Meadows and Ryan Park

Below them sit Elk Park at 9,177 feet, West Fork Meadows at 8,687 feet, Ryan Park at 8,631 feet, Troutman Draw at 8,379 feet and Placer Draw at 8,295 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: Cowdrey Lake SWA, Diamond J SWA and Independence Mountain STL

CPW lists Cowdrey Lake SWA, Diamond J SWA, Independence Mountain STL, Lake John SWA and Sixteen Ditch 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 66% of the unit on top of those.

Water in this unit

The water inside the unit line comes to 393 mapped stream reaches, 35 lakes and 215 stock tanks. On ground with that many tanks, knowing which two or three hold water in your season is the most useful thing a scouting trip can tell you.

The herd this unit belongs to: A-3

CPW does not manage pronghorn unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit A-3, and unit 161 is one piece of it. The rest of A-3 is unit 6, unit 16, unit 17 and unit 171. That matters twice over: the population objective and the licence numbers are set for the whole area, and the animals move across unit lines inside it without noticing them.

Reading the land status

Our ownership read for this unit is approximate — it comes out as National Forest 60%, Private / Other 32% and State Trust 8%, so treat it as a starting point and check a current land-status layer before you plan a route. A grid sample of the unit reads 7,963 to 10,486 feet, and named ground inside the line runs 7,865 to 12,104 feet — take 7,963 to 12,104 as the spread, because the sample is a grid and walks past summits. With 4,141 feet between the two ends, that is a lot of vertical to cover, and it means the season you draw decides which half of the unit you hunt.

Unit 161 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

The lay of it

7,963–10,486 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 8,807 ft ; peaks can run higher.
406.9 sq mi inside the boundary.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 32%

Roughly 68% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

215 tanks
393 stream segments
35 lakes

Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Flattop Mountain (12,104 ft), Bear Mountain (11,595 ft), Red Elephant Mountain (11,559 ft), Davis Peak (11,407 ft)

Holding ground: Fryingpan Basin (10,315 ft), Stump Park (10,139 ft), Buffalo Park (9,615 ft), Cowdrey Lake SWA, Diamond J SWA

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

How to Hunt Pronghorn in Unit 161

CPW's own harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 161 at 64% across all manners of take. A number like that comes from few tags and a short season, not from easy hunting. The plan: spot from a vehicle or a rise at distance, then plan a stalk that uses the only cover there is — the curve of the ground.

Glassing from Watson Mountain, Sugar Loaf and Dead Horse Hill

Take a position on one of Watson Mountain (8,701 ft), Sugar Loaf (8,691 ft), Dead Horse Hill (8,645 ft) and Battle Ridge (8,634 ft) and be on it before light. Cold air slides downhill in the dark, so keep your scent out of the bowl you mean to watch; expect the thermals to turn uphill an hour after the sun reaches the slope. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. On the rut hunts, early-season bucks hold does and can be decoyed where the law allows it.

Water against feed

There are 393 mapped stream reaches and 215 tanks inside the unit, so water is rarely the limiting factor. Where water is everywhere, feed is what concentrates animals, so hunt the feed and treat water as a convenience. A tank with no tracks is a tank with no reason to sit on it.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Season normals here run Sep 68/31°F, Oct 54/22°F and Nov 39/13°F. By Nov the lows are around 13°F, and the first hard storm after that moves animals off the high ground — a late tag is a bet on that storm arriving. Precipitation runs about 1.4 in. in Sep, 1 in. in Oct and 0.8 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: CO 125 and CR 16 / FR 640.1

CO 125 is the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. CR 16 / FR 640.1, FR 499 and FR 83.1 need clearance, and that is usually where the boot tracks thin out. There is little true four-wheel-drive road here, so distance from the gravel is the only thing separating you from the next hunter.

Where unit 161 sits inside A-3

Across A-3, CPW's 2023 pronghorn success runs 66% in unit 6, 64% in unit 161, 57% in unit 171, 53% in unit 16 and 52% in unit 17. That puts unit 161 behind 1 of the 4 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 6 carried the better number in the same herd — check its tag count before you read that as an easier hunt.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Flattop Mountain, Bear Mountain, Red Elephant Mountain and Davis Peak as places to see from, and Fryingpan Basin, Stump Park, Buffalo Park and Cowdrey Lake SWA as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Join two of them into a morning: be on the first before light, move to the second once the thermals turn.

What we can't tell you

Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.

Getting in and staying out: unit 161

Named routes and what they need

CO 125 — 11 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 16;FR 640.1 — 4.7 mi · High-clearance
FR 499 — 4 mi · High-clearance
CR 15 — 3.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CR 12 W — 3.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
FR 83.1 — 3.4 mi · High-clearance

Ratings come from road data, not from a drive this season. Check current conditions with the managing office before you commit a trailer.

Nearest services

Walden — 16.6 mi · groceries
Encampment — 26.6 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Riverside — 26.8 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Albany — 29.7 mi · no services listed
Steamboat Springs — 31.4 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Lake John Campsite
Unnamed camp site
Parks Ranger District
BIG CREEK LAKES CAMPGROUND · reservable

Season weather and signal

Jan29° / 4° · 0.7" precip
Aug75° / 38° · 1.3" precip
Sep68° / 31° · 1.4" precip
Oct54° / 22° · 1" precip
Nov39° / 13° · 0.8" precip
Dec29° / 5° · 0.7" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 15% of the unit. Plan on being out of contact and tell someone your route.

Colorado rules that decide your day

Summarised from CPW regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Colorado has no general off-road retrieval allowance. Travel stays on designated routes, so plan to pack every animal out on your back or with stock. Check the forest or BLM travel map for the roads that are actually open in hunting season.

Tagging

Validate and attach your carcass tag before the animal is moved, and keep evidence of sex attached until the carcass reaches your home or a processor.

Leaving meat

Abandoning edible meat is illegal. CPW counts the four quarters and the loins.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No discharging a firearm within 50 yards of a developed campsite, and never toward an occupied building.
Roads — No shooting from or across a public road, and no shooting from a motor vehicle.

Pronghorn: where to put the shot

Broadside, straight up the front leg, a third of the way into the body. Pronghorn are shallow-chested and the lungs sit forward.

Shots to refuse

Range it, then range it again. Open country makes 400 yards look like 250.
Wait for the buck to stop. Nobody kills a running pronghorn cleanly on purpose.
Mind the backdrop. A miss carries a long way across a flat.

Plan the carry: roughly 30– 45 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — one large cooler with ice already in it. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

Pro Members Only

Unlock tactics for Unit 161

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Pronghorn Success Rates

All manners of take64%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 161 at 64% — 124 animals taken by 193 hunters. The hunter count is large enough for the percentage to mean something and small enough that a good or bad year still moves it.

These are the agency's own printed figures for this unit, not a modelled estimate and not a state average. They describe one season, so check CPW's current harvest estimates before you read a trend into them.

Pronghorn Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (resident)	34	294	11.6%	3
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	13	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	17	627	2.7%	20
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	4	192	2.1%	25

Data from 2026 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.

Open in Draw Odds Engine

CPW's 2026 draw recap for pronghorn in unit 161, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

AM161O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 627 applicants for 17 licences, 2.7% drawn, 20 preference points needed
AF161O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, resident: 294 applicants for 34 licences, 11.6% drawn, 3 preference points needed
AM161O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, nonresident: 192 applicants for 4 licences, 2.1% drawn, 25 preference points needed
AF161O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, nonresident: 13 applicants for 0 licences, 0% drawn, no preference points needed

Colorado runs a pure preference-point draw, so the point figure above is the requirement the agency published for that code in that year, not a forecast for the next one. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Moose Hunting in Unit 161

Unit 161 lies in Jackson County and covers about 407 square miles. Ground runs from 7,963 to 12,104 feet. CPW bounds it by Colo. 125 and Colo. 14 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put Shiras moose success here as high as 77%. Federal land covers about 66% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Shiras Moose in Unit 161

What CPW publishes for unit 161 is a boundary, not a Shiras moose map. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Jackson County. It runs to about 407 square miles.

The lines of the unit: Colo. 125, Colo. 14 and CR 12W

CPW has unit 161 bounded on the north by WY; on the east by Colo. 125; on the south by Colo. 14, CRs 12W & 16, Lone Pine Creek and Continental Divide; on the west by Continental Divide. 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 Mountain, Independence Mountain and Sheep Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Black Mountain at 10,774 feet, Independence Mountain at 9,796 feet, Sheep Mountain at 9,398 feet, Watson Mountain at 8,701 feet and Sugar Loaf at 8,691 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Moose want willow, water and shade, and they rarely leave the drainage that has all three.

Holding ground: Trappers Gulch, Dead Horse Draw and Lawrence Draw

Below them sit Trappers Gulch at 8,236 feet, Dead Horse Draw at 8,147 feet, Lawrence Draw at 8,089 feet, Spring Gulch at 8,013 feet and Lee Draw at 8,009 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Public ground to start from: Cowdrey Lake SWA, Diamond J SWA and Independence Mountain STL

Water in this unit

The herd this unit belongs to: M-1

CPW does not manage Shiras moose unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit M-1, and unit 161 is one piece of it. The rest of M-1 is unit 6, unit 16, unit 17 and unit 171. That matters twice over: the population objective and the licence numbers are set for the whole area, and the animals move across unit lines inside it without noticing them.

Reading the land status

Unit 161 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

The lay of it

7,963–10,486 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 8,807 ft ; peaks can run higher.
406.9 sq mi inside the boundary.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 32%

Roughly 68% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

215 tanks
393 stream segments
35 lakes

Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Flattop Mountain (12,104 ft), Bear Mountain (11,595 ft), Red Elephant Mountain (11,559 ft), Davis Peak (11,407 ft)

Holding ground: Fryingpan Basin (10,315 ft), Stump Park (10,139 ft), Buffalo Park (9,615 ft), Cowdrey Lake SWA, Diamond J SWA

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

How to Hunt Shiras Moose in Unit 161

CPW's own harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 161 at 77% across all manners of take. A number like that comes from few tags and a short season, not from easy hunting. The plan: walk the willow bottoms slowly at first and last light and look for fresh browse before you look for the animal.

Glassing from Flattop Mountain, Bear Mountain and Red Elephant Mountain

Take a position on one of Flattop Mountain (12,104 ft), Bear Mountain (11,595 ft), Red Elephant Mountain (11,559 ft) and Davis Peak (11,407 ft) and be on it before light. Cold air slides downhill in the dark, so keep your scent out of the bowl you mean to watch; expect the thermals to turn uphill an hour after the sun reaches the slope. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. On the rut hunts, late September bulls answer a cow call near water.

Water against feed

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: CO 125 and CR 16 / FR 640.1

Where unit 161 sits inside M-1

Across M-1, CPW's 2023 Shiras moose success runs 77% in unit 17, 77% in unit 161, 76% in unit 16, 69% in unit 6 and 67% in unit 171. Nothing in the herd beat unit 161 on that measure and one unit matched it, which on a hunt this small says more about tag numbers than about animals. Success inside one herd moves with tag numbers and season length as much as with animals, so read the licence count alongside it.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Flattop Mountain, Bear Mountain, Red Elephant Mountain and Davis Peak as places to see from, and Fryingpan Basin, Stump Park, Buffalo Park and Cowdrey Lake SWA as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Walk between two of them rather than driving between four, and you will learn more in a day.

What we can't tell you

Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.

Getting in and staying out: unit 161

Named routes and what they need

CO 125 — 11 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 16;FR 640.1 — 4.7 mi · High-clearance
FR 499 — 4 mi · High-clearance
CR 15 — 3.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CR 12 W — 3.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
FR 83.1 — 3.4 mi · High-clearance

Ratings come from road data, not from a drive this season. Check current conditions with the managing office before you commit a trailer.

Nearest services

Walden — 16.6 mi · groceries
Encampment — 26.6 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Riverside — 26.8 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Albany — 29.7 mi · no services listed
Steamboat Springs — 31.4 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Lake John Campsite
Unnamed camp site
Parks Ranger District
BIG CREEK LAKES CAMPGROUND · reservable

Season weather and signal

Jan29° / 4° · 0.7" precip
Aug75° / 38° · 1.3" precip
Sep68° / 31° · 1.4" precip
Oct54° / 22° · 1" precip
Nov39° / 13° · 0.8" precip
Dec29° / 5° · 0.7" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 15% of the unit. Plan on being out of contact and tell someone your route.

Colorado rules that decide your day

Summarised from CPW regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Tagging

Validate and attach your carcass tag before the animal is moved, and keep evidence of sex attached until the carcass reaches your home or a processor.

Leaving meat

Abandoning edible meat is illegal. CPW counts the four quarters and the loins.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No discharging a firearm within 50 yards of a developed campsite, and never toward an occupied building.
Roads — No shooting from or across a public road, and no shooting from a motor vehicle.

Moose: where to put the shot

Broadside, behind the shoulder and a third up. Moose look slow to react — the first shot has to count.

Shots to refuse

Where it falls decides your next two days. Avoid shots that drop a moose in water or a bog.
A .30-06 class cartridge minimum, with a bullet built for heavy bone.

Plan the carry: roughly 350– 500 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — four or more large coolers, or a processor. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

Pro Members Only

Unlock tactics for Unit 161

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Moose Success Rates

All manners of take77%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 161 at 77% — 30 animals taken by 39 hunters. The hunter count is large enough for the percentage to mean something and small enough that a good or bad year still moves it.

Moose Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Archery — 1st Season cow only (resident)	15	231	6.5%	3
Archery — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Any Legal Method — 1st Season bull only (resident)	15	799	1.9%	3
Any Legal Method — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—

Data from 2026 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.

Open in Draw Odds Engine

CPW's 2026 draw recap for Shiras moose in unit 161, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

MM161O1X — Any Legal Method, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 799 applicants for 15 licences, 1.9% drawn, 3 preference points needed
MF161O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Cow Only, resident: 231 applicants for 15 licences, 6.5% drawn, 3 preference points needed

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 161

Unit 161 lies in Jackson County and covers about 407 square miles. Ground runs from 7,963 to 12,104 feet. CPW bounds it by Colo. 125 and Colo. 14 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 44%. Federal land covers about 66% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 161

CPW's material on unit 161 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its mule deer live. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Jackson County. It runs to about 407 square miles.

The lines of the unit: Colo. 125, Colo. 14 and CR 12W

CPW has unit 161 bounded on the north by WY; on the east by Colo. 125; on the south by Colo. 14, CRs 12W & 16, Lone Pine Creek and Continental Divide; on the west by Continental Divide. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. Its value is practical — those are the features you will navigate by, and the ridges that separate one day's country from another's.

High ground inside the line: Dead Horse Hill, Battle Ridge and Flattop Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Dead Horse Hill at 8,645 feet, Battle Ridge at 8,634 feet, Flattop Mountain at 12,104 feet, Bear Mountain at 11,595 feet and Red Elephant Mountain at 11,559 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Mule deer bed on broken ground with a view and feed on the brush below it.

Holding ground: Parsons Draw, Monahan Draw and California Gulch

Below them sit Parsons Draw at 7,970 feet, Monahan Draw at 7,945 feet, California Gulch at 7,913 feet, North Park at 7,898 feet and Mansfield Draw at 7,871 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Public ground to start from: Cowdrey Lake SWA, Diamond J SWA and Independence Mountain STL

Water in this unit

The herd this unit belongs to: D-3

CPW does not manage mule deer unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit D-3, and unit 161 is one piece of it. The rest of D-3 is unit 6, unit 16, unit 17 and unit 171. 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.

Reading the land status

Unit 161 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

The lay of it

7,963–10,486 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 8,807 ft ; peaks can run higher.
406.9 sq mi inside the boundary.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 32%

Roughly 68% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

215 tanks
393 stream segments
35 lakes

Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Flattop Mountain (12,104 ft), Bear Mountain (11,595 ft), Red Elephant Mountain (11,559 ft), Davis Peak (11,407 ft)

Holding ground: Fryingpan Basin (10,315 ft), Stump Park (10,139 ft), Buffalo Park (9,615 ft), Cowdrey Lake SWA, Diamond J SWA

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

Pro Members Only

Unlock mule deer habitat intel for GMU 161

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How to Hunt Mule Deer in Unit 161

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 161 at archery 25% and rifle 44%. 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 Buffalo Ridge, Black Mountain and Independence Mountain

Take a position on one of Buffalo Ridge (10,933 ft), Black Mountain (10,774 ft), Independence Mountain (9,796 ft) and Sheep Mountain (9,398 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. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Water against feed

There are 393 mapped stream reaches and 215 tanks inside the unit, so water is rarely the limiting factor. Where water is everywhere, feed is what concentrates animals, so hunt the feed and treat water as a convenience. Check the ground around it before you commit an evening to it.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: CO 125 and CR 16 / FR 640.1

Where unit 161 sits inside D-3

Across D-3, CPW's 2023 mule deer success runs 41% in unit 6, 34% in unit 161, 19% in unit 16, 15% in unit 171 and 9% in unit 17. That puts unit 161 behind 1 of the 4 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 6 carried the better number in the same herd — check its tag count before you read that as an easier hunt.

A first plan from the pins on this page

What we can't tell you

Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.

Getting in and staying out: unit 161

Named routes and what they need

CO 125 — 11 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 16;FR 640.1 — 4.7 mi · High-clearance
FR 499 — 4 mi · High-clearance
CR 15 — 3.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CR 12 W — 3.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
FR 83.1 — 3.4 mi · High-clearance

Ratings come from road data, not from a drive this season. Check current conditions with the managing office before you commit a trailer.

Nearest services

Walden — 16.6 mi · groceries
Encampment — 26.6 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Riverside — 26.8 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Albany — 29.7 mi · no services listed
Steamboat Springs — 31.4 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Lake John Campsite
Unnamed camp site
Parks Ranger District
BIG CREEK LAKES CAMPGROUND · reservable

Season weather and signal

Jan29° / 4° · 0.7" precip
Aug75° / 38° · 1.3" precip
Sep68° / 31° · 1.4" precip
Oct54° / 22° · 1" precip
Nov39° / 13° · 0.8" precip
Dec29° / 5° · 0.7" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 15% of the unit. Plan on being out of contact and tell someone your route.

Colorado rules that decide your day

Summarised from CPW regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Tagging

Validate and attach your carcass tag before the animal is moved, and keep evidence of sex attached until the carcass reaches your home or a processor.

Leaving meat

Abandoning edible meat is illegal. CPW counts the four quarters and the loins.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No discharging a firearm within 50 yards of a developed campsite, and never toward an occupied building.
Roads — No shooting from or across a public road, and no shooting from a motor vehicle.

Mule Deer: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body.

Shots to refuse

Nothing behind or overlapping the animal you picked.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have shot a three-shot group into a paper plate from the rest you are carrying.
Pass the shot you are talking yourself into.

Plan the carry: roughly 40– 120 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two large coolers. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Mule Deer Success Rates

All manners of take34%

Archery25%

Rifle44%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 161 at 34% — 87 animals taken by 253 hunters. The hunter count is large enough for the percentage to mean something and small enough that a good or bad year still moves it.

Archery — 25% success, 15 taken by 62 hunters
Rifle — 44% success, 68 taken by 154 hunters

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	34	121	28.1%	2
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	11	51	21.6%	4
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (resident)	34	109	31.2%	1
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (nonresident)	12	40	30.0%	3
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (resident)	17	128	13.3%	2
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (nonresident)	6	33	18.2%	5
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	10	91	11.0%	2
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	1	51	2.0%	6

Data from 2026 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.

Open in Draw Odds Engine

CPW's 2026 draw recap for mule deer in unit 161, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

DM161O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Buck Only, resident: 128 applicants for 17 licences, 13.3% drawn, 2 preference points needed
DM161E1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 121 applicants for 34 licences, 28.1% drawn, 2 preference points needed
DM161O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Buck Only, resident: 109 applicants for 34 licences, 31.2% drawn, 1 preference point needed
DM161O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 91 applicants for 10 licences, 11% drawn, 2 preference points needed

Colorado runs a pure preference-point draw, so the point figure above is the requirement the agency published for that code in that year, not a forecast for the next one. There are 4 further code-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Elk Hunting in Unit 161

Unit 161 lies in Jackson County and covers about 407 square miles. Ground runs from 7,963 to 12,104 feet. CPW bounds it by Colo. 125 and Colo. 14 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 7%. Federal land covers about 66% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Elk in Unit 161

CPW draws an exact line around unit 161 and says nothing about where the elk stand inside it. So the ground below is the unit's own and the read on where to start is ours, labelled as such. The unit lies in Jackson County. It runs to about 407 square miles.

The lines of the unit: Colo. 125, Colo. 14 and CR 12W

CPW has unit 161 bounded on the north by WY; on the east by Colo. 125; on the south by Colo. 14, CRs 12W & 16, Lone Pine Creek and Continental Divide; on the west by Continental Divide. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. Its value is practical — those are the features you will navigate by, and the ridges that separate one day's country from another's.

High ground inside the line: Davis Peak, Buffalo Ridge and Black Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Davis Peak at 11,407 feet, Buffalo Ridge at 10,933 feet, Black Mountain at 10,774 feet, Independence Mountain at 9,796 feet and Sheep Mountain at 9,398 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Elk want timber to bed in and open ground to feed on, within a short walk of each other.

Holding ground: Fischer Draw, Fryingpan Basin and Stump Park

Below them sit Fischer Draw at 7,865 feet, Fryingpan Basin at 10,315 feet, Stump Park at 10,139 feet, Buffalo Park at 9,615 feet and Dinner Park at 9,502 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.

Public ground to start from: Cowdrey Lake SWA, Diamond J SWA and Independence Mountain STL

Water in this unit

The herd this unit belongs to: E-3

CPW does not manage elk unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit E-3, and unit 161 is one piece of it. The rest of E-3 is unit 6, unit 16, unit 17 and unit 171. Read a neighbour in the same herd before you read the state average — the herd, not the unit line, is what the agency is steering.

Reading the land status

Unit 161 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

The lay of it

7,963–10,486 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 8,807 ft ; peaks can run higher.
406.9 sq mi inside the boundary.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 32%

Roughly 68% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

215 tanks
393 stream segments
35 lakes

Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Flattop Mountain (12,104 ft), Bear Mountain (11,595 ft), Red Elephant Mountain (11,559 ft), Davis Peak (11,407 ft)

Holding ground: Fryingpan Basin (10,315 ft), Stump Park (10,139 ft), Buffalo Park (9,615 ft), Cowdrey Lake SWA, Diamond J SWA

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

How to Hunt Elk in Unit 161

CPW's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 161 at archery 4%, muzzleloader 7% and rifle 5%. A number that low means most hunters here go home empty, and the ones who don't put the days in first. 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 Watson Mountain, Sugar Loaf and Dead Horse Hill

Take a position on one of Watson Mountain (8,701 ft), Sugar Loaf (8,691 ft), Dead Horse Hill (8,645 ft) and Battle Ridge (8,634 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. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, September bugling works where you can get above a drainage and let the thermals carry sound downhill.

Water against feed

There are 393 mapped stream reaches and 215 tanks inside the unit, so water is rarely the limiting factor. Where water is everywhere, feed is what concentrates animals, so hunt the feed and treat water as a convenience. Sitting water works where you can see fresh tracks going in, and nowhere else.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: CO 125 and CR 16 / FR 640.1

Where unit 161 sits inside E-3

Across E-3, CPW's 2023 elk success runs 12% in unit 16, 9% in unit 6, 7% in unit 17, 5% in unit 161 and 3% in unit 171. That puts unit 161 behind 3 of the 4 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 16 carried the better number in the same herd — check its tag count before you read that as an easier hunt.

A first plan from the pins on this page

What we can't tell you

Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.

Getting in and staying out: unit 161

Named routes and what they need

CO 125 — 11 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 16;FR 640.1 — 4.7 mi · High-clearance
FR 499 — 4 mi · High-clearance
CR 15 — 3.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CR 12 W — 3.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
FR 83.1 — 3.4 mi · High-clearance

Ratings come from road data, not from a drive this season. Check current conditions with the managing office before you commit a trailer.

Nearest services

Walden — 16.6 mi · groceries
Encampment — 26.6 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Riverside — 26.8 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Albany — 29.7 mi · no services listed
Steamboat Springs — 31.4 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Lake John Campsite
Unnamed camp site
Parks Ranger District
BIG CREEK LAKES CAMPGROUND · reservable

Season weather and signal

Jan29° / 4° · 0.7" precip
Aug75° / 38° · 1.3" precip
Sep68° / 31° · 1.4" precip
Oct54° / 22° · 1" precip
Nov39° / 13° · 0.8" precip
Dec29° / 5° · 0.7" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 15% of the unit. Plan on being out of contact and tell someone your route.

Colorado rules that decide your day

Summarised from CPW regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Tagging

Validate and attach your carcass tag before the animal is moved, and keep evidence of sex attached until the carcass reaches your home or a processor.

Leaving meat

Abandoning edible meat is illegal. CPW counts the four quarters and the loins.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No discharging a firearm within 50 yards of a developed campsite, and never toward an occupied building.
Roads — No shooting from or across a public road, and no shooting from a motor vehicle.

Elk: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body. That is lungs, and on a quartering-away angle it picks up the far shoulder.

Shots to refuse

No straight-on and no straight-away shots. An elk's chest is deep and the margin is small.
Nothing standing behind or overlapping the animal you picked. A pass-through kills the elk behind it too.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have put three shots in a paper plate off the sticks you are actually carrying. Not the farthest you have ever hit anything.
Scope on 3–4x. A herd fills a 12x field of view and you lose the animal you picked.

Identification:On an antlerless tag, legal means no antler of any kind through the skin. A spike looks exactly like a cow until it turns its head. If you can't see the head, don't shoot.

Plan the carry: roughly 150– 220 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two to four large coolers, plus bagged ice from town. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Elk Success Rates

All manners of take5%

Archery4%

Muzzleloader7%

Rifle5%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 161 at 5% — 170 animals taken by 3,294 hunters. That is a lot of hunters in one unit, and the percentage is what it looks like after all of them have been through it.

Archery — 4% success, 45 taken by 1,021 hunters
Muzzleloader — 7% success, 9 taken by 130 hunters
Rifle — 5% success, 116 taken by 2,144 hunters

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — 4th Season either sex (resident)	80	129	62.0%	—
Rifle — 4th Season either sex (nonresident)	10	12	83.3%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (resident)	136	174	78.2%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (nonresident)	6	8	75.0%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (resident)	20	75	26.7%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (nonresident)	0	5	0.0%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (resident)	1	1	100.0%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (resident)	1	1	100.0%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—

Data from 2026 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.

Open in Draw Odds Engine

CPW's 2026 draw recap for elk in unit 161, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

EF161O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Cow Only, resident: 174 applicants for 136 licences, 78.2% drawn, no preference points needed
EE161O4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Either Sex, resident: 129 applicants for 80 licences, 62% drawn, no preference points needed
EF161O4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Cow Only, resident: 75 applicants for 20 licences, 26.7% drawn, no preference points needed
EE161O4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Either Sex, nonresident: 12 applicants for 10 licences, 83.3% drawn, no preference points needed

No preference points were needed for the codes above in that year, which can change the moment applicant numbers do. There are 2 further code-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

⛺

Camp Sites

5 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including Lake John Campsite, Parks Ranger District and Big Creek Lakes Campground.

🛣️

Road Conditions

CO 125, CR 16 / FR 640.1 and FR 499 are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 15 mi paved, 14 mi gravel and 0 mi four-wheel-drive.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

7,963–10,486 ft, averaging 8,807. Enough relief to separate summer from winter range.

👥

Hunting Pressure

Our land-status read for this unit is approximate, so treat any pressure estimate from it with suspicion and check a current ownership layer.

🌦️

Weather

Season normals: Sep 68/31°F, 1.4 in.; Oct 54/22°F, 1 in.; Nov 39/13°F, 0.8 in..

📱

Cell Service

Verizon 15%, AT&T 10%, T-Mobile 5% of the unit area — modelled coverage, not measured. Assume no signal off the paved road.

🏘️

Nearest Town

Walden (17 mi), Encampment (27 mi), Riverside (27 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit 161?

Unit 161 lies in Jackson County, and CPW has it bounded on the north by WY; on the east by Colo. 125; on the south by Colo. 14, CRs 12W & 16, Lone Pine Creek and Continental Divide; on the west by Continental Divide. It covers about 407 square miles.

What is the pronghorn success rate in unit 161?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 161 at 64% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 161 hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 161 are at Walden, about 17 miles from the unit's centre, with Encampment at about 27 miles. There are also 5 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the Shiras moose success rate in unit 161?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 161 at 77% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 161?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 161 at 34% across all manners of take, and archery 25% and rifle 44% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the elk success rate in unit 161?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 161 at 5% across all manners of take, and archery 4%, muzzleloader 7% and rifle 5% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

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Sources & Verification

Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-23.

Colorado Big Game Hunting Brochure — Game Management Unit (GMU) Descriptions (pp. 79-80-81-82) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: GMU boundary description, Counties the unit lies in, Data analysis unit (DAU) the unit belongs to · accessed 2026-10-22
2023 Colorado Pronghorn Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for pronghorn in unit 161, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22
CPW CPWAdminData feature service — GMU and sheep/goat unit boundaries — Colorado Parks and Wildlife GIS Unit · supports: Mapped extent of the unit, Which named ground falls inside the unit line · accessed 2026-10-22
2023 Colorado Moose Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for Shiras moose in unit 161, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22
2023 Colorado Deer Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for mule deer in unit 161, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22
2023 Colorado Elk Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for elk in unit 161, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22