Unit 181
Colorado Hunting Guide — Elk
Unit 181 lies in Grand County and covers about 182 square miles. Ground runs from 7,358 to 10,863 feet. CPW bounds it by Continental Divide and Poison Creek among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 10%. Federal land covers about 48% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 181
Unit 181 lies in Grand County and covers about 182 square miles. Ground runs from 7,358 to 10,863 feet. CPW bounds it by Continental Divide and Poison Creek among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 10%. Federal land covers about 48% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Elk in Unit 181
CPW's material on unit 181 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its elk 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 Grand County. It runs to about 182 square miles.
The lines of the unit: Continental Divide, Poison Creek and Main Fork of Troublesome Creek
CPW has unit 181 bounded on the north by Continental Divide; on the east by Poison Creek and Main Fork of Troublesome Creek; on the south by Colorado River; on the west by Colo. 9 and U.S. 40. 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: Red Slide Mountain, White Slide Mountain and Chimney Rock
Named high points inside the unit include Red Slide Mountain at 10,863 feet, White Slide Mountain at 10,816 feet, Chimney Rock at 10,103 feet, Whiteley Peak at 10,059 feet and Ryder Peaks at 9,818 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: Pete Gulch, Hay Gulch and Starr Gulch
Below them sit Pete Gulch at 7,614 feet, Hay Gulch at 7,487 feet, Starr Gulch at 7,415 feet, Cow Gulch at 7,367 feet and Horse Gulch at 7,358 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: Antelope Creek STL, Carter Creek STL and East Carter Mountain STL
CPW lists Antelope Creek STL, Carter Creek STL, East Carter Mountain STL, Middle Carter (Gunsight) STL and Perkins SWA 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 48% of the unit on top of those.
Water in this unit
The water inside the unit line comes to 1,632 mapped stream reaches, 9 lakes and 287 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: E-8
CPW does not manage elk unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit E-8, and unit 181 is one piece of it. The rest of E-8 is unit 18. 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.
Unit 181 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 7,535–10,288 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 8,530 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 181.7 sq mi inside the boundary.
Who owns the ground
- National Forest — 60%
- BLM — 15%
- State Trust — 8%
- Private / Other — 17%
Roughly 83% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 287 tanks
- 1,632 stream segments
- 9 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: Red Slide Mountain (10,863 ft), Ryder Peaks (9,818 ft), Grannys Nightcap (9,592 ft), Carter Mountain (9,551 ft)
Holding ground: Gunsight Pass (8,340 ft), Indian Pass (8,280 ft), Antelope Pass (7,897 ft), Antelope Creek STL, Carter Creek STL
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 181
Elk Success Rates
CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 181 at 6% — 108 animals taken by 1,750 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, 14 taken by 363 hunters
- Muzzleloader — 10% success, 14 taken by 142 hunters
- Rifle — 6% success, 80 taken by 1,245 hunters
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.
Elk Draw Odds
| Season | Tags | Applicants | Draw % | Pts Req |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle — 1st Season cow only (resident) | 7 | 99 | 7.1% | 2 |
| Rifle — 1st Season cow only (nonresident) | 2 | 7 | 28.6% | 2 |
| Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (resident) | 61 | 96 | 63.5% | — |
| Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (nonresident) | 4 | 10 | 40.0% | — |
| Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (resident) | 78 | 112 | 69.6% | — |
| Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (nonresident) | 2 | 7 | 28.6% | — |
| Rifle — 4th Season cow only (resident) | 18 | 35 | 51.4% | — |
| Rifle — 4th Season cow only (nonresident) | 0 | 3 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 5th Season cow only (resident) | 7 | 29 | 24.1% | — |
| Rifle — 5th Season cow only (nonresident) | 1 | 5 | 20.0% | 2 |
Data from 2026 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.
Open in Draw Odds EngineCPW's 2026 draw recap for elk in unit 181, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- EF181O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Cow Only, resident: 112 applicants for 78 licences, 69.6% drawn, no preference points needed
- EF181L1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Cow Only, resident: 99 applicants for 7 licences, 7.1% drawn, 2 preference points needed
- EF181O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Cow Only, resident: 96 applicants for 61 licences, 63.5% drawn, no preference points needed
- EF181O4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Cow Only, resident: 35 applicants for 18 licences, 51.4% 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. There are 6 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
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Colorado unit 181?
What is the elk success rate in unit 181?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 181 hunt?
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Upgrade to Pro — $49/yrSources & 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 Elk Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for elk in unit 181, 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