Colorado Mule Deer Elk

Unit 22

Colorado Hunting Guide — Mule Deer, Elk

Unit 22 lies in Rio Blanco and Garfield counties and covers about 987 square miles. Ground runs from 5,555 to 8,460 feet. CPW bounds it by White River and Colo. 13 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 76%. Federal land covers about 72% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Colorado Hunting Guide

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72%

Public Land

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5,713–8,132 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 22

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Colorado Unit 22 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.

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.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 22

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 22

What CPW publishes for unit 22 is a boundary, not a mule deer map. 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 Rio Blanco and Garfield counties. It runs to about 987 square miles.

The lines of the unit: White River, Colo. 13 and White River-Colorado River divide

CPW has unit 22 bounded on the north by White River; on the east by Colo. 13; on the south by White River-Colorado River divide; on the west by Rio Blanco CRs 26 & 103, Monument Gulch Rd., Colo. 64 and Monument Gulch. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. 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: Wagonroad Ridge, Barnes Ridge and Joe Bush Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Wagonroad Ridge at 8,460 feet, Barnes Ridge at 8,380 feet, Joe Bush Mountain at 8,367 feet, Dead Horse Ridge at 8,294 feet and Calamity Ridge at 8,278 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Mule deer on open country use every fold and draw there is, and almost none of the flat.

Holding ground: Quaker Gulch, North Hollow and Summer Camp Gulch

Below them sit Quaker Gulch at 7,392 feet, North Hollow at 7,316 feet, Summer Camp Gulch at 7,308 feet, Hyberger Gulch at 7,305 feet and Litchliter Gulch at 7,284 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Public ground to start from: Piceance SWA - Little Hills Unit, Piceance SWA - North Ridge Unit and Piceance SWA - Yellow Creek Unit

CPW lists Piceance SWA - Little Hills Unit, Piceance SWA - North Ridge Unit and Piceance SWA - Yellow Creek Unit 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 72% of the unit on top of those.

Water: Thompson Spring, Crouch Spring and Barnes Spring

The water inside the unit line comes to 18 mapped stream reaches, 8 lakes and 12 stock tanks. Named sources include Thompson Spring, Crouch Spring, Barnes Spring, Dark Canyon Spring, Stinking Spring and Lambert Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

The herd this unit belongs to: D-7

CPW does not manage mule deer unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit D-7, and unit 22 is one piece of it. The rest of D-7 is unit 11, unit 12, unit 13, unit 23, unit 24, unit 131, unit 211 and unit 231. 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 22 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

5,713–8,132 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,043 ft ; peaks can run higher.
986.8 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

BLM — 15%
Private / Other — 85%

Roughly 15% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

12 tanks
18 stream segments
8 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: Joe Bush Mountain (8,367 ft), Calamity Ridge (8,278 ft), Goat Trail Ridge (7,954 ft), Bald Knob (7,892 ft)

Holding ground: Porcupine Gulch (7,498 ft), Rough Gulch (7,060 ft), Joe Bush Gulch (7,047 ft), Piceance SWA - Little Hills Unit, Piceance SWA - North Ridge Unit

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 Mule Deer in Unit 22

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 22 at archery 22% and rifle 76%. A number like that comes from few tags and a short season, not from easy hunting. The plan: glass the broken edges at first light, then sit still and keep glassing the same ground.

Glassing from Bald Knob, Fourteenmile Ridge and Sagebrush Hill

Take a position on one of Bald Knob (7,892 ft), Fourteenmile Ridge (7,880 ft), Sagebrush Hill (7,841 ft) and Segar Mountain (7,753 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. 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 18 mapped stream reaches and 12 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

Season normals here run Sep 77/40°F, Oct 63/29°F and Nov 48/20°F. By Nov the lows are around 20°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 1.8 in. in Sep, 1.7 in. in Oct and 1.2 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: CR 103 and CR 401

CO 64 is the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. 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 22 sits inside D-7

Across D-7, CPW's 2023 mule deer success runs 67% in unit 22, 51% in unit 211, 47% in unit 13, 44% in unit 11 and 30% in unit 12. Unit 22 is the best of them on that measure, which usually means fewer tags rather than more 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 Joe Bush Mountain, Calamity Ridge, Goat Trail Ridge and Bald Knob as places to see from, and Porcupine Gulch, Rough Gulch, Joe Bush Gulch and Piceance SWA - Little Hills Unit 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 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 22

Named routes and what they need

CR 103 — 14.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CR 401 — 11.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CR 26 — 9.1 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CR 249 — 7.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CR 5 — 7.2 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 64 — 5.6 mi · Paved (all rigs)

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

Meeker — 22.2 mi · no services listed
Rangely — 30.9 mi · fuel
Parachute — 32.3 mi · fuel
Rifle — 36 mi · fuel, gear
De Beque — 38.3 mi · fuel

Season weather and signal

Jan35° / 8° · 1.1" precip
Aug85° / 48° · 1.4" precip
Sep77° / 40° · 1.8" precip
Oct63° / 29° · 1.7" precip
Nov48° / 20° · 1.2" precip
Dec36° / 10° · 1.1" 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.

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 take67%

Archery22%

Rifle76%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 22 at 67% — 322 animals taken by 479 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 — 22% success, 11 taken by 49 hunters
Rifle — 76% success, 299 taken by 395 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.

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (resident)	70	219	32.0%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (nonresident)	4	21	19.0%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (resident)	67	209	32.1%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (nonresident)	9	34	26.5%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (resident)	164	636	25.8%	1
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (nonresident)	61	473	12.9%	6
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (resident)	153	434	35.3%	2
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (nonresident)	55	350	15.7%	9
Rifle — 4th Season buck only (resident)	32	209	15.3%	5
Rifle — 4th Season buck only (nonresident)	8	147	5.4%	17

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 22, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

DM022O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Buck Only, resident: 636 applicants for 164 licences, 25.8% drawn, 1 preference point needed
DM022O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Buck Only, nonresident: 473 applicants for 61 licences, 12.9% drawn, 6 preference points needed
DM022O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Buck Only, resident: 434 applicants for 153 licences, 35.3% drawn, 2 preference points needed
DM022O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Buck Only, nonresident: 350 applicants for 55 licences, 15.7% drawn, 9 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.

Elk Hunting in Unit 22

Unit 22 lies in Rio Blanco and Garfield counties and covers about 987 square miles. Ground runs from 5,555 to 8,460 feet. CPW bounds it by White River and Colo. 13 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 21%. Federal land covers about 72% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Elk in Unit 22

CPW's material on unit 22 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 Rio Blanco and Garfield counties. It runs to about 987 square miles.

The lines of the unit: White River, Colo. 13 and White River-Colorado River divide

CPW has unit 22 bounded on the north by White River; on the east by Colo. 13; on the south by White River-Colorado River divide; on the west by Rio Blanco CRs 26 & 103, Monument Gulch Rd., Colo. 64 and Monument Gulch. 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: Airplane Ridge, Black Cabin Point and Goat Trail Ridge

Named high points inside the unit include Airplane Ridge at 8,141 feet, Black Cabin Point at 7,964 feet, Goat Trail Ridge at 7,954 feet, Bald Knob at 7,892 feet and Fourteenmile Ridge at 7,880 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: Turkey Canyon, Dry Fork Stewart Gulch and Cutoff Gulch

Below them sit Turkey Canyon at 7,246 feet, Dry Fork Stewart Gulch at 7,237 feet, Cutoff Gulch at 7,227 feet, East Fork Story Gulch at 7,222 feet and West Fork Story Gulch at 7,194 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.

Public ground to start from: Piceance SWA - Little Hills Unit, Piceance SWA - North Ridge Unit and Piceance SWA - Yellow Creek Unit

Water: Stake Springs, Bragg Spring and Figure Four Spring

The water inside the unit line comes to 18 mapped stream reaches, 8 lakes and 12 stock tanks. Named sources include Stake Springs, Bragg Spring, Figure Four Spring, Little Corral Gulch Spring, Maverick Spring and Cottonwood Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

The herd this unit belongs to: E-10

CPW does not manage elk unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit E-10, and unit 22 is one piece of it. The rest of E-10 is unit 21, unit 30, unit 31 and unit 32. 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 22 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

5,713–8,132 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,043 ft ; peaks can run higher.
986.8 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

BLM — 15%
Private / Other — 85%

Roughly 15% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

12 tanks
18 stream segments
8 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: Joe Bush Mountain (8,367 ft), Calamity Ridge (8,278 ft), Goat Trail Ridge (7,954 ft), Bald Knob (7,892 ft)

Holding ground: Porcupine Gulch (7,498 ft), Rough Gulch (7,060 ft), Joe Bush Gulch (7,047 ft), Piceance SWA - Little Hills Unit, Piceance SWA - North Ridge Unit

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 22

CPW's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 22 at archery 12%, muzzleloader 16% and rifle 21%. 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 Trail Ridge, Buck Ridge and Wolf Ridge

Take a position on one of Trail Ridge (7,696 ft), Buck Ridge (7,589 ft), Wolf Ridge (7,057 ft) and Blair Mountain (6,814 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. 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

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: CR 103 and CR 401

CO 64 is the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. 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 22 sits inside E-10

Across E-10, CPW's 2023 elk success runs 24% in unit 31, 19% in unit 21, 18% in unit 22 and 12% in unit 30. That puts unit 22 behind 2 of the 3 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 31 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 Joe Bush Mountain, Calamity Ridge, Goat Trail Ridge and Bald Knob as places to see from, and Porcupine Gulch, Rough Gulch, Joe Bush Gulch and Piceance SWA - Little Hills Unit 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 22

Named routes and what they need

CR 103 — 14.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CR 401 — 11.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CR 26 — 9.1 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CR 249 — 7.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CR 5 — 7.2 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 64 — 5.6 mi · Paved (all rigs)

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

Meeker — 22.2 mi · no services listed
Rangely — 30.9 mi · fuel
Parachute — 32.3 mi · fuel
Rifle — 36 mi · fuel, gear
De Beque — 38.3 mi · fuel

Season weather and signal

Jan35° / 8° · 1.1" precip
Aug85° / 48° · 1.4" precip
Sep77° / 40° · 1.8" precip
Oct63° / 29° · 1.7" precip
Nov48° / 20° · 1.2" precip
Dec36° / 10° · 1.1" 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 take18%

Archery12%

Muzzleloader16%

Rifle21%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 22 at 18% — 508 animals taken by 2,761 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 — 12% success, 92 taken by 748 hunters
Muzzleloader — 16% success, 16 taken by 97 hunters
Rifle — 21% success, 400 taken by 1,916 hunters

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (resident)	40	329	12.2%	2
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	2	33	6.1%	3
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (resident)	217	571	38.0%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (nonresident)	115	347	33.1%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (resident)	52	98	53.1%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (nonresident)	9	20	45.0%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (resident)	204	309	66.0%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (nonresident)	78	123	63.4%	—

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 22, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

EF022L1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Cow Only, resident: 329 applicants for 40 licences, 12.2% drawn, 2 preference points needed
EF022P5R — Rifle, 5th Season, Cow Only, resident: 309 applicants for 204 licences, 66% drawn, no preference points needed
EF022P5R — Rifle, 5th Season, Cow Only, nonresident: 123 applicants for 78 licences, 63.4% drawn, no preference points needed
EF022L1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Cow Only, nonresident: 33 applicants for 2 licences, 6.1% drawn, 3 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.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

⛺

Camp Sites

No developed campground falls inside the unit in our data — plan on dispersed camping and check the land status first.

🛣️

Road Conditions

CR 103, CR 401 and CR 26 are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 16 mi paved, 89 mi gravel and 3 mi four-wheel-drive.

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Terrain Difficulty

5,713–8,132 ft, averaging 7,043. Enough relief to separate summer from winter range.

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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.

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Weather

Season normals: Sep 77/40°F, 1.8 in.; Oct 63/29°F, 1.7 in.; Nov 48/20°F, 1.2 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

Meeker (22 mi), Rangely (31 mi), Parachute (32 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit 22?

Unit 22 lies in Rio Blanco and Garfield counties, and CPW has it bounded on the north by White River; on the east by Colo. 13; on the south by White River-Colorado River divide; on the west by Rio Blanco CRs 26 & 103, Monument Gulch Rd., Colo. 64 and Monument Gulch. It covers about 987 square miles.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 22?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 22 at 67% across all manners of take, and archery 22% and rifle 76% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 22 hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 22 are at Meeker, about 22 miles from the unit's centre, with Rangely at about 31 miles. No developed campground falls inside the unit in our data, so plan on dispersed camping.

What is the elk success rate in unit 22?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 22 at 18% across all manners of take, and archery 12%, muzzleloader 16% and rifle 21% 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 Deer Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for mule deer in unit 22, 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 Elk Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for elk in unit 22, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22