Unit 26
Colorado Hunting Guide — Elk
Unit 26 lies in Garfield, Eagle and Routt counties and covers about 240 square miles. Ground runs from 6,605 to 12,357 feet. CPW bounds it by Bear River and Colo. 131 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 13%. Federal land covers about 49% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 26
Unit 26 lies in Garfield, Eagle and Routt counties and covers about 240 square miles. Ground runs from 6,605 to 12,357 feet. CPW bounds it by Bear River and Colo. 131 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 13%. Federal land covers about 49% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Elk in Unit 26
What CPW publishes for unit 26 is a boundary, not a elk map. 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 Garfield, Eagle and Routt counties. It runs to about 240 square miles.
The lines of the unit: Bear River, Colo. 131 and Colorado River
CPW has unit 26 bounded on the north by Bear River; on the east by Colo. 131; on the south by Colorado River; on the west by Derby Creek, Middle Fork of Derby Creek and USFS Trail 1802. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. 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: Flat Top Mountain, Derby Peak and Dome Peak
Named high points inside the unit include Flat Top Mountain at 12,357 feet, Derby Peak at 12,185 feet, Dome Peak at 12,172 feet, King Mountain at 10,185 feet and Porcupine Ridge at 9,529 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: Fargo Gulch, Stump Park and Gardner Park
Below them sit Fargo Gulch at 6,605 feet, Stump Park at 10,073 feet, Gardner Park at 9,633 feet, Egeria Park at 8,280 feet and Pump Gulch at 6,735 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.
Water in this unit
The water inside the unit line comes to 1,996 mapped stream reaches, 34 lakes and 683 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-6
CPW does not manage elk unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit E-6, and unit 26 is one piece of it. The rest of E-6 is unit 11, unit 12, unit 13, unit 23, unit 24, unit 25, unit 33 and unit 34 and 3 more. 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 17%, BLM 15% 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 7,194 to 11,549 feet, and named ground inside the line runs 6,605 to 12,357 feet — take 6,605 to 12,357 as the spread, because the sample is a grid and misses both ends. With 5,752 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 26 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 7,194–11,549 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 8,986 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
- 240 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
- 683 tanks
- 1,996 stream segments
- 34 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: Flat Top Mountain (12,357 ft), Derby Peak (12,185 ft), Dome Peak (12,172 ft), King Mountain (10,185 ft)
Holding ground: Stump Park (10,073 ft), Gardner Park (9,633 ft), Pump Gulch (6,735 ft)
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 26
Elk Success Rates
CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 26 at 7% — 92 animals taken by 1,233 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 — 5% success, 22 taken by 418 hunters
- Muzzleloader — 13% success, 12 taken by 98 hunters
- Rifle — 8% success, 57 taken by 717 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) | 19 | 48 | 39.6% | — |
| Rifle — 1st Season cow only (nonresident) | 3 | 4 | 75.0% | 2 |
| Rifle — 4th Season bull only (resident) | 10 | 19 | 52.6% | — |
| Rifle — 4th Season bull only (nonresident) | 25 | 48 | 52.1% | — |
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 26, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- EF026L1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Cow Only, resident: 48 applicants for 19 licences, 39.6% drawn, no preference points needed
- EM026O4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Bull Only, nonresident: 48 applicants for 25 licences, 52.1% drawn, no preference points needed
- EM026O4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Bull Only, resident: 19 applicants for 10 licences, 52.6% drawn, no preference points needed
- EF026L1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Cow Only, nonresident: 4 applicants for 3 licences, 75% 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. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.
Unit Logistics & Expectations
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Colorado unit 26?
What is the elk success rate in unit 26?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 26 hunt?
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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 26, 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