Colorado Elk Mule Deer Black Bear

Unit 35 (Wolcott)

Colorado Hunting Guide — Elk, Mule Deer, Black Bear

Unit 35 (Wolcott) sits in Eagle County, framed by the Colorado River on the north and west, Colo. 131 on the east and the Eagle River on the south. It covers 268 square miles of rising country, from river bottom near 6,300 feet to about 10,600. CPW publishes a boundary description for it but no elk narrative. What decides the hunt is land ownership. Confirm which ground is public before you commit a week to it.

View Draw Odds Colorado Hunting Guide

🏔️

71%

Public Land

⛰️

6,307–10,603 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 35

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Colorado Unit 35 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.

Elk guide Mule Deer guide Black Bear 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.

Elk Hunting in Unit 35

Where to look for elk in Unit 35: Castle Park, Hells Pocket and the river gulches

CPW's unit material gives Unit 35 a boundary and nothing else for elk: the Colorado River on the north and west, Colo. 131 on the east, the Eagle River on the south. It's part of herd E-12. There's no agency write-up of where the animals sit, so what follows is our terrain read, not wildlife-manager testimony.

Start with ownership, because our read is muddled. Our land layer calls the whole unit private or other. Yet most of the named summits, benches and gulches we'd hunt come up as public. Those two facts don't agree. Pull up parcel lines before you pick a basin.

Castle Park and Winter Ridge

Castle Park, a flat at 10,060 feet, is the highest holding ground we have flagged. The unit tops out at 10,603, so you're near the roof. Winter Ridge (9,968) is the nearest glassing perch. Coberly Gap (9,280) reads as a travel route between the high country and the benches below. Castle Peak, at 11,267, is higher than anything our elevation read puts inside the unit. Use it as a landmark on the skyline, not a place to hunt. This is the strongest early-season country we can point you to, before pressure and weather push animals down.

Hells Pocket and the mid-elevation points

Hells Pocket, a basin at 7,980 feet, sits right at the unit's average elevation of 7,985. We tag it as holding ground. Above it you have glassing points: Horse Mountain (9,593), Windy Point (9,229), Pisgah Mountain (8,733), Blowout Hill (8,682), Black Mountain (8,636) and Big Red Hill (8,433). Windy Point is a cliff, so expect a long look across open ground. Three springs carry names: Deadhorse, Fourmile and Reap. We don't have their locations, so treat them as questions for your map, not waypoints.

The low gulches by the rivers

The bottom of the unit is a string of gulches: Agnew (7,054), Greenhorn (6,767), Cabin (6,683), Bull (6,433), Road (6,342) and Trail (6,341), plus Jack Flats (6,842). Dotsero Crater (6,854) is the glassing point down low. This is the country elk would drop into late in the season when snow pushes them off the heights. That's our reasoning from elevation, not an agency statement. Skip Greenhorn Mountain (9,892), Fivemile Rock (8,075) and Sheep Gulch. They flag as non-public.

Getting in

Paved routes touch the unit: I-70 and US 6 at the boundary, and Colo. 131 along the east line. We have no named backcountry roads for this unit. Get a current travel map before you drive anywhere you haven't been.

Unit 35 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

6,307–10,603 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,985 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
268 sq mi inside the boundary.

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

484 tanks
3,012 stream segments
37 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: Castle Peak (11,267 ft), Winter Ridge (9,968 ft), Horse Mountain (9,593 ft), Windy Point (9,229 ft)

Holding ground: Castle Park (10,060 ft), Coberly Gap (9,280 ft), Hells Pocket (7,980 ft), Gypsum Ponds 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 35: glass high, hunt the gulches

With no agency breakdown of elk use here, your first job is to find the animals yourself, and the terrain gives you a sensible way to do it. Work top-down in the morning and bottom-up as the day goes on.

Glass from the points

Pick a glassing point and commit to it before first light. Winter Ridge, Horse Mountain and Windy Point give you the high views. Pisgah, Blowout Hill, Black Mountain and Big Red Hill cover the middle benches. Dotsero Crater lets you look into the river country. Glass until the light is full, then again in the last hour of the day. Elk feed in the open at the edges of the day and bed in cover the rest of it. Mark where animals go in, and plan to still-hunt or sit that edge rather than chase them across drainages.

Wind and thermals on steep ground

This unit climbs about 4,300 feet from river to high point. That means thermals dominate. Air drifts uphill as the morning warms and falls back down in the evening. Climb in the morning with the wind in your face and expect your scent to carry up the slope. Plan your final approach into Castle Park or Hells Pocket with that in mind, so you aren't walking into the basin with air at your back.

Water and feed

Deadhorse, Fourmile and Reap springs are named, but we can't tell you where they sit. Find them on a map before the season. A spring on public ground is worth a morning of watching. The unit's streams and tanks aren't counted for us, so don't plan around standing water you haven't seen. The gulches near the rivers are the logical late-season places to look when high country empties.

Rules and a realistic day

We don't have the season dates, weapon rules or any unit-specific warnings, so read the CPW brochure for Unit 35 before you go. A realistic day runs like this: a pre-dawn climb to a glass

Getting in and staying out: unit 35

Named routes and what they need

CR 301 — 11.1 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 131 — 5.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 6 — 3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
BLM 8520 — 2.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
I 70 — 1.4 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

Eagle — 7.8 mi · fuel, groceries
Gypsum — 10 mi · fuel, groceries
Dotsero — 13.9 mi · no services listed
Edwards — 15.9 mi · groceries, gear
Avon — 19.5 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear

Developed camps

Colorado River Camp
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site

Season weather and signal

Jan32° / 10° · 1.7" precip
Aug80° / 49° · 1.6" precip
Sep73° / 41° · 1.9" precip
Oct59° / 31° · 1.7" precip
Nov43° / 20° · 1.6" precip
Dec32° / 11° · 1.5" 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.

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 take13%

Archery5%

Muzzleloader12%

Rifle16%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 35 at 13% — 132 animals taken by 993 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 — 5% success, 12 taken by 228 hunters
Muzzleloader — 12% success, 11 taken by 91 hunters
Rifle — 16% success, 110 taken by 674 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 either sex (resident)	129	390	33.1%	—
Rifle — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	47	199	23.6%	1
Rifle — 4th Season either sex (resident)	32	123	26.0%	—
Rifle — 4th Season either sex (nonresident)	5	16	31.3%	—
Rifle — 1st Season either sex (resident)	2	6	33.3%	—
Rifle — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	10	16	62.5%	—
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (resident)	11	158	7.0%	3
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	1	4	25.0%	4
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (resident)	85	198	42.9%	—
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	35	68	51.5%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (resident)	56	138	40.6%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (nonresident)	12	53	22.6%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (resident)	20	28	71.4%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (nonresident)	0	1	0.0%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (resident)	30	120	25.0%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (nonresident)	4	15	26.7%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (resident)	10	50	20.0%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (nonresident)	0	1	0.0%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (resident)	50	124	40.3%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	8	47	17.0%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (resident)	93	170	54.7%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	85	171	49.7%	—
Archery — 1st Season either sex (resident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	248	478	51.9%	—

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

EE035V1A — Archery, 1st Season, Either Sex, nonresident: 478 applicants for 248 licences, 51.9% drawn, no preference points needed
EE035O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 390 applicants for 129 licences, 33.1% drawn, no preference points needed
EE035O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Either Sex, nonresident: 199 applicants for 47 licences, 23.6% drawn, 1 preference point needed
EF035O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Cow Only, resident: 198 applicants for 85 licences, 42.9% 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 19 further code-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 35

Unit 35 sits in Eagle County. The Colorado River frames it on the north and west, Colo. 131 on the east and the Eagle River on the south. It covers 268 square miles, from about 6,300 to 11,267 feet. CPW's brochure gives the boundary and a herd code, D-8, but no mule deer narrative. Land status decides this tag. Our ownership read shows no public ground at all, so confirm every parcel before you commit.

Eagle River breaks to Winter Ridge: reading Unit 35 without a deer narrative

CPW's unit material for 35 gives a boundary description and a herd code, D-8. It doesn't say where the mule deer are. So what follows is built from the unit's edges, its elevation range and the named ground inside it. It's a terrain read, not a report from the agency's biologists.

Settle land status first

Our ownership read comes back as 100 percent private or other. Several named features inside the unit are flagged as public, and some are flagged as not. Those two pictures don't agree, and we won't pretend they do. Before you plan a single hike, overlay a current parcel map and find the legal ground yourself. Treat any gulch bottom near the rivers as private until a map shows otherwise.

The frame and the ways in

CPW describes the unit as bounded on the north and west by the Colorado River, on the east by Colo. 131 and on the south by the Eagle River. Come in from Colo. 131 and you're on the east line. Paved highway meets the boundary in several places, with I-70 and US 6 both touching it. Those corridors are low, around 6,300 to 6,900 feet. The unit's high ground is 10,603 feet, so you're looking at over 4,000 feet of relief.

Low gulches: Bull, Road, Trail, Cabin and Greenhorn

The holding ground in our terrain read is a string of gulches near river level. Trail Gulch (6,341 feet), Road Gulch (6,342), Bull Gulch (6,433), Cabin Gulch (6,683) and Greenhorn Gulch (6,767) are all flagged public. Jack Flats (6,842) and Agnew Gulch (7,054) sit a little higher. Sheep Gulch and the valley spelled Neilson Gucch on the map are flagged as not public. These are the lowest benches and drainages in the unit, so we'd look here first when snow pushes deer down late.

Mid and high ground: Hells Pocket, Castle Park, Coberly Gap

Hells Pocket (7,980 feet) is a basin flagged public, and the best-placed mid-elevation holding spot we can name. Castle Park, a flat at 10,060, is the high holding ground, so think early season. Coberly Gap (9,280) is the one named travel feature. It's the kind of saddle where deer cross between drainages. We can't tell you they use it. Glass it before you commit to it.

Skip anything you can't tie to public ground. Greenhorn Mountain (9,892) and Fivemile Rock (8,075) are flagged not public.

Unit 35 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

6,307–10,603 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,985 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
268 sq mi inside the boundary.

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

484 tanks
3,012 stream segments
37 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: Castle Peak (11,267 ft), Winter Ridge (9,968 ft), Horse Mountain (9,593 ft), Windy Point (9,229 ft)

Holding ground: Castle Park (10,060 ft), Coberly Gap (9,280 ft), Hells Pocket (7,980 ft), Gypsum Ponds SWA

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

Glassing Horse Mountain and Windy Point, and hunting the water

No success rates came with this unit, and nobody has counted deer for us here. Plan on scouting your own odds.

Glassing stations

Eleven named summits and cliffs in the unit are flagged for glassing. The public-flagged ones to start with are Winter Ridge (9,968 feet), Horse Mountain (9,593), Windy Point (9,229), Pisgah Mountain (8,733), Blowout Hill (8,682), Black Mountain (8,636) and Big Red Hill (8,433). Lower down, Booco Mountain (7,849), Blue Hill (7,051) and Dotsero Crater (6,854) overlook the river-level gulches. Pick a perch that looks down into a gulch or basin rather than across open slope. Be set up before first light. Glass hard for the first two hours, then again from mid-afternoon until dark.

Springs

Our count of mapped streams, lakes and tanks in the unit is zero. Three springs have names: Deadhorse Spring, Fourmile Spring and Reap Spring. We don't have locations or elevations for them. Find them on a topo map before the season and check whether each one sits on public ground. Water is a reason for deer to be somewhere, but only if you can reach it legally.

Working elevation

The unit spans roughly 6,300 to 11,267 feet, with a mean near 7,985. That mean tells you most of the ground is mid-slope. Early season, we'd start high near Castle Park and the Winter Ridge side. If weather moves deer down, work the benches and gulches above Trail, Road and Bull Gulch. Watch the wind where drainages open onto slopes, because morning air usually drifts uphill and evening air comes back down.

A realistic day

Park at a legal pullout off a paved highway, since that's the access we can confirm. Hike up before light to a glassing point. Stay put until the deer show themselves, then plan the stalk from the downwind side. With so much land status in doubt, carry a parcel-boundary app and don't cross a fence line on a guess. Check CPW's current regulations for season dates and weapon rules. We don't have them here.

Getting in and staying out: unit 35

Named routes and what they need

CR 301 — 11.1 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 131 — 5.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 6 — 3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
BLM 8520 — 2.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
I 70 — 1.4 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

Eagle — 7.8 mi · fuel, groceries
Gypsum — 10 mi · fuel, groceries
Dotsero — 13.9 mi · no services listed
Edwards — 15.9 mi · groceries, gear
Avon — 19.5 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear

Developed camps

Colorado River Camp
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site

Season weather and signal

Jan32° / 10° · 1.7" precip
Aug80° / 49° · 1.6" precip
Sep73° / 41° · 1.9" precip
Oct59° / 31° · 1.7" precip
Nov43° / 20° · 1.6" precip
Dec32° / 11° · 1.5" 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 take39%

Archery35%

Rifle39%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 35 at 39% — 335 animals taken by 870 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 — 35% success, 12 taken by 33 hunters
Rifle — 39% success, 299 taken by 763 hunters

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Archery — 1st Season either sex (resident)	123	399	30.8%	—
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	41	135	30.4%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season either sex (resident)	9	24	37.5%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season either sex (nonresident)	8	17	47.1%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season either sex (resident)	7	30	23.3%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season either sex (nonresident)	6	19	31.6%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (resident)	244	747	32.7%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (nonresident)	3	41	7.3%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (resident)	122	600	20.3%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (nonresident)	4	18	22.2%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (resident)	475	1,136	41.8%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (nonresident)	186	471	39.5%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (resident)	324	1,047	30.9%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (nonresident)	107	548	19.5%	2
Rifle — 4th Season buck only (resident)	12	244	4.9%	5
Rifle — 4th Season buck only (nonresident)	4	112	3.6%	13
Muzzleloader — 1st Season doe only (resident)	91	217	41.9%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	7	21	33.3%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (resident)	115	272	42.3%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	74	120	61.7%	—

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

DM035O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Buck Only, resident: 1,136 applicants for 475 licences, 41.8% drawn, no preference points needed
DM035O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Buck Only, resident: 1,047 applicants for 324 licences, 30.9% drawn, no preference points needed
DF035O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Doe Only, resident: 747 applicants for 244 licences, 32.7% drawn, no preference points needed
DF035O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Doe Only, resident: 600 applicants for 122 licences, 20.3% 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 16 further code-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Black Bear Hunting in Unit 35

Unit 35 (Wolcott) sits in Eagle County, framed by the Colorado River on the north and west, Colo. 131 on the east and the Eagle River on the south. It's 268 square miles of rough country running from about 6,300 to 11,267 feet. CPW publishes no bear breakdown for this unit, so we're working from terrain. Ownership is the deciding factor. Confirm where public ground actually sits before you commit.

Where to Find Bears in Unit 35: Gulches, Benches and Ownership

CPW's unit material gives a boundary and nothing more for bears here. It doesn't say where they feed or travel. Everything below comes from our terrain read, not from agency bear narrative, so treat it as a place to start looking.

Know the edges first

The legal description puts the Colorado River on the north and west, Colo. 131 on the east and the Eagle River on the south. Eagle is the only county listed. Paved access runs along I-70 and US 6 at the unit line. If you're coming up Colo. 131, you're on the east edge. Nothing in the boundary text says bears sit on any of those lines. It just tells you how you get in.

The ownership question

Our ownership layer reads the unit as entirely private or other. Yet many of the named features we've mapped are flagged as public. Those two things don't agree, and we won't pretend they do. Get a current land-status map and trace your route before you go. Several features are marked non-public, including Greenhorn Mountain, Fivemile Rock, Neilson Gulch and Sheep Gulch. Don't plan around them.

Greenhorn, Cabin and Bull Gulches

The lower drainages mapped as public holding country are Agnew Gulch (about 7,050 feet), Greenhorn Gulch (6,770), Cabin Gulch (6,680), Bull Gulch (6,430), Road Gulch and Trail Gulch (both about 6,340), plus Jack Flats at 6,840. This is the warm, low end of the unit, and it's where we'd look first in spring. Bears come off the winter dens and head for the first green growth. The low slopes are oakbrush by our read, which matters later in the season when the crop sets.

Hells Pocket and Castle Park

Hells Pocket, a basin near 7,980 feet, sits right at the unit's mean elevation. Castle Park is a flat at about 10,060 feet, up in the high country. Both are public and both read as holding ground. Coberly Gap, near 9,280 feet, is mapped as a travel route and is worth a look as a crossing between the high and low country.

Water

Three springs are named: Deadhorse Spring, Fourmile Spring and Reap Spring. We can't tell you how any of them flows in a dry year, so scout them before you build a hunt around one.

Ground to skip

Anything that fails the land-status check. Also skip the river bottoms and highway corridors, where there's pressure and little reason for a bear to linger.

Unit 35 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

6,307–10,603 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,985 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
268 sq mi inside the boundary.

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

484 tanks
3,012 stream segments
37 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: Castle Peak (11,267 ft), Winter Ridge (9,968 ft), Horse Mountain (9,593 ft), Windy Point (9,229 ft)

Holding ground: Castle Park (10,060 ft), Coberly Gap (9,280 ft), Hells Pocket (7,980 ft), Gypsum Ponds SWA

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

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How to Hunt Black Bear in Unit 35: Glass the Benches, Work the Gulches

Without a CPW bear narrative or success figures, we can't tell you what a typical hunt here produces. We can tell you how we'd set up the country.

Glass from the high points

The unit has plenty of summits flagged as glassing spots on public ground: Winter Ridge (about 9,970 feet), Horse Mountain (9,590), Windy Point (9,230), Pisgah Mountain (8,730), Blowout Hill (8,680), Black Mountain (8,640), Big Red Hill (8,430) and Booco Mountain (7,850). Lower ones such as Blue Hill (7,050) and Dotsero Crater (6,850) overlook the river end. Pick one that looks down on a gulch or an open slope. Be in position at first light. Glass until the sun is well up, then come back for the last two hours of daylight.

Use the thermals

Morning air slides downhill and afternoon air climbs. That's true of every steep drainage, and the gulches here are no different. Work your approach into the wind for your time of day. Before dawn, get above the feed and let the cool air carry your scent down and away from it. In the evening, stay low and let the warm air take your scent uphill.

Match the spot to the season

Early, we'd concentrate on the low gulches and Jack Flats where the first growth comes in. Later, when feed shifts uphill, we'd move to Hells Pocket and the benches above it. If you find a spring with fresh sign, sit it from a distance rather than walking in.

Beat the pressure

Highway access is easy, so the roadside country sees traffic. Walk past the first obvious pullout. A mile of uphill grade will separate you from most hunters. With this much relief you'll feel every mile, so pack light and plan your retrieval before you shoot. Decide how you'd get an animal out of a gulch bottom.

Do your homework on rules

Season dates, license requirements and bear-specific rules aren't in our material for this unit. Read the current CPW brochure before the hunt. And keep a land-status map open on your phone the whole time, because in this unit a few hundred yards can be the difference between a legal bear and a trespass.

A realistic day: up before light, a couple of hours on glass, a slow still-hunt through oakbrush edges if nothing shows, then back on the glass for the evening. Expect to see few bears and burn a lot of boot leather.

Getting in and staying out: unit 35

Named routes and what they need

CR 301 — 11.1 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 131 — 5.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 6 — 3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
BLM 8520 — 2.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
I 70 — 1.4 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

Eagle — 7.8 mi · fuel, groceries
Gypsum — 10 mi · fuel, groceries
Dotsero — 13.9 mi · no services listed
Edwards — 15.9 mi · groceries, gear
Avon — 19.5 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear

Developed camps

Colorado River Camp
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site

Season weather and signal

Jan32° / 10° · 1.7" precip
Aug80° / 49° · 1.6" precip
Sep73° / 41° · 1.9" precip
Oct59° / 31° · 1.7" precip
Nov43° / 20° · 1.6" precip
Dec32° / 11° · 1.5" 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.

Black Bear: 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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Black Bear Success Rates

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates carry no black bear row for unit 35 that we can read back to this unit on its own. Where the agency reports a unit inside a grouping, or prints a table our parser cannot resolve to a single column, we leave the number out rather than publish a statewide average as though it had been measured here. CPW's current harvest estimates are the place to check before you apply.

Black Bear Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Archery — 1st Season either sex (resident)	118	140	84.3%	—
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	24	37	64.9%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season either sex (resident)	32	48	66.7%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	16	17	94.1%	—
Rifle — 1st Season either sex (resident)	412	540	76.3%	—
Rifle — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	56	68	82.4%	—
Rifle — 5th Season either sex (resident)	252	393	64.1%	—
Rifle — 5th Season either sex (nonresident)	46	88	52.3%	—

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 black bear in unit 35, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

BE035O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 540 applicants for 412 licences, 76.3% drawn, no preference points needed
BE035O5R — Rifle, 5th Season, Either Sex, resident: 393 applicants for 252 licences, 64.1% drawn, no preference points needed
BE035O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 140 applicants for 118 licences, 84.3% drawn, no preference points needed
BE035O5R — Rifle, 5th Season, Either Sex, nonresident: 88 applicants for 46 licences, 52.3% 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 4 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

14 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including Colorado River Camp, Aunt Sara's Riverdance RV Resort and Windy Point Site.

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Road Conditions

CR 301, CO 131 and US 6 are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 22 mi paved, 1 mi gravel and 0 mi four-wheel-drive.

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Terrain Difficulty

6,307–10,603 ft, averaging 7,985. More than 4,000 feet of relief, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

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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 73/41°F, 1.9 in.; Oct 59/31°F, 1.7 in.; Nov 43/20°F, 1.6 in..

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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

Eagle (8 mi), Gypsum (10 mi), Dotsero (14 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit 35?

Unit 35 lies in Eagle County, and CPW has it bounded on the north by Colorado River; on the east by Colo. 131; on the south by Eagle River; on the west by Colorado River. It covers about 268 square miles.

What is the elk success rate in unit 35?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 35 at 13% across all manners of take, and archery 5%, muzzleloader 12% and rifle 16% 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 35 hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 35 are at Eagle, about 8 miles from the unit's centre, with Gypsum at about 10 miles. There are also 14 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 35?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 35 at 39% across all manners of take, and archery 35% and rifle 39% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the black bear success rate in unit 35?

CPW publishes no black bear success figure we can tie to unit 35 on its own — the 2023 harvest tables either omit the unit or report it in a grouping we could not read back to it reliably. Rather than quote a statewide average as though it were measured here, we say so. Check CPW's current harvest estimates before you apply.

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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 Elk Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for elk in unit 35, 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 Deer Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for mule deer in unit 35, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22

Unit 35 (Wolcott)

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 35

Elk Hunting in Unit 35

Where to look for elk in Unit 35: Castle Park, Hells Pocket and the river gulches

Castle Park and Winter Ridge

Hells Pocket and the mid-elevation points

The low gulches by the rivers

Getting in

Unit 35 terrain and land status

The lay of it

Who owns the ground

Water on the ground

Named features inside the unit

How to hunt elk in Unit 35: glass high, hunt the gulches

Elk Success Rates

Elk Draw Odds

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 35

Eagle River breaks to Winter Ridge: reading Unit 35 without a deer narrative

Settle land status first

The frame and the ways in

Low gulches: Bull, Road, Trail, Cabin and Greenhorn

Mid and high ground: Hells Pocket, Castle Park, Coberly Gap

Unit 35 terrain and land status

The lay of it

Who owns the ground

Water on the ground

Named features inside the unit

Glassing Horse Mountain and Windy Point, and hunting the water

Mule Deer Success Rates

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Black Bear Hunting in Unit 35

Where to Find Bears in Unit 35: Gulches, Benches and Ownership

How to Hunt Black Bear in Unit 35: Glass the Benches, Work the Gulches

Black Bear Success Rates

Black Bear Draw Odds

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Explore Related Units

Unit 33 — Elk

Unit 82 — Elk

Unit 35 — Mule Deer

Frequently Asked Questions

Free Hunt Planning Tools

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Sources & Verification