Colorado Mule Deer Elk Moose Bear

Unit 39

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

Unit 39 lies in Jefferson, Clear Creek and Park counties and covers about 369 square miles. Ground runs from 7,242 to 14,231 feet. CPW bounds it by U.S. 40 and Colo. 74 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 28%. Federal land covers about 65% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Colorado Hunting Guide

🏔️

65%

Public Land

⛰️

8,137–11,988 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 39

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Colorado Unit 39 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 Moose guide Bear guide

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Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 39

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 39

CPW's material on unit 39 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its mule deer live. 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 Jefferson, Clear Creek and Park counties. It runs to about 369 square miles.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 40, Colo. 74 and Jefferson CR 73

CPW has unit 39 bounded on the north by U.S. 40 and I-70; on the east by Colo. 74 and Jefferson CR 73; on the south by U.S. 285, North Turkey Creek-Elk Creek divide and Pike-Arapaho NF boundary; on the west by Continental Divide. (See unit 391.) See "Land Closures & Use Restrictions," page 68. 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: Mount Blue Sky, Mount Edwards and Bard Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Mount Blue Sky at 14,231 feet, Mount Edwards at 13,842 feet, Bard Peak at 13,615 feet, Gray Wolf Mountain at 13,595 feet and McClellan Mountain at 13,575 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: Juniper Pass, Dry Gulch and Magnet Park

Below them sit Juniper Pass at 11,030 feet, Dry Gulch at 10,508 feet, Magnet Park at 10,448 feet, Butler Gulch at 10,405 feet and Herman Gulch at 10,376 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: Bakerville STL, Beaver Brook STL and Bergen Peak SWA

CPW lists Bakerville STL, Beaver Brook STL, Bergen Peak SWA, Georgetown SWA and Mount Evans 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 65% of the unit on top of those.

Water in this unit

The water inside the unit line comes to 316 mapped stream reaches, 29 lakes, 109 stock tanks and 1 springs. 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: D-17

CPW does not manage mule deer unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit D-17, and unit 39 is one piece of it. The rest of D-17 is unit 46, unit 51, unit 391 and unit 461. 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.

Unit 39 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

8,137–11,988 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 10,057 ft ; peaks can run higher.
368.6 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

109 tanks
1 springs
316 stream segments
29 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: Mount Blue Sky (14,231 ft), Mount Edwards (13,842 ft), Bard Peak (13,615 ft), Gray Wolf Mountain (13,595 ft)

Holding ground: Summit Lake Flats (12,112 ft), Loveland Pass (11,996 ft), Bakerville STL, Beaver Brook STL, Bergen Peak 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 Mule Deer in Unit 39

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 39 at archery 20% and rifle 28%. 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 Rogers Peak, Mount Warren and Mount Sniktau

Take a position on one of Rogers Peak (13,346 ft), Mount Warren (13,289 ft), Mount Sniktau (13,212 ft) and Kelso Mountain (13,142 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. Work the glass in strips and go back over ground you already covered — animals appear in country you looked at ten minutes ago. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Water against feed

There are 316 mapped stream reaches and 109 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 65/38°F, Oct 53/29°F and Nov 42/20°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 1.6 in. in Sep, 1.3 in. in Oct and 1.1 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: I 70 and CO 5

I 70, CO 5 and US 40 are 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 39 sits inside D-17

Across D-17, CPW's 2023 mule deer success runs 58% in unit 51, 46% in unit 461, 36% in unit 391, 29% in unit 46 and 26% in unit 39. Unit 39 is the lowest of them, so whatever drives success in this herd is happening somewhere else in it. If the draw lets you choose, unit 51 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 Mount Blue Sky, Mount Edwards, Bard Peak and Gray Wolf Mountain as places to see from, and Summit Lake Flats, Loveland Pass, Bakerville STL and Beaver Brook STL 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 39

Named routes and what they need

I 70 — 13.1 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CO 5 — 12.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 40 — 7.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CH 73 — 4.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 74 — 3.7 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CH 78 — 3.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Georgetown — 5.9 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Silver Plume — 7 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Idaho Springs — 7.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Empire — 8 mi · no services listed
Central City — 10.6 mi · lodging

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Indian Springs Campsites
Clear Lake Campground
Guanella Pass Campground · Fee · reservable
West Chicago Creek Campground · reservable

Season weather and signal

Jan34° / 13° · 0.9" precip
Aug71° / 45° · 2.4" precip
Sep65° / 38° · 1.6" precip
Oct53° / 29° · 1.3" precip
Nov42° / 20° · 1.1" precip
Dec34° / 13° · 1" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 9% 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 take26%

Archery20%

Rifle28%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 39 at 26% — 168 animals taken by 636 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 — 20% success, 33 taken by 168 hunters
Rifle — 28% success, 103 taken by 371 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
Archery — 1st Season either sex (resident)	150	419	35.8%	—
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	12	43	27.9%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season doe only (resident)	10	90	11.1%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	2	0.0%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (resident)	69	165	41.8%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	12	32	37.5%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (resident)	11	203	5.4%	1
Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (nonresident)	0	5	0.0%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (resident)	9	196	4.6%	1
Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (nonresident)	0	4	0.0%	—
Rifle — 4th Season doe only (resident)	11	152	7.2%	—
Rifle — 4th Season doe only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Rifle — 5th Season doe only (resident)	36	198	18.2%	—
Rifle — 5th Season doe only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (resident)	82	432	19.0%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (nonresident)	6	37	16.2%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (resident)	70	469	14.9%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (nonresident)	7	51	13.7%	1
Rifle — 4th Season buck only (resident)	42	314	13.4%	1
Rifle — 4th Season buck only (nonresident)	2	20	10.0%	1

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

DM039O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Buck Only, resident: 469 applicants for 70 licences, 14.9% drawn, no preference points needed
DM039O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Buck Only, resident: 432 applicants for 82 licences, 19% drawn, no preference points needed
DE039O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 419 applicants for 150 licences, 35.8% drawn, no preference points needed
DM039O4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Buck Only, resident: 314 applicants for 42 licences, 13.4% drawn, 1 preference point 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 14 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 39

Unit 39 lies in Jefferson, Clear Creek and Park counties and covers about 369 square miles. Ground runs from 7,242 to 14,231 feet. CPW bounds it by U.S. 40 and Colo. 74 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 41%. Federal land covers about 65% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Elk in Unit 39

CPW draws an exact line around unit 39 and says nothing about where the elk stand inside it. 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 Jefferson, Clear Creek and Park counties. It runs to about 369 square miles.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 40, Colo. 74 and Jefferson CR 73

CPW has unit 39 bounded on the north by U.S. 40 and I-70; on the east by Colo. 74 and Jefferson CR 73; on the south by U.S. 285, North Turkey Creek-Elk Creek divide and Pike-Arapaho NF boundary; on the west by Continental Divide. (See unit 391.) See "Land Closures & Use Restrictions," page 68. 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: Mount Parnassus, Mount Wilcox and Engelmann Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Mount Parnassus at 13,566 feet, Mount Wilcox at 13,376 feet, Engelmann Peak at 13,355 feet, Rogers Peak at 13,346 feet and Mount Warren at 13,289 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: Stevens Gulch, Grizzly Gulch and Watrous Gulch

Below them sit Stevens Gulch at 10,304 feet, Grizzly Gulch at 10,294 feet, Watrous Gulch at 10,202 feet, Kearney Gulch at 9,934 feet and Mestaa’ėhehe Pass at 9,806 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.

Public ground to start from: Bakerville STL, Beaver Brook STL and Bergen Peak SWA

Water in this unit

The herd this unit belongs to: E-39

CPW does not manage elk unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit E-39, and unit 39 is one piece of it. The rest of E-39 is unit 46, unit 391 and unit 461. 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.

Unit 39 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

8,137–11,988 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 10,057 ft ; peaks can run higher.
368.6 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

109 tanks
1 springs
316 stream segments
29 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: Mount Blue Sky (14,231 ft), Mount Edwards (13,842 ft), Bard Peak (13,615 ft), Gray Wolf Mountain (13,595 ft)

Holding ground: Summit Lake Flats (12,112 ft), Loveland Pass (11,996 ft), Bakerville STL, Beaver Brook STL, Bergen Peak 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 39

CPW's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 39 at archery 24%, muzzleloader 41% and rifle 25%. 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 Robeson Peak, Woods Mountain and Ganley Mountain

Take a position on one of Robeson Peak (13,118 ft), Woods Mountain (12,931 ft), Ganley Mountain (12,865 ft) and Mount Machebeuf (12,787 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. Work the glass in strips and go back over ground you already covered — animals appear in country you looked at ten minutes ago. 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 316 mapped stream reaches and 109 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: I 70 and CO 5

Where unit 39 sits inside E-39

Across E-39, CPW's 2023 elk success runs 38% in unit 391, 27% in unit 39, 14% in unit 46 and 12% in unit 461. That puts unit 39 behind 1 of the 3 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 391 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 39

Named routes and what they need

I 70 — 13.1 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CO 5 — 12.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 40 — 7.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CH 73 — 4.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 74 — 3.7 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CH 78 — 3.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Georgetown — 5.9 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Silver Plume — 7 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Idaho Springs — 7.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Empire — 8 mi · no services listed
Central City — 10.6 mi · lodging

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Indian Springs Campsites
Clear Lake Campground
Guanella Pass Campground · Fee · reservable
West Chicago Creek Campground · reservable

Season weather and signal

Jan34° / 13° · 0.9" precip
Aug71° / 45° · 2.4" precip
Sep65° / 38° · 1.6" precip
Oct53° / 29° · 1.3" precip
Nov42° / 20° · 1.1" precip
Dec34° / 13° · 1" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 9% 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 take27%

Archery24%

Muzzleloader41%

Rifle25%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 39 at 27% — 117 animals taken by 425 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 — 24% success, 21 taken by 88 hunters
Muzzleloader — 41% success, 31 taken by 75 hunters
Rifle — 25% success, 65 taken by 263 hunters

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Archery — 1st Season either sex (resident)	62	312	19.9%	1
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	21	117	17.9%	3
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (resident)	10	75	13.3%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	2	8	25.0%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (resident)	48	150	32.0%	1
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	15	67	22.4%	4
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (resident)	17	85	20.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	0	1	0.0%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (resident)	13	114	11.4%	1
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (nonresident)	1	11	9.1%	1
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (resident)	25	149	16.8%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (nonresident)	0	1	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season bull only (resident)	39	158	24.7%	1
Rifle — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	13	50	26.0%	2
Rifle — 2nd Season bull only (resident)	34	187	18.2%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season bull only (nonresident)	8	30	26.7%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season bull only (resident)	35	160	21.9%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season bull only (nonresident)	9	24	37.5%	—
Rifle — 4th Season bull only (resident)	11	94	11.7%	—
Rifle — 4th Season bull only (nonresident)	4	16	25.0%	1
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (resident)	15	107	14.0%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (nonresident)	2	6	33.3%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (resident)	7	63	11.1%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (nonresident)	1	3	33.3%	—

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 elk in unit 39, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

EE039O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 312 applicants for 62 licences, 19.9% drawn, 1 preference point needed
EM039O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Bull Only, resident: 187 applicants for 34 licences, 18.2% drawn, no preference points needed
EM039O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Bull Only, resident: 160 applicants for 35 licences, 21.9% drawn, no preference points needed
EM039O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 158 applicants for 39 licences, 24.7% drawn, 1 preference point 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 20 further code-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Moose Hunting in Unit 39

Unit 39 lies in Jefferson, Clear Creek and Park counties and covers about 369 square miles. Ground runs from 7,242 to 14,231 feet. CPW bounds it by U.S. 40 and Colo. 74 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put Shiras moose success here as high as 50%. Federal land covers about 65% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Shiras Moose in Unit 39

What CPW publishes for unit 39 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 Jefferson, Clear Creek and Park counties. It runs to about 369 square miles.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 40, Colo. 74 and Jefferson CR 73

CPW has unit 39 bounded on the north by U.S. 40 and I-70; on the east by Colo. 74 and Jefferson CR 73; on the south by U.S. 285, North Turkey Creek-Elk Creek divide and Pike-Arapaho NF boundary; on the west by Continental Divide. (See unit 391.) See "Land Closures & Use Restrictions," page 68. 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: Mount Sniktau, Kelso Mountain and Robeson Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Mount Sniktau at 13,212 feet, Kelso Mountain at 13,142 feet, Robeson Peak at 13,118 feet, Woods Mountain at 12,931 feet and Ganley Mountain at 12,865 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: Wide-awake Gulch, Thompson Gulch and Cloud Gulch

Below them sit Wide-awake Gulch at 9,620 feet, Thompson Gulch at 9,583 feet, Cloud Gulch at 9,441 feet, Beaver Meadows at 9,430 feet and Deadman Gulch at 9,413 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Two you can watch from a single knob is worth more than five you have to drive between.

Public ground to start from: Bakerville STL, Beaver Brook STL and Bergen Peak SWA

Water in this unit

The herd this unit belongs to: M-8

CPW does not manage Shiras moose unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit M-8, and unit 39 is one piece of it. The rest of M-8 is unit 46, unit 49, unit 50, unit 391, unit 461, unit 500 and unit 501. 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 39 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

8,137–11,988 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 10,057 ft ; peaks can run higher.
368.6 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

109 tanks
1 springs
316 stream segments
29 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: Mount Blue Sky (14,231 ft), Mount Edwards (13,842 ft), Bard Peak (13,615 ft), Gray Wolf Mountain (13,595 ft)

Holding ground: Summit Lake Flats (12,112 ft), Loveland Pass (11,996 ft), Bakerville STL, Beaver Brook STL, Bergen Peak 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 39

CPW's own harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 39 at 50% 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 Otter Mountain, Mount Bethel and Baker Mountain

Take a position on one of Otter Mountain (12,766 ft), Mount Bethel (12,687 ft), Baker Mountain (12,604 ft) and Stanley Mountain (12,503 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. 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: I 70 and CO 5

Where unit 39 sits inside M-8

Across M-8, CPW's 2023 Shiras moose success runs 100% in unit 46, 100% in unit 50, 100% in unit 500, 86% in unit 501 and 67% in unit 49. Unit 39 is the lowest of them, so whatever drives success in this herd is happening somewhere else in it. If the draw lets you choose, unit 46 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 39

Named routes and what they need

I 70 — 13.1 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CO 5 — 12.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 40 — 7.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CH 73 — 4.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 74 — 3.7 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CH 78 — 3.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Georgetown — 5.9 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Silver Plume — 7 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Idaho Springs — 7.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Empire — 8 mi · no services listed
Central City — 10.6 mi · lodging

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Indian Springs Campsites
Clear Lake Campground
Guanella Pass Campground · Fee · reservable
West Chicago Creek Campground · reservable

Season weather and signal

Jan34° / 13° · 0.9" precip
Aug71° / 45° · 2.4" precip
Sep65° / 38° · 1.6" precip
Oct53° / 29° · 1.3" precip
Nov42° / 20° · 1.1" precip
Dec34° / 13° · 1" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 9% 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.

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Moose Success Rates

All manners of take50%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 39 at 50% — 2 animals taken by 4 hunters. On a sample that small the percentage moves several points with one animal, so read the hunter count beside it.

Moose Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Archery — 1st Season cow only (resident)	8	172	4.7%	3
Archery — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Archery — 1st Season cow only (resident)	3	43	7.0%	3
Archery — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Any Legal Method — 1st Season bull only (resident)	8	448	1.8%	3
Any Legal Method — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Any Legal Method — 1st Season bull only (resident)	3	212	1.4%	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 39, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

MM039O1X — Any Legal Method, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 448 applicants for 8 licences, 1.8% drawn, 3 preference points needed
MM039S1X — Any Legal Method, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 212 applicants for 3 licences, 1.4% drawn, 3 preference points needed
MF039O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Cow Only, resident: 172 applicants for 8 licences, 4.7% drawn, 3 preference points needed
MF039S1A — Archery, 1st Season, Cow Only, resident: 43 applicants for 3 licences, 7% 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.

Bear Hunting in Unit 39

Unit 39 lies in Jefferson, Clear Creek and Park counties and covers about 369 square miles. Ground runs from 7,242 to 14,231 feet. CPW bounds it by U.S. 40 and Colo. 74 among others. CPW publishes no per-unit black bear success figure we can verify for this unit. Federal land covers about 65% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Black Bear in Unit 39

CPW's material on unit 39 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its black bear live. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Jefferson, Clear Creek and Park counties. It runs to about 369 square miles.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 40, Colo. 74 and Jefferson CR 73

CPW has unit 39 bounded on the north by U.S. 40 and I-70; on the east by Colo. 74 and Jefferson CR 73; on the south by U.S. 285, North Turkey Creek-Elk Creek divide and Pike-Arapaho NF boundary; on the west by Continental Divide. (See unit 391.) See "Land Closures & Use Restrictions," page 68. 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: Mount Machebeuf, Otter Mountain and Mount Bethel

Named high points inside the unit include Mount Machebeuf at 12,787 feet, Otter Mountain at 12,766 feet, Mount Bethel at 12,687 feet, Baker Mountain at 12,604 feet and Stanley Mountain at 12,503 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Bears follow food, which in early autumn means oakbrush, chokecherry and serviceberry on south slopes.

Holding ground: Pinkerton Gulch, Brown Gulch and Snowdrift Gulch

Below them sit Pinkerton Gulch at 9,389 feet, Brown Gulch at 9,321 feet, Snowdrift Gulch at 9,255 feet, Deadman Gulch at 8,874 feet and Empire Pass at 8,740 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: Bakerville STL, Beaver Brook STL and Bergen Peak SWA

Water in this unit

The herd this unit belongs to: B-19

CPW does not manage black bear unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit B-19, and unit 39 is one piece of it. The rest of B-19 is unit 46, unit 50, unit 51, unit 104, unit 391, unit 461, unit 500 and unit 501. 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.

Unit 39 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

8,137–11,988 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 10,057 ft ; peaks can run higher.
368.6 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

109 tanks
1 springs
316 stream segments
29 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: Mount Blue Sky (14,231 ft), Mount Edwards (13,842 ft), Bard Peak (13,615 ft), Gray Wolf Mountain (13,595 ft)

Holding ground: Summit Lake Flats (12,112 ft), Loveland Pass (11,996 ft), Bakerville STL, Beaver Brook STL, Bergen Peak 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 Black Bear in Unit 39

CPW publishes no black bear success figure for unit 39 that we can tie to this unit alone, so we won't quote one. The plan: find the berry crop first, then glass it morning and evening until something is in it.

Glassing from Sugarloaf Peak, Silver Plume Mountain and Mount Trelease

Take a position on one of Sugarloaf Peak (12,502 ft), Silver Plume Mountain (12,464 ft), Mount Trelease (12,451 ft) and Republican Mountain (12,377 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, September hunts coincide with the feeding push before denning.

Water against feed

There are 316 mapped stream reaches and 109 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: I 70 and CO 5

A first plan from the pins on this page

What a day here costs you

369 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The nearest services are at Georgetown, about 6 miles out, which is an hour of your morning each way if you sleep there. With 3,851 feet between the lowest and highest ground, the walk back up out of a kill site is the part to plan first. Leave the truck earlier than you want to and you will hunt the best half-hour of the 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. We have no black bear success figure for this unit that survives checking against CPW's own harvest and hunter counts, and we would rather say so than print a statewide average as though it were measured here.

Getting in and staying out: unit 39

Named routes and what they need

I 70 — 13.1 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CO 5 — 12.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 40 — 7.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CH 73 — 4.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 74 — 3.7 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CH 78 — 3.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Georgetown — 5.9 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Silver Plume — 7 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Idaho Springs — 7.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Empire — 8 mi · no services listed
Central City — 10.6 mi · lodging

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Indian Springs Campsites
Clear Lake Campground
Guanella Pass Campground · Fee · reservable
West Chicago Creek Campground · reservable

Season weather and signal

Jan34° / 13° · 0.9" precip
Aug71° / 45° · 2.4" precip
Sep65° / 38° · 1.6" precip
Oct53° / 29° · 1.3" precip
Nov42° / 20° · 1.1" precip
Dec34° / 13° · 1" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 9% 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.

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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Bear Success Rates

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates carry no black bear row for unit 39 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.

Bear Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Archery — 1st Season either sex (resident)	64	80	80.0%	—
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	3	4	75.0%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season either sex (resident)	14	29	48.3%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	2	4	50.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season either sex (resident)	235	352	66.8%	—
Rifle — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	8	8	100.0%	—

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 black bear in unit 39, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

BE039O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 352 applicants for 235 licences, 66.8% drawn, no preference points needed
BE039O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 80 applicants for 64 licences, 80% drawn, no preference points needed
BE039O1M — Muzzleloader, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 29 applicants for 14 licences, 48.3% drawn, no preference points needed
BE039O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Either Sex, nonresident: 8 applicants for 8 licences, 100% 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

7 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including Indian Springs Campsites, Clear Lake Campground and Guanella Pass Campground.

🛣️

Road Conditions

I 70, CO 5 and US 40 are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 54 mi paved, 10 mi gravel and 1 mi four-wheel-drive.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

8,137–11,988 ft, averaging 10,057. 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 65/38°F, 1.6 in.; Oct 53/29°F, 1.3 in.; Nov 42/20°F, 1.1 in..

📱

Cell Service

Verizon 9%, AT&T 6%, T-Mobile 3% of the unit area — modelled coverage, not measured. Assume no signal off the paved road.

🏘️

Nearest Town

Georgetown (6 mi), Silver Plume (7 mi), Idaho Springs (7 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit 39?

Unit 39 lies in Jefferson, Clear Creek and Park counties, and CPW has it bounded on the north by U.S. 40 and I-70; on the east by Colo. 74 and Jefferson CR 73; on the south by U.S. 285, North Turkey Creek-Elk Creek divide and Pike-Arapaho NF boundary; on the west by Continental Divide. (See unit 391.) See "Land Closures & Use Restrictions," page 68. It covers about 369 square miles.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 39?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 39 at 26% across all manners of take, and archery 20% and rifle 28% 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 39 hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 39 are at Georgetown, about 6 miles from the unit's centre, with Silver Plume at about 7 miles. There are also 7 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the elk success rate in unit 39?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 39 at 27% across all manners of take, and archery 24%, muzzleloader 41% and rifle 25% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the Shiras moose success rate in unit 39?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 39 at 50% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the black bear success rate in unit 39?

CPW publishes no black bear success figure we can tie to unit 39 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 Deer Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for mule deer in unit 39, 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 39, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22
2023 Colorado Moose Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for Shiras moose in unit 39, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22