Unit 4 (Gore Pass)

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 4 at archery 11% and rifle 56%. A number like that comes from few tags and a short season, not from easy hunting. The plan: glass the broken edges at first light, then sit still and keep glassing the same ground.

Glassing from Slide Mountain, Little Emerson Peak and Smith Rim

Take a position on one of Slide Mountain (8,947 ft), Little Emerson Peak (8,926 ft), Smith Rim (8,922 ft) and Jim Robertson Mountain (8,921 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Getting past the roads

There is little true four-wheel-drive road here, so distance from the gravel is the only thing separating you from the next hunter. One mapped public entry point falls inside the unit, so decide which one you take before the morning you take it.

Where unit 4 sits inside D-2

Across D-2, CPW's 2023 mule deer success runs 47% in unit 4, 45% in unit 301, 39% in unit 3, 38% in unit 5 and 36% in unit 441. Unit 4 is the best of them on that measure, which usually means fewer tags rather than more animals. Success inside one herd moves with tag numbers and season length as much as with animals, so read the licence count alongside it.

The way in: Moffat CR1, Routt CR 82 and USFS 150

We have no road inventory for this unit, so the only routes we can name are the ones CPW draws the boundary with: Moffat CR1, Routt CR 82, USFS 150, U.S. 40 and Colo. 13. Those are its edges, not its interior — useful because they are where you leave the pavement, and useless for telling you what the inside is like. Check each of them on a current motor-vehicle-use map before you count on it, because a line on a boundary description is not a promise of public access.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Black Mountain, Mount Oliphant, Bears Ears Peaks and Sugar Loaf Mountain as places to see from, and Sawtooth Park, Adams Park, Grizzly Park and Bakers Peak 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 a day here costs you

468 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. Decide the night before where you will be at first light, and go there in the dark.

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.

CPW's own harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 4 at 0% across all manners of take. A number that low means most hunters here go home empty, and the ones who don't put the days in first. 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 McInturf Mesa, Pinnacle Mountain and Little Buck Mountain

Take a position on one of McInturf Mesa (8,291 ft), Pinnacle Mountain (8,252 ft), Little Buck Mountain (8,106 ft) and Serviceberry Mountain (7,961 ft) and be on it before light. In the dark the air runs downhill. Pick an approach that doesn't send it into the country you want to see, and plan to move once the slope warms. A tripod is worth more here than another hour of walking. On the rut hunts, late September bulls answer a cow call near water.

Getting past the roads

There is little true four-wheel-drive road here, so distance from the gravel is the only thing separating you from the next hunter. One mapped public entry point falls inside the unit, so decide which one you take before the morning you take it.

Where unit 4 sits inside M-9

Across M-9, CPW's 2023 Shiras moose success runs 81% in unit 14 and 0% in unit 4. Unit 4 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 14 carried the better number in the same herd — check its tag count before you read that as an easier hunt.

The way in: Moffat CR1, Routt CR 82 and USFS 150

We have no road inventory for this unit, so the only routes we can name are the ones CPW draws the boundary with: Moffat CR1, Routt CR 82, USFS 150, U.S. 40 and Colo. 13. Those are its edges, not its interior — useful because they are where you leave the pavement, and useless for telling you what the inside is like. Park on the boundary and walk; a unit you can only enter from its rim rewards whoever is willing to leave the truck at the rim.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Black Mountain, Mount Oliphant, Bears Ears Peaks and Sugar Loaf Mountain as places to see from, and Sawtooth Park, Adams Park, Grizzly Park and Bakers Peak 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 a day here costs you

468 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. Decide the night before where you will be at first light, and go there in the dark.

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.

CPW's own harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 4 at 86% across all manners of take. A number like that comes from few tags and a short season, not from easy hunting. The plan: spot from a vehicle or a rise at distance, then plan a stalk that uses the only cover there is — the curve of the ground.

Glassing from Buck Mountain, Cedar Hill and Black Mountain

Take a position on one of Buck Mountain (7,901 ft), Cedar Hill (7,053 ft), Black Mountain (10,840 ft) and Elkhead Mountains (10,839 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. A tripod is worth more here than another hour of walking. On the rut hunts, early-season bucks hold does and can be decoyed where the law allows it.

Getting past the roads

There is little true four-wheel-drive road here, so distance from the gravel is the only thing separating you from the next hunter. One mapped public entry point falls inside the unit, so decide which one you take before the morning you take it.

Where unit 4 sits inside A-9

Across A-9, CPW's 2023 pronghorn success runs 100% in unit 5, 86% in unit 4, 62% in unit 3, 42% in unit 441 and 41% in unit 301. That puts unit 4 behind 1 of the 7 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 5 carried the better number in the same herd — check its tag count before you read that as an easier hunt.

The way in: Moffat CR1, Routt CR 82 and USFS 150

We have no road inventory for this unit, so the only routes we can name are the ones CPW draws the boundary with: Moffat CR1, Routt CR 82, USFS 150, U.S. 40 and Colo. 13. Those are its edges, not its interior — useful because they are where you leave the pavement, and useless for telling you what the inside is like. Park on the boundary and walk; a unit you can only enter from its rim rewards whoever is willing to leave the truck at the rim.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Black Mountain, Mount Oliphant, Bears Ears Peaks and Sugar Loaf Mountain as places to see from, and Sawtooth Park, Adams Park, Grizzly Park and Bakers Peak 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 a day here costs you

468 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. 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.

What CPW publishes for unit 4 is a boundary, not a black bear map. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Moffat and Routt counties.

The lines of the unit: Moffat CR1, Routt CR 82 and USFS 150

CPW has unit 4 bounded on the north by WY; on the east by Moffat CR1, Routt CR 82, USFS 150 and Elkhead Creek; on the south by U.S. 40; on the west by Colo. 13. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. 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: Buck Mountain, Cedar Hill and Black Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Buck Mountain at 7,901 feet, Cedar Hill at 7,053 feet, Black Mountain at 10,840 feet, Elkhead Mountains at 10,839 feet and Mount Oliphant at 10,647 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: Long Gulch, Brown Gulch and Wadell Gulch

Below them sit Long Gulch at 6,403 feet, Brown Gulch at 6,369 feet, Wadell Gulch at 6,359 feet, Cole Gulch at 6,326 feet and Wymore Gulch at 6,314 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Public ground to start from: Bakers Peak STL, Cedars STL and Fourmile STL

CPW lists Bakers Peak STL, Cedars STL, Fourmile STL and Willow Creek STL 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 41% of the unit on top of those.

Water: Cold Spring and Box Spring

Named sources include Cold Spring and Box Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

The herd this unit belongs to: B-4

CPW does not manage black bear unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit B-4, and unit 4 is one piece of it. The rest of B-4 is unit 5, unit 6, unit 14, unit 16, unit 17, unit 161, unit 171 and unit 214 and 1 more. 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.

CPW publishes no black bear success figure for unit 4 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 Mount Oliphant, Mount Welba and Bears Ears Peaks

Take a position on one of Mount Oliphant (10,647 ft), Mount Welba (10,556 ft), Bears Ears Peaks (10,540 ft) and Buck Point (10,523 ft) and be on it before light. In the dark the air runs downhill. Pick an approach that doesn't send it into the country you want to see, and plan to move once the slope warms. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, September hunts coincide with the feeding push before denning.

Getting past the roads

There is little true four-wheel-drive road here, so distance from the gravel is the only thing separating you from the next hunter. One mapped public entry point falls inside the unit, so decide which one you take before the morning you take it.

The way in: Moffat CR1, Routt CR 82 and USFS 150

We have no road inventory for this unit, so the only routes we can name are the ones CPW draws the boundary with: Moffat CR1, Routt CR 82, USFS 150, U.S. 40 and Colo. 13. Those are its edges, not its interior — useful because they are where you leave the pavement, and useless for telling you what the inside is like. Park on the boundary and walk; a unit you can only enter from its rim rewards whoever is willing to leave the truck at the rim.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Black Mountain, Mount Oliphant, Bears Ears Peaks and Sugar Loaf Mountain as places to see from, and Sawtooth Park, Adams Park, Grizzly Park and Bakers Peak STL as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Join two of them into a morning: be on the first before light, move to the second once the thermals turn.

What a day here costs you

468 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. 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.