Unit 471 (Roaring Fork)
Colorado Hunting Guide — Elk, Mule Deer
Unit 471 lies in Pitkin County and covers about 104 square miles. Ground runs from 7,951 to 13,959 feet. CPW bounds it by Roaring Fork and Colo. 82 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 8%. Federal land covers about 92% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 471
Unit 471 lies in Pitkin County and covers about 104 square miles. Ground runs from 7,951 to 13,959 feet. CPW bounds it by Roaring Fork and Colo. 82 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 8%. Federal land covers about 92% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Elk in Unit 471
CPW draws an exact line around unit 471 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 Pitkin County. It runs to about 104 square miles.
The lines of the unit: Roaring Fork, Colo. 82 and Continental Divide
CPW has unit 471 bounded on the north by Roaring Fork and Colo. 82; on the east by Continental Divide; on the south by Roaring Fork River-Taylor River divide; o by Castle Creek. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. 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: Grizzly Peak, Truro Peak and Larson Peak
Named high points inside the unit include Grizzly Peak at 13,959 feet, Truro Peak at 13,256 feet, Larson Peak at 12,867 feet, Green Mountain at 12,791 feet and New York Peak at 12,777 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: Devils Punchbowl, Copper Gulch and Vallejo Gulch
Below them sit Devils Punchbowl at 9,442 feet, Copper Gulch at 9,147 feet, Vallejo Gulch at 8,385 feet, Queens Gulch at 8,271 feet and Pioneer Gulch at 8,095 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.
Water in this unit
The water inside the unit line comes to 1,105 mapped stream reaches, 10 lakes and 137 stock tanks. On ground with that many tanks, knowing which two or three hold water in your season is the most useful thing a scouting trip can tell you.
The herd this unit belongs to: E-15
CPW does not manage elk unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit E-15, and unit 471 is one piece of it. The rest of E-15 is unit 43 and unit 431. 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.
Reading the land status
Our ownership read for this unit is approximate — it comes out as National Forest 60%, Private / Other 32% and State Trust 8%, so treat it as a starting point and check a current land-status layer before you plan a route. A grid sample of the unit reads 8,872 to 12,220 feet, and named ground inside the line runs 7,951 to 13,959 feet — take 7,951 to 13,959 as the spread, because the sample is a grid and misses both ends. With 6,008 feet between the two ends, that is a lot of vertical to cover, and it means the season you draw decides which half of the unit you hunt.
Unit 471 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 8,872–12,220 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 10,940 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 104.1 sq mi inside the boundary.
Who owns the ground
- National Forest — 60%
- State Trust — 8%
- Private / Other — 32%
Roughly 68% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 137 tanks
- 1,105 stream segments
- 10 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: Grizzly Peak (13,959 ft), Truro Peak (13,256 ft), Green Mountain (12,791 ft), New York Peak (12,777 ft)
Holding ground: Pearl Pass (12,697 ft), Wet Gulch (11,014 ft), Brooklyn Gulch (10,479 ft)
Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.
How to Hunt Elk in Unit 471
Elk Success Rates
CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 471 at 4% — 12 animals taken by 288 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 — 2% success, 3 taken by 156 hunters
- Muzzleloader — 0% success, 0 taken by 16 hunters
- Rifle — 8% success, 10 taken by 116 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 — 4th Season either sex (resident) | 1 | 4 | 25.0% | — |
| Rifle — 4th Season either sex (nonresident) | 2 | 2 | 100.0% | — |
| Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (resident) | 4 | 9 | 44.4% | — |
| Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (nonresident) | 0 | 2 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 5th Season cow only (resident) | 4 | 5 | 80.0% | — |
| Rifle — 5th Season cow only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 4th Season cow only (resident) | 1 | 2 | 50.0% | — |
| Rifle — 4th Season cow only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (resident) | 3 | 11 | 27.3% | — |
| Rifle — 3rd Season cow 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 EngineCPW's 2026 draw recap for elk in unit 471, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- EF471O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Cow Only, resident: 11 applicants for 3 licences, 27.3% drawn, no preference points needed
- EF471O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Cow Only, resident: 9 applicants for 4 licences, 44.4% drawn, no preference points needed
- EF471P5R — Rifle, 5th Season, Cow Only, resident: 5 applicants for 4 licences, 80% drawn, no preference points needed
- EE471O4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Either Sex, resident: 4 applicants for 1 licences, 25% 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
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Colorado unit 471?
What is the elk success rate in unit 471?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 471 hunt?
What is the mule deer success rate in unit 471?
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Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-23.
- Colorado Big Game Hunting Brochure — Game Management Unit (GMU) Descriptions (pp. 79-80-81-82) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: GMU boundary description, Counties the unit lies in, Data analysis unit (DAU) the unit belongs to · accessed 2026-10-22
- 2023 Colorado Elk Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for elk in unit 471, 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 471, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22