Colorado Mule Deer Elk Moose

Unit 51

Colorado Hunting Guide — Mule Deer, Elk, Moose

Unit 51 lies in Douglas County and covers about 502 square miles. Ground runs from 5,427 to 9,797 feet. CPW bounds it by Colo. 470 and Douglas- Teller Co. line among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 64%. Federal land covers about 47% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Colorado Hunting Guide

🏔️

47%

Public Land

⛰️

5,623–9,083 ft

Sampled elevation

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Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 51

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 51

CPW's material on unit 51 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 Douglas County. It runs to about 502 square miles.

The lines of the unit: Colo. 470, Douglas- Teller Co. line and South Platte River

CPW has unit 51 bounded on the north by Colo. 470; on the east by I-25; on the south by Douglas- Teller Co. line; on the west by South Platte River. 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: Thunder Butte, Devils Head and Rampart Range

Named high points inside the unit include Thunder Butte at 9,797 feet, Devils Head at 9,703 feet, Rampart Range at 9,671 feet, Storm Peak at 9,152 feet and Dakan Mountain at 9,140 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: Illinois Gulch, Shrewsbury Gulch and Butler Canyon

Below them sit Illinois Gulch at 7,547 feet, Shrewsbury Gulch at 7,499 feet, Butler Canyon at 7,094 feet, Long Hollow at 7,071 feet and Northrup Gulch at 6,967 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.

Public ground to start from: Four Mile SWA and Sharptail Ridge SWA

CPW lists Four Mile SWA and Sharptail Ridge 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 47% of the unit on top of those.

Water: Strontia Spring

Named sources include Strontia 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: D-17

CPW does not manage mule deer unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit D-17, and unit 51 is one piece of it. The rest of D-17 is unit 39, unit 46, unit 391 and unit 461. 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 5,623 to 9,083 feet, and named ground inside the line runs 5,427 to 9,797 feet — take 5,427 to 9,797 as the spread, because the sample is a grid and misses both ends. With 4,370 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 51 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

5,623–9,083 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,218 ft ; peaks can run higher.
501.8 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

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: Thunder Butte (9,797 ft), Devils Head (9,703 ft), Storm Peak (9,152 ft), Dakan Mountain (9,140 ft)

Holding ground: Watson Park (8,278 ft), South Fork Missouri Gulch (8,237 ft), Missouri Gulch (7,598 ft), Four Mile SWA, Sharptail Ridge 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 51

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 51 at archery 37% and rifle 64%. 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 Turtle Mountain, Noddle Heads and Bergen Rock

Take a position on one of Turtle Mountain (8,840 ft), Noddle Heads (8,163 ft), Bergen Rock (8,155 ft) and Bell Rock (8,091 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. 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.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Season normals here run Sep 76/46°F, Oct 64/34°F and Nov 53/25°F. Warm afternoons compress the hunting into the first and last hour, and make meat care the day's real problem rather than the shot. Precipitation runs about 1.5 in. in Sep, 1.2 in. in Oct and 1 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: I 25 and FR 300

I 25 and CO 67 are the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. FR 300 and FR 347 need clearance, and that is usually where the boot tracks thin out. 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 51 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 51 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.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Thunder Butte, Devils Head, Storm Peak and Dakan Mountain as places to see from, and Watson Park, South Fork Missouri Gulch, Missouri Gulch and Four Mile SWA 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

502 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 Perry Park, about 5 miles out, which is an hour of your morning each way if you sleep there. With 3,460 feet between the lowest and highest ground, the walk back up out of a kill site is the part to plan first. One good position held through the whole of first light beats three visited in a hurry.

Getting in and staying out: unit 51

Named routes and what they need

I 25 — 24.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 300 — 14.3 mi · High-clearance
CO 67 — 12.8 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 53 — 6.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CH 97 — 5.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
FR 347 — 5.1 mi · High-clearance

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

Perry Park — 4.8 mi · no services listed
Larkspur — 10.2 mi · fuel
Castle Rock — 10.3 mi · fuel, groceries, gear
Castle Pines Village — 11.1 mi · fuel, groceries, gear
Roxborough Park — 11.2 mi · fuel

Developed camps

YMCA Camo Shady Brook
Ouzel Campground
Lone Rock Campground · reservable
Chatfield Campground
Devil's Head Campground · Fee

Season weather and signal

Jan45° / 17° · 0.7" precip
Aug83° / 55° · 2.4" precip
Sep76° / 46° · 1.5" precip
Oct64° / 34° · 1.2" precip
Nov53° / 25° · 1" precip
Dec45° / 17° · 0.9" 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.

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 take58%

Archery37%

Rifle64%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 51 at 58% — 331 animals taken by 572 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 — 37% success, 31 taken by 84 hunters
Rifle — 64% success, 266 taken by 414 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)	98	369	26.6%	—
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	2	20	10.0%	1
Muzzleloader — 1st Season doe only (resident)	27	118	22.9%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	2	2	100.0%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (resident)	35	151	23.2%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	11	30	36.7%	1
Rifle — 5th Season doe only (resident)	102	181	56.4%	—
Rifle — 5th Season doe only (nonresident)	0	2	0.0%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (resident)	66	418	15.8%	1
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (nonresident)	17	54	31.5%	1
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (resident)	57	457	12.5%	1
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (nonresident)	14	49	28.6%	2
Rifle — 4th Season buck only (resident)	33	322	10.2%	2
Rifle — 4th Season buck only (nonresident)	10	47	21.3%	2
Rifle — 5th Season buck only (resident)	73	264	27.7%	—
Rifle — 5th Season buck only (nonresident)	5	10	50.0%	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 51, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

DM051O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Buck Only, resident: 457 applicants for 57 licences, 12.5% drawn, 1 preference point needed
DM051O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Buck Only, resident: 418 applicants for 66 licences, 15.8% drawn, 1 preference point needed
DE051O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 369 applicants for 98 licences, 26.6% drawn, no preference points needed
DM051O4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Buck Only, resident: 322 applicants for 33 licences, 10.2% drawn, 2 preference points needed

Colorado runs a pure preference-point draw, so the point figure above is the requirement the agency published for that code in that year, not a forecast for the next one. There are 12 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 51

Unit 51 lies in Douglas County and covers about 502 square miles. Ground runs from 5,427 to 9,797 feet. CPW bounds it by Colo. 470 and Douglas- Teller Co. line among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 31%. Federal land covers about 47% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Elk in Unit 51

What CPW publishes for unit 51 is a boundary, not a elk map. 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 Douglas County. It runs to about 502 square miles.

The lines of the unit: Colo. 470, Douglas- Teller Co. line and South Platte River

CPW has unit 51 bounded on the north by Colo. 470; on the east by I-25; on the south by Douglas- Teller Co. line; on the west by South Platte River. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. 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: Chimney Peak, Campbell Mountain and Sheep Nose

Named high points inside the unit include Chimney Peak at 9,024 feet, Campbell Mountain at 8,908 feet, Sheep Nose at 8,848 feet, Turtle Mountain at 8,840 feet and Noddle Heads at 8,163 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: Stone Canyon, Flickenstein Gulch and Sand Draw

Below them sit Stone Canyon at 6,899 feet, Flickenstein Gulch at 6,847 feet, Sand Draw at 6,838 feet, Metz Canyon at 6,796 feet and Polhemus Gulch at 6,709 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: Four Mile SWA and Sharptail Ridge SWA

Water: Strontia Spring

Named sources include Strontia 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: E-51

CPW does not manage elk unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit E-51, and unit 51 is one piece of it. The rest of E-51 is unit 104, unit 105, unit 106, unit 110 and unit 111. 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.

Reading the land status

Unit 51 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

5,623–9,083 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,218 ft ; peaks can run higher.
501.8 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

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: Thunder Butte (9,797 ft), Devils Head (9,703 ft), Storm Peak (9,152 ft), Dakan Mountain (9,140 ft)

Holding ground: Watson Park (8,278 ft), South Fork Missouri Gulch (8,237 ft), Missouri Gulch (7,598 ft), Four Mile SWA, Sharptail Ridge 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 51

CPW's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 51 at archery 24%, muzzleloader 17% and rifle 31%. 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 Bennett Mountain, Sunset Point and Russell Ridge

Take a position on one of Bennett Mountain (8,032 ft), Sunset Point (8,017 ft), Russell Ridge (7,958 ft) and Raspberry Butte (7,736 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 bugling works where you can get above a drainage and let the thermals carry sound downhill.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: I 25 and FR 300

Where unit 51 sits inside E-51

Across E-51, CPW's 2023 elk success runs 53% in unit 104, 36% in unit 105, 35% in unit 106, 30% in unit 110 and 28% in unit 51. That puts unit 51 behind 4 of the 5 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 104 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 a day here costs you

Getting in and staying out: unit 51

Named routes and what they need

I 25 — 24.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 300 — 14.3 mi · High-clearance
CO 67 — 12.8 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 53 — 6.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CH 97 — 5.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
FR 347 — 5.1 mi · High-clearance

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

Perry Park — 4.8 mi · no services listed
Larkspur — 10.2 mi · fuel
Castle Rock — 10.3 mi · fuel, groceries, gear
Castle Pines Village — 11.1 mi · fuel, groceries, gear
Roxborough Park — 11.2 mi · fuel

Developed camps

YMCA Camo Shady Brook
Ouzel Campground
Lone Rock Campground · reservable
Chatfield Campground
Devil's Head Campground · Fee

Season weather and signal

Jan45° / 17° · 0.7" precip
Aug83° / 55° · 2.4" precip
Sep76° / 46° · 1.5" precip
Oct64° / 34° · 1.2" precip
Nov53° / 25° · 1" precip
Dec45° / 17° · 0.9" 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.

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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Unlock tactics for Unit 51

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Elk Success Rates

All manners of take28%

Archery24%

Muzzleloader17%

Rifle31%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 51 at 28% — 163 animals taken by 578 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 — 17% success, 12 taken by 68 hunters
Rifle — 31% success, 130 taken by 422 hunters

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Archery — 1st Season either sex (resident)	77	281	27.4%	1
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	15	56	26.8%	1
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (resident)	46	104	44.2%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	1	4	25.0%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (resident)	29	134	21.6%	1
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	10	35	28.6%	3
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (resident)	29	92	31.5%	—
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	2	4	50.0%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (resident)	39	119	32.8%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (nonresident)	0	4	0.0%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (resident)	215	282	76.2%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (nonresident)	4	7	57.1%	—
Rifle — 1st Season bull only (resident)	28	170	16.5%	1
Rifle — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	8	29	27.6%	1
Rifle — 2nd Season bull only (resident)	32	143	22.4%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season bull only (nonresident)	3	20	15.0%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (resident)	35	122	28.7%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (nonresident)	3	4	75.0%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (resident)	33	81	40.7%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (nonresident)	0	2	0.0%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season bull only (resident)	16	110	14.5%	1
Rifle — 3rd Season bull only (nonresident)	6	11	54.5%	1
Rifle — 4th Season bull only (resident)	14	85	16.5%	—
Rifle — 4th Season bull only (nonresident)	1	11	9.1%	2

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

EF051P5R — Rifle, 5th Season, Cow Only, resident: 282 applicants for 215 licences, 76.2% drawn, no preference points needed
EE051O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 281 applicants for 77 licences, 27.4% drawn, 1 preference point needed
EM051O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 170 applicants for 28 licences, 16.5% drawn, 1 preference point needed
EM051O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Bull Only, resident: 143 applicants for 32 licences, 22.4% 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 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 51

Unit 51 lies in Douglas County and covers about 502 square miles. Ground runs from 5,427 to 9,797 feet. CPW bounds it by Colo. 470 and Douglas- Teller Co. line among others. CPW publishes no per-unit Shiras moose success figure we can verify for this unit. Federal land covers about 47% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Shiras Moose in Unit 51

CPW's material on unit 51 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its Shiras moose live. 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 Douglas County. It runs to about 502 square miles.

The lines of the unit: Colo. 470, Douglas- Teller Co. line and South Platte River

CPW has unit 51 bounded on the north by Colo. 470; on the east by I-25; on the south by Douglas- Teller Co. line; on the west by South Platte River. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. 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: Bergen Rock, Bell Rock and Bennett Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Bergen Rock at 8,155 feet, Bell Rock at 8,091 feet, Bennett Mountain at 8,032 feet, Sunset Point at 8,017 feet and Russell Ridge at 7,958 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: Bridge Gulch, Seifers Gulch and Spring Gulch

Below them sit Bridge Gulch at 6,633 feet, Seifers Gulch at 6,619 feet, Spring Gulch at 6,619 feet, Starr Canyon at 6,603 feet and Riley Hill at 6,588 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: Four Mile SWA and Sharptail Ridge SWA

Water: Strontia Spring

Named sources include Strontia 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: M-14

CPW does not manage Shiras moose unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit M-14, and unit 51 is one piece of it. The rest of M-14 is unit 57, unit 58, unit 59, unit 511, unit 512, unit 581 and unit 591. 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.

Reading the land status

Unit 51 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

5,623–9,083 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,218 ft ; peaks can run higher.
501.8 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

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: Thunder Butte (9,797 ft), Devils Head (9,703 ft), Storm Peak (9,152 ft), Dakan Mountain (9,140 ft)

Holding ground: Watson Park (8,278 ft), South Fork Missouri Gulch (8,237 ft), Missouri Gulch (7,598 ft), Four Mile SWA, Sharptail Ridge 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 51

CPW publishes no Shiras moose success figure for unit 51 that we can tie to this unit alone, so we won't quote one. 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 Thomas Hill, Elephant Rock and Bear Mountain

Take a position on one of Thomas Hill (7,734 ft), Elephant Rock (7,728 ft), Bear Mountain (7,719 ft) and Monkey Face (7,706 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. A tripod is worth more here than another hour of walking. On the rut hunts, late September bulls answer a cow call near water.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: I 25 and FR 300

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Thunder Butte, Devils Head, Storm Peak and Dakan Mountain as places to see from, and Watson Park, South Fork Missouri Gulch, Missouri Gulch and Four Mile SWA as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Walk between two of them rather than driving between four, and you will learn more in a day.

What a day here costs you

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 Shiras moose 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 51

Named routes and what they need

I 25 — 24.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 300 — 14.3 mi · High-clearance
CO 67 — 12.8 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 53 — 6.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CH 97 — 5.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
FR 347 — 5.1 mi · High-clearance

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

Perry Park — 4.8 mi · no services listed
Larkspur — 10.2 mi · fuel
Castle Rock — 10.3 mi · fuel, groceries, gear
Castle Pines Village — 11.1 mi · fuel, groceries, gear
Roxborough Park — 11.2 mi · fuel

Developed camps

YMCA Camo Shady Brook
Ouzel Campground
Lone Rock Campground · reservable
Chatfield Campground
Devil's Head Campground · Fee

Season weather and signal

Jan45° / 17° · 0.7" precip
Aug83° / 55° · 2.4" precip
Sep76° / 46° · 1.5" precip
Oct64° / 34° · 1.2" precip
Nov53° / 25° · 1" precip
Dec45° / 17° · 0.9" 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.

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

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates carry no Shiras moose row for unit 51 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.

Moose Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Archery — 1st Season cow only (resident)	2	148	1.4%	3
Archery — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Any Legal Method — 1st Season bull only (resident)	5	285	1.8%	3
Any Legal Method — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	1	68	1.5%	3
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (resident)	3	146	2.1%	3
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	1	7	14.3%	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 Shiras moose in unit 51, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

MM051O1X — Any Legal Method, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 285 applicants for 5 licences, 1.8% drawn, 3 preference points needed
MF051O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Cow Only, resident: 148 applicants for 2 licences, 1.4% drawn, 3 preference points needed
MF051L1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Cow Only, resident: 146 applicants for 3 licences, 2.1% drawn, 3 preference points needed
MM051O1X — Any Legal Method, 1st Season, Bull Only, nonresident: 68 applicants for 1 licences, 1.5% 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. There are 1 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

10 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including YMCA Camo Shady Brook, Ouzel Campground and Lone Rock Campground.

🛣️

Road Conditions

I 25, FR 300 and CO 67 are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 72 mi paved, 15 mi gravel and 0 mi four-wheel-drive.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

5,623–9,083 ft, averaging 7,218. 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 76/46°F, 1.5 in.; Oct 64/34°F, 1.2 in.; Nov 53/25°F, 1 in..

📱

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

Perry Park (5 mi), Larkspur (10 mi), Castle Rock (10 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit 51?

Unit 51 lies in Douglas County, and CPW has it bounded on the north by Colo. 470; on the east by I-25; on the south by Douglas- Teller Co. line; on the west by South Platte River. It covers about 502 square miles.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 51?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 51 at 58% across all manners of take, and archery 37% and rifle 64% 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 51 hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 51 are at Perry Park, about 5 miles from the unit's centre, with Larkspur at about 10 miles. There are also 10 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the elk success rate in unit 51?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 51 at 28% across all manners of take, and archery 24%, muzzleloader 17% and rifle 31% 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 51?

CPW publishes no Shiras moose success figure we can tie to unit 51 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.

Free Hunt Planning Tools

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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 51, 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 51, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22