Unit 511 (Sangre de Cristo South)
Colorado Hunting Guide — Mule Deer, Elk
Unit 511 lies in Teller, El Paso and Park counties and covers about 363 square miles. Ground runs from 6,362 to 9,576 feet. CPW bounds it by Douglas Co. line and U.S. 24 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 56%. Federal land covers about 66% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 511
Unit 511 lies in Teller, El Paso and Park counties and covers about 363 square miles. Ground runs from 6,362 to 9,576 feet. CPW bounds it by Douglas Co. line and U.S. 24 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 56%. Federal land covers about 66% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 511
What CPW publishes for unit 511 is a boundary, not a mule deer map. 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 Teller, El Paso and Park counties. It runs to about 363 square miles.
The lines of the unit: Douglas Co. line, U.S. 24 and South Platte River
CPW has unit 511 bounded on the north by Douglas Co. line; on the east by I-25; on the south by U.S. 24; on the west by South Platte River, except on U.S. Air Force Academy. 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: Crystal Peak, Bald Mountain and Signal Butte
Named high points inside the unit include Crystal Peak at 9,576 feet, Bald Mountain at 9,462 feet, Signal Butte at 9,436 feet, Hackett Mountain at 9,424 feet and Blodgett Peak at 9,400 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: Ensign Gulch, North Fork Davis Gulch and South Fork Davis Gulch
Below them sit Ensign Gulch at 8,812 feet, North Fork Davis Gulch at 8,717 feet, South Fork Davis Gulch at 8,714 feet, Long Gulch at 8,679 feet and Spruce Gulch at 8,617 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Two you can watch from a single knob is worth more than five you have to drive between.
The herd this unit belongs to: D-50
CPW does not manage mule deer unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit D-50, and unit 511 is one piece of it. The rest of D-50 is unit 59, unit 512 and unit 591. 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.
Reading the land status
Our ownership read for this unit is approximate — it comes out as Private / Other 100%, 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 7,050 to 9,279 feet, and named ground inside the line runs 6,362 to 9,576 feet — take 6,362 to 9,576 as the spread, because the sample is a grid and misses both ends. With 3,214 feet between the two ends, there is enough relief to separate summer range from winter range.
Unit 511 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 7,050–9,279 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 8,362 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 363.1 sq mi inside the boundary.
Who owns the ground
- Private / Other — 100%
Roughly 0% 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: Signal Butte (9,436 ft), Hackett Mountain (9,424 ft), Blodgett Peak (9,400 ft), Mount Deception (9,340 ft)
Holding ground: Saylor Park (9,090 ft), Rainbow Gulch (8,994 ft), Crazy Gulch (8,847 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 Mule Deer in Unit 511
Mule Deer Success Rates
CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 511 at 56% — 290 animals taken by 516 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 — 47% success, 48 taken by 103 hunters
- Rifle — 56% success, 205 taken by 364 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (resident) | 16 | 382 | 4.2% | 3 |
| Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (nonresident) | 0 | 5 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (resident) | 15 | 320 | 4.7% | 2 |
| Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (nonresident) | 0 | 3 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (resident) | 27 | 68 | 39.7% | — |
| Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (resident) | 35 | 79 | 44.3% | — |
| Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 4th Season buck only (resident) | 17 | 355 | 4.8% | 4 |
| Rifle — 4th Season buck only (nonresident) | 6 | 33 | 18.2% | 6 |
| Rifle — 4th Season buck only (resident) | 70 | 111 | 63.1% | — |
| Rifle — 4th Season buck only (nonresident) | 5 | 6 | 83.3% | — |
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 mule deer in unit 511, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- DF511O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Doe Only, resident: 382 applicants for 16 licences, 4.2% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- DM511O4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Buck Only, resident: 355 applicants for 17 licences, 4.8% drawn, 4 preference points needed
- DF511O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Doe Only, resident: 320 applicants for 15 licences, 4.7% drawn, 2 preference points needed
- DM511P4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Buck Only, resident: 111 applicants for 70 licences, 63.1% 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 6 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 511?
What is the mule deer success rate in unit 511?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 511 hunt?
What is the elk success rate in unit 511?
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Upgrade to Pro — $49/yrSources & 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 511, 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 511, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22