Colorado Elk Moose Mule Deer

Unit 56

Colorado Hunting Guide — Elk, Moose, Mule Deer

Unit 56 lies in Chaffee County and covers about 241 square miles. Ground runs from 7,141 to 14,237 feet. CPW bounds it by Tincup Pass Rd and Chalk Creek among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 25%. Federal land covers about 69% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Colorado Hunting Guide

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69%

Public Land

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 56

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Colorado Unit 56 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.

Elk guide Moose guide Mule Deer guide

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Elk Hunting in Unit 56

Where to Find Elk in Unit 56

CPW draws an exact line around unit 56 and says nothing about where the elk stand inside it. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Chaffee County. It runs to about 241 square miles.

The lines of the unit: Tincup Pass Rd, Chalk Creek and Arkansas River

CPW has unit 56 bounded on the north by Tincup Pass Rd. and Chalk Creek; on the east by Arkansas River; on the south by South Arkansas River and U.S. 50; on the west by Continental Divide. 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: Mount Antero, Mount Shavano and Tabeguache Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Mount Antero at 14,237 feet, Mount Shavano at 14,191 feet, Tabeguache Peak at 14,083 feet, Mountain Morning Ridge at 13,846 feet and Cronin Peak at 13,843 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: Baldwin Gulch, Hunkydory Gulch and Tunnel Gulch

Below them sit Baldwin Gulch at 10,817 feet, Hunkydory Gulch at 10,702 feet, Tunnel Gulch at 10,583 feet, Lake Gulch at 10,494 feet and Wildcat Gulch at 10,403 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Two you can watch from a single knob is worth more than five you have to drive between.

Public ground to start from: Chaffee County Shooting Range SWA, Droney Gulch SWA and Frantz Lake SWA

CPW lists Chaffee County Shooting Range SWA, Droney Gulch SWA, Frantz Lake SWA, Mount Ouray SWA and Mount Shavano 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 69% of the unit on top of those.

The herd this unit belongs to: E-17

CPW does not manage elk unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit E-17, and unit 56 is one piece of it. The rest of E-17 is unit 48, unit 481 and unit 561. 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 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 7,267 to 12,981 feet, and named ground inside the line runs 7,141 to 14,237 feet — take 7,141 to 14,237 as the spread, because the sample is a grid and misses both ends. With 7,096 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 56 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Mount Antero (14,237 ft), Tabeguache Peak (14,083 ft), Mountain Morning Ridge (13,846 ft), Grizzly Mountain (13,712 ft)

Holding ground: Hancock Pass (12,150 ft), Hoffman Park (11,688 ft), Original Monarch Pass (11,530 ft), Chaffee County Shooting Range SWA, Droney Gulch 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 56

CPW's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 56 at archery 7%, muzzleloader 24% 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 Taylor Mountain, Mount White and Cyclone Mountain

Take a position on one of Taylor Mountain (13,633 ft), Mount White (13,632 ft), Cyclone Mountain (13,602 ft) and Jones Peak (13,573 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. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. 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

Season normals here run Sep 75/37°F, Oct 63/27°F and Nov 50/17°F. By Nov the lows are around 17°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 0.9 in. in Sep, 0.9 in. in Oct and 0.4 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

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. 10 mapped public entry points fall inside the unit, so decide which one you take before the morning you take it.

Where unit 56 sits inside E-17

Across E-17, CPW's 2023 elk success runs 29% in unit 48, 22% in unit 481, 21% in unit 56 and 19% in unit 561. That puts unit 56 behind 2 of the 3 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 48 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 Antero, Tabeguache Peak, Mountain Morning Ridge and Grizzly Mountain as places to see from, and Hancock Pass, Hoffman Park, Original Monarch Pass and Chaffee County Shooting Range SWA 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

241 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. With 5,714 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.

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.

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.

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 take21%

Archery7%

Muzzleloader24%

Rifle25%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 56 at 21% — 90 animals taken by 423 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 — 7% success, 6 taken by 91 hunters
Muzzleloader — 24% success, 15 taken by 59 hunters
Rifle — 25% success, 69 taken by 273 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
Archery — 1st Season either sex (resident)	70	179	39.1%	—
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	30	95	31.6%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (resident)	26	82	31.7%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	11	31	35.5%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (resident)	25	87	28.7%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	9	33	27.3%	1
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (resident)	39	145	26.9%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (nonresident)	4	14	28.6%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (resident)	38	112	33.9%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (nonresident)	8	17	47.1%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (resident)	27	79	34.2%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (nonresident)	1	6	16.7%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (resident)	23	59	39.0%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (nonresident)	0	5	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season bull only (resident)	21	124	16.9%	—
Rifle — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	8	37	21.6%	1
Rifle — 2nd Season bull only (resident)	25	136	18.4%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season bull only (nonresident)	4	32	12.5%	1
Rifle — 3rd Season bull only (resident)	25	117	21.4%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season bull only (nonresident)	9	46	19.6%	1
Rifle — 4th Season bull only (resident)	15	84	17.9%	—
Rifle — 4th Season bull only (nonresident)	1	9	11.1%	—

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 elk in unit 56, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

EE056O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 179 applicants for 70 licences, 39.1% drawn, no preference points needed
EF056O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Cow Only, resident: 145 applicants for 39 licences, 26.9% drawn, no preference points needed
EM056O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Bull Only, resident: 136 applicants for 25 licences, 18.4% drawn, no preference points needed
EM056O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 124 applicants for 21 licences, 16.9% 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 18 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 56

Unit 56 lies in Chaffee County and covers about 241 square miles. Ground runs from 7,141 to 14,237 feet. CPW bounds it by Tincup Pass Rd and Chalk Creek among others. CPW's harvest estimates put Shiras moose success here as high as 100%. Federal land covers about 69% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Shiras Moose in Unit 56

CPW's material on unit 56 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its Shiras moose live. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Chaffee County. It runs to about 241 square miles.

The lines of the unit: Tincup Pass Rd, Chalk Creek and Arkansas River

CPW has unit 56 bounded on the north by Tincup Pass Rd. and Chalk Creek; on the east by Arkansas River; on the south by South Arkansas River and U.S. 50; on the west by Continental Divide. 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: Grizzly Mountain, Mount Aetna and Carbonate Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Grizzly Mountain at 13,712 feet, Mount Aetna at 13,710 feet, Carbonate Mountain at 13,646 feet, Taylor Mountain at 13,633 feet and Mount White at 13,632 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: Pomeroy Gulch, Kangaroo Gulch and Sawmill Gulch

Below them sit Pomeroy Gulch at 10,371 feet, Kangaroo Gulch at 10,285 feet, Sawmill Gulch at 10,279 feet, Columbus Gulch at 10,233 feet and Grizzly Gulch at 9,924 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: Sand Creek Central STL, Sands Lake SWA and Chaffee County Shooting Range SWA

CPW lists Sand Creek Central STL, Sands Lake SWA, Chaffee County Shooting Range SWA, Droney Gulch SWA and Frantz Lake 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 69% of the unit on top of those.

The herd this unit belongs to: M-12

CPW does not manage Shiras moose unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit M-12, and unit 56 is one piece of it. The rest of M-12 is unit 48, unit 55, unit 481, unit 551 and unit 561. 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 56 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Mount Antero (14,237 ft), Tabeguache Peak (14,083 ft), Mountain Morning Ridge (13,846 ft), Grizzly Mountain (13,712 ft)

Holding ground: Hancock Pass (12,150 ft), Hoffman Park (11,688 ft), Original Monarch Pass (11,530 ft), Chaffee County Shooting Range SWA, Droney Gulch 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 56

CPW's own harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 56 at 100% 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 Mount Mamma, Boulder Mountain and Pomeroy Mountain

Take a position on one of Mount Mamma (13,560 ft), Boulder Mountain (13,504 ft), Pomeroy Mountain (13,144 ft) and Sewanee Peak (13,102 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, late September bulls answer a cow call near water.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads

Where unit 56 sits inside M-12

Across M-12, CPW's 2023 Shiras moose success runs 100% in unit 56, 100% in unit 481 and 86% in unit 55. Nothing in the herd beat unit 56 on that measure and one unit matched it, which on a hunt this small says more about tag numbers than about 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

What a day here costs you

241 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. With 5,714 feet between the lowest and highest ground, the walk back up out of a kill site is the part to plan first. 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.

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 take100%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 56 at 100% — 3 animals taken by 3 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
Any Legal Method — 1st Season bull only (resident)	4	320	1.3%	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 56, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

MM056O1X — Any Legal Method, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 320 applicants for 4 licences, 1.3% 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.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 56

Unit 56 lies in Chaffee County and covers about 241 square miles. Ground runs from 7,141 to 14,237 feet. CPW bounds it by Tincup Pass Rd and Chalk Creek among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 42%. Federal land covers about 69% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 56

CPW's material on unit 56 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 Chaffee County. It runs to about 241 square miles.

The lines of the unit: Tincup Pass Rd, Chalk Creek and Arkansas River

CPW has unit 56 bounded on the north by Tincup Pass Rd. and Chalk Creek; on the east by Arkansas River; on the south by South Arkansas River and U.S. 50; on the west by Continental Divide. 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: Cyclone Mountain, Jones Peak and Mount Mamma

Named high points inside the unit include Cyclone Mountain at 13,602 feet, Jones Peak at 13,573 feet, Mount Mamma at 13,560 feet, Boulder Mountain at 13,504 feet and Pomeroy Mountain at 13,144 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: Poplar Gulch, Coal Camp Canyon and Deer Canyon

Below them sit Poplar Gulch at 9,880 feet, Coal Camp Canyon at 9,581 feet, Deer Canyon at 9,385 feet, Tie Gulch at 8,481 feet and Mill Gulch at 8,379 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Public ground to start from: Mount Ouray SWA, Mount Shavano SWA and Sand Creek Central STL

CPW lists Mount Ouray SWA, Mount Shavano SWA, Sand Creek Central STL, Sands Lake SWA and Chaffee County Shooting Range 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 69% of the unit on top of those.

The herd this unit belongs to: D-15

CPW does not manage mule deer unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit D-15, and unit 56 is one piece of it. The rest of D-15 is unit 48, unit 481 and unit 561. 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

Unit 56 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Mount Antero (14,237 ft), Tabeguache Peak (14,083 ft), Mountain Morning Ridge (13,846 ft), Grizzly Mountain (13,712 ft)

Holding ground: Hancock Pass (12,150 ft), Hoffman Park (11,688 ft), Original Monarch Pass (11,530 ft), Chaffee County Shooting Range SWA, Droney Gulch 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 56

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 56 at archery 33% and rifle 42%. 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 Fitzpatrick Peak, Clover Mountain and Calico Mountain

Take a position on one of Fitzpatrick Peak (13,101 ft), Clover Mountain (12,945 ft), Calico Mountain (12,930 ft) and Bald Mountain (12,854 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-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads

Where unit 56 sits inside D-15

Across D-15, CPW's 2023 mule deer success runs 44% in unit 481, 37% in unit 56, 33% in unit 48 and 26% in unit 561. That puts unit 56 behind 1 of the 3 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 481 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 Antero, Tabeguache Peak, Mountain Morning Ridge and Grizzly Mountain as places to see from, and Hancock Pass, Hoffman Park, Original Monarch Pass and Chaffee County Shooting Range 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

241 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. With 5,714 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.

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.

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 take37%

Archery33%

Rifle42%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 56 at 37% — 111 animals taken by 298 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 — 33% success, 16 taken by 49 hunters
Rifle — 42% success, 88 taken by 207 hunters

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (resident)	24	76	31.6%	—
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	2	0.0%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (resident)	7	26	26.9%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (nonresident)	0	2	0.0%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (resident)	7	18	38.9%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (nonresident)	1	1	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 mule deer in unit 56, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

DF056L1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, resident: 76 applicants for 24 licences, 31.6% drawn, no preference points needed
DF056P2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Doe Only, resident: 26 applicants for 7 licences, 26.9% drawn, no preference points needed
DF056P3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Doe Only, resident: 18 applicants for 7 licences, 38.9% drawn, no preference points needed
DF056L1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, nonresident: 2 applicants for 0 licences, 0% 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

4 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including Cascade (Colorado), Angel Of Shavano Group and Chalk Lake.

🛣️

Road Conditions

Roughly 0 mi paved, 0 mi gravel and 0 mi four-wheel-drive.

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Terrain Difficulty

7,267–12,981 ft, averaging 9,543. More than 4,000 feet of relief, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

👥

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.

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Weather

Season normals: Sep 75/37°F, 0.9 in.; Oct 63/27°F, 0.9 in.; Nov 50/17°F, 0.4 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.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit 56?

Unit 56 lies in Chaffee County, and CPW has it bounded on the north by Tincup Pass Rd. and Chalk Creek; on the east by Arkansas River; on the south by South Arkansas River and U.S. 50; on the west by Continental Divide. It covers about 241 square miles.

What is the elk success rate in unit 56?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 56 at 21% across all manners of take, and archery 7%, muzzleloader 24% 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 56?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 56 at 100% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 56?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 56 at 37% across all manners of take, and archery 33% and rifle 42% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

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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 Elk Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for elk in unit 56, 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 Moose Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for Shiras moose in unit 56, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22
2023 Colorado Deer Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for mule deer in unit 56, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22