Colorado Elk Pronghorn

Unit 57

Colorado Hunting Guide — Elk, Pronghorn

Unit 57 lies in Chaffee, Park and Fremont counties and covers about 270 square miles. Ground runs from 6,798 to 10,974 feet. CPW bounds it by U.S. 24 and Kaufman Ridge among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 36%. Federal land covers about 75% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Colorado Hunting Guide

🏔️

75%

Public Land

⛰️

8,069–10,144 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 57

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Colorado Unit 57 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 Pronghorn guide

Free accounts get one report a year with the top spot unlocked. ProHunt Pro includes unlimited reports, all three spots, the full camp plan, and GPX/KML downloads for onX and Google Earth. Prefer to see one first? Open the builder and pick any unit.

Elk Hunting in Unit 57

Where to Find Elk in Unit 57

CPW draws an exact line around unit 57 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 Chaffee, Park and Fremont counties. It runs to about 270 square miles.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 24, Kaufman Ridge and Badger Creek

CPW has unit 57 bounded on the north by U.S. 24; on the east by Kaufman Ridge and Badger Creek; on the south and west by Arkansas 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: Cameron Mountain, Kaufman Ridge and Big Baldy Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Cameron Mountain at 10,974 feet, Kaufman Ridge at 10,739 feet, Big Baldy Mountain at 10,732 feet, Aspen Ridge at 10,724 feet and Jack Rabbit Hill at 10,599 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: East Castle Rock Gulch, Cable Gulch and Columbine Gulch

Below them sit East Castle Rock Gulch at 9,260 feet, Cable Gulch at 9,165 feet, Columbine Gulch at 9,150 feet, West Columbine Gulch at 9,141 feet and Herring Park at 9,133 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.

Public ground to start from: Aspen Ridge STL, Burns Canyon STL and Railroad Gulch STL

CPW lists Aspen Ridge STL, Burns Canyon STL, Railroad Gulch STL, Sand Gulch #2 STL and Sands 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 75% of the unit on top of those.

Water in this unit

The water inside the unit line comes to 12,155 mapped stream reaches, 12 lakes and 159 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-22

CPW does not manage elk unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit E-22, and unit 57 is one piece of it. The rest of E-22 is unit 49 and unit 58. 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 National Forest 60%, Private / Other 17%, BLM 15% 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 8,069 to 10,144 feet, and named ground inside the line runs 6,798 to 10,974 feet — take 6,798 to 10,974 as the spread, because the sample is a grid and misses both ends. With 4,176 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 57 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

8,069–10,144 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 9,056 ft ; peaks can run higher.
269.8 sq mi inside the boundary.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 17%

Roughly 83% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

159 tanks
12,155 stream segments
12 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: Cameron Mountain (10,974 ft), Kaufman Ridge (10,739 ft), Big Baldy Mountain (10,732 ft), Aspen Ridge (10,724 ft)

Holding ground: Coons Park (9,567 ft), Bassam Park (9,500 ft), Sawmill Gulch (9,319 ft), Aspen Ridge STL, Burns Canyon STL

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 57

CPW's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 57 at archery 23%, muzzleloader 10% and rifle 36%. 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 Loco Ridge, Bassam Ridge and Graphite Ridge

Take a position on one of Loco Ridge (10,017 ft), Bassam Ridge (9,991 ft), Graphite Ridge (9,988 ft) and Castle Rock (9,782 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. 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, September bugling works where you can get above a drainage and let the thermals carry sound downhill.

Water against feed

There are 12,155 mapped stream reaches and 159 tanks inside the unit, so water is rarely the limiting factor. Where water is everywhere, feed is what concentrates animals, so hunt the feed and treat water as a convenience. Check the ground around it before you commit an evening to it.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Season normals here run Sep 75/38°F, Oct 63/28°F and Nov 50/18°F. By Nov the lows are around 18°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 0.8 in. in Sep, 0.8 in. in Oct and 0.3 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: CO 291 and US 50

CO 291, US 50 and US 24 / US 285 are the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. FR 308 needs 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. 8 mapped public entry points fall inside the unit, so decide which one you take before the morning you take it.

Where unit 57 sits inside E-22

Across E-22, CPW's 2023 elk success runs 36% in unit 49, 31% in unit 57 and 25% in unit 58. That puts unit 57 behind 1 of the 2 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 49 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 Cameron Mountain, Kaufman Ridge, Big Baldy Mountain and Aspen Ridge as places to see from, and Coons Park, Bassam Park, Sawmill Gulch and Aspen Ridge 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 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.

Getting in and staying out: unit 57

Named routes and what they need

CO 291 — 5.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 50 — 4.5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 86 — 4.2 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
US 24;US 285 — 3.6 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 2 — 2.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
FR 308 — 2 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

Nathrop — 8.4 mi · no services listed
Salida — 10 mi · fuel, gear
Poncha Springs — 13.2 mi · fuel, groceries
Buena Vista — 15 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Howard — 17 mi · no services listed

Developed camps

Mushroom Gulch Site 2
Mushroom Gulch Site 1
Point Barr
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site

Season weather and signal

Jan41° / 9° · 0.3" precip
Aug81° / 46° · 1.6" precip
Sep75° / 38° · 0.8" precip
Oct63° / 28° · 0.8" precip
Nov50° / 18° · 0.3" precip
Dec41° / 10° · 0.4" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 9% 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.

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 take31%

Archery23%

Muzzleloader10%

Rifle36%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 57 at 31% — 183 animals taken by 584 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 — 23% success, 18 taken by 78 hunters
Muzzleloader — 10% success, 7 taken by 70 hunters
Rifle — 36% success, 159 taken by 436 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)	100	420	23.8%	2
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	36	239	15.1%	4
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (resident)	46	190	24.2%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	8	26	30.8%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (resident)	56	247	22.7%	2
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	20	156	12.8%	7
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (resident)	50	328	15.2%	—
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	11	35	31.4%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (resident)	86	466	18.5%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (nonresident)	6	43	14.0%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (resident)	91	579	15.7%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (nonresident)	9	49	18.4%	1
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (resident)	88	447	19.7%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (nonresident)	5	27	18.5%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (resident)	175	453	38.6%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (nonresident)	10	47	21.3%	—
Rifle — 1st Season bull only (resident)	46	478	9.6%	3
Rifle — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	16	160	10.0%	9
Rifle — 2nd Season bull only (resident)	46	499	9.2%	3
Rifle — 2nd Season bull only (nonresident)	16	162	9.9%	5
Rifle — 3rd Season bull only (resident)	47	563	8.3%	3
Rifle — 3rd Season bull only (nonresident)	15	143	10.5%	5
Rifle — 4th Season bull only (resident)	44	411	10.7%	2
Rifle — 4th Season bull only (nonresident)	16	72	22.2%	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 elk in unit 57, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

EF057O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Cow Only, resident: 579 applicants for 91 licences, 15.7% drawn, no preference points needed
EM057O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Bull Only, resident: 563 applicants for 47 licences, 8.3% drawn, 3 preference points needed
EM057O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Bull Only, resident: 499 applicants for 46 licences, 9.2% drawn, 3 preference points needed
EM057O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 478 applicants for 46 licences, 9.6% 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 20 further code-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Pronghorn Hunting in Unit 57

Unit 57 lies in Chaffee, Park and Fremont counties and covers about 270 square miles. Ground runs from 6,798 to 10,974 feet. CPW bounds it by U.S. 24 and Kaufman Ridge among others. CPW's harvest estimates put pronghorn success here as high as 51%. Federal land covers about 75% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit 57

What CPW publishes for unit 57 is a boundary, not a pronghorn 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 Chaffee, Park and Fremont counties. It runs to about 270 square miles.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 24, Kaufman Ridge and Badger Creek

CPW has unit 57 bounded on the north by U.S. 24; on the east by Kaufman Ridge and Badger Creek; on the south and west by Arkansas River. 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: The Mascot, Green Mountain and Bull Hill

Named high points inside the unit include The Mascot at 10,248 feet, Green Mountain at 10,247 feet, Bull Hill at 10,152 feet, Loco Ridge at 10,017 feet and Bassam Ridge at 9,991 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Pronghorn stay on the open rolling ground and leave the timber alone.

Holding ground: Calf Gulch, Bull Gulch and Cow Gulch

Below them sit Calf Gulch at 9,104 feet, Bull Gulch at 9,074 feet, Cow Gulch at 9,066 feet, Castle Park at 9,049 feet and Cutler Gulch at 8,931 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: Aspen Ridge STL, Burns Canyon STL and Railroad Gulch STL

Water in this unit

The herd this unit belongs to: A-30

CPW does not manage pronghorn unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit A-30, and unit 57 is one piece of it. The rest of A-30 is unit 49, unit 50, unit 58, unit 500, unit 501, unit 511 and unit 581. 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 57 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

8,069–10,144 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 9,056 ft ; peaks can run higher.
269.8 sq mi inside the boundary.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 17%

Roughly 83% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

159 tanks
12,155 stream segments
12 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: Cameron Mountain (10,974 ft), Kaufman Ridge (10,739 ft), Big Baldy Mountain (10,732 ft), Aspen Ridge (10,724 ft)

Holding ground: Coons Park (9,567 ft), Bassam Park (9,500 ft), Sawmill Gulch (9,319 ft), Aspen Ridge STL, Burns Canyon STL

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 Pronghorn in Unit 57

CPW's own harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 57 at 51% 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 Calumet Mountain, Triad Ridge and Bald Mountain

Take a position on one of Calumet Mountain (9,707 ft), Triad Ridge (9,702 ft), Bald Mountain (9,605 ft) and Little Baldy Mountain (9,376 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. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. On the rut hunts, early-season bucks hold does and can be decoyed where the law allows it.

Water against feed

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: CO 291 and US 50

Where unit 57 sits inside A-30

Across A-30, CPW's 2023 pronghorn success runs 51% in unit 57, 51% in unit 58, 44% in unit 581, 41% in unit 50 and 26% in unit 500. Nothing in the herd beat unit 57 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

The map above marks Cameron Mountain, Kaufman Ridge, Big Baldy Mountain and Aspen Ridge as places to see from, and Coons Park, Bassam Park, Sawmill Gulch and Aspen Ridge STL 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.

Getting in and staying out: unit 57

Named routes and what they need

CO 291 — 5.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 50 — 4.5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 86 — 4.2 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
US 24;US 285 — 3.6 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 2 — 2.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
FR 308 — 2 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

Nathrop — 8.4 mi · no services listed
Salida — 10 mi · fuel, gear
Poncha Springs — 13.2 mi · fuel, groceries
Buena Vista — 15 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Howard — 17 mi · no services listed

Developed camps

Mushroom Gulch Site 2
Mushroom Gulch Site 1
Point Barr
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site

Season weather and signal

Jan41° / 9° · 0.3" precip
Aug81° / 46° · 1.6" precip
Sep75° / 38° · 0.8" precip
Oct63° / 28° · 0.8" precip
Nov50° / 18° · 0.3" precip
Dec41° / 10° · 0.4" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 9% 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.

Pronghorn: where to put the shot

Broadside, straight up the front leg, a third of the way into the body. Pronghorn are shallow-chested and the lungs sit forward.

Shots to refuse

Range it, then range it again. Open country makes 400 yards look like 250.
Wait for the buck to stop. Nobody kills a running pronghorn cleanly on purpose.
Mind the backdrop. A miss carries a long way across a flat.

Plan the carry: roughly 30– 45 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — one large cooler with ice already in it. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Pronghorn Success Rates

All manners of take51%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 57 at 51% — 12 animals taken by 23 hunters. On a sample that small the percentage moves several points with one animal, so read the hunter count beside it.

Pronghorn Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Archery — 1st Season doe only (resident)	23	38	60.5%	—
Archery — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	1	0.0%	—
Archery — 1st Season buck only (resident)	12	108	11.1%	3
Archery — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	4	16	25.0%	4
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (resident)	13	468	2.8%	5
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	11	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	31	970	3.2%	12
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	1	77	1.3%	13
Muzzleloader — 1st Season doe only (resident)	8	45	17.8%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	3	0.0%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (resident)	6	79	7.6%	6
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	2	16	12.5%	7

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 pronghorn in unit 57, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

AM057O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 970 applicants for 31 licences, 3.2% drawn, 12 preference points needed
AF057O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, resident: 468 applicants for 13 licences, 2.8% drawn, 5 preference points needed
AM057O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 108 applicants for 12 licences, 11.1% drawn, 3 preference points needed
AM057O1M — Muzzleloader, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 79 applicants for 6 licences, 7.6% drawn, 6 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 8 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

13 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including Mushroom Gulch Site 2, Mushroom Gulch Site 1 and Point Barr.

🛣️

Road Conditions

CO 291, US 50 and CR 86 are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 13 mi paved, 13 mi gravel and 0 mi four-wheel-drive.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

8,069–10,144 ft, averaging 9,056. 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 75/38°F, 0.8 in.; Oct 63/28°F, 0.8 in.; Nov 50/18°F, 0.3 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.

🏘️

Nearest Town

Nathrop (8 mi), Salida (10 mi), Poncha Springs (13 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit 57?

Unit 57 lies in Chaffee, Park and Fremont counties, and CPW has it bounded on the north by U.S. 24; on the east by Kaufman Ridge and Badger Creek; on the south and west by Arkansas River. It covers about 270 square miles.

What is the elk success rate in unit 57?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 57 at 31% across all manners of take, and archery 23%, muzzleloader 10% and rifle 36% 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 57 hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 57 are at Nathrop, about 8 miles from the unit's centre, with Salida at about 10 miles. There are also 13 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the pronghorn success rate in unit 57?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 57 at 51% across all manners of take. 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 57, 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 Pronghorn Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for pronghorn in unit 57, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22