Colorado Pronghorn Mule Deer Elk Black Bear

Unit 59 (Sangre de Cristo)

Colorado Hunting Guide — Pronghorn, Mule Deer, Elk, Black Bear

Unit 59 lies in Pueblo, Fremont, El Paso and Teller counties and covers about 647 square miles. Ground runs from 5,101 to 14,105 feet. CPW bounds it by U.S. 24 and U.S. 50 among others. CPW publishes no per-unit pronghorn success figure we can verify for this unit. Federal land covers about 31% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Colorado Hunting Guide

🏔️

31%

Public Land

⛰️

5,224–11,713 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 59

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Colorado Unit 59 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.

Pronghorn guide Mule Deer guide Elk guide Black Bear guide

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Pronghorn Hunting in Unit 59

Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit 59

CPW draws an exact line around unit 59 and says nothing about where the pronghorn stand inside it. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Pueblo, Fremont, El Paso and Teller counties. It runs to about 647 square miles.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 24, U.S. 50 and Colo. 67

CPW has unit 59 bounded on the north by U.S. 24; on the east by I-25; on the south by U.S. 50; on the west by Colo. 67 and Phantom Canyon Rd., except portions of Pueblo, Fremont and El Paso counties within Fort Carson Military Reservation. (See unit 591.). It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. 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: Pikes Peak, Sachett Mountain and Sentinel Point

Named high points inside the unit include Pikes Peak at 14,105 feet, Sachett Mountain at 12,586 feet, Sentinel Point at 12,483 feet, Sheep Mountain at 12,385 feet and Almagre Mountain at 12,365 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: Frosty Park, Horsethief Park and Poverty Gulch

Below them sit Frosty Park at 10,212 feet, Horsethief Park at 10,157 feet, Poverty Gulch at 9,485 feet, Duffield Meadows at 9,473 feet and Orchette Gulch at 9,269 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: Beaver Creek SWA, Brush Hollow STL and Brush Hollow SWA

CPW lists Beaver Creek SWA, Brush Hollow STL, Brush Hollow SWA, Pikes Peak SWA and Rosemont Reservoir 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 31% of the unit on top of those.

Water in this unit

The water inside the unit line comes to 1,237 mapped stream reaches, 38 lakes, 251 stock tanks and 10 springs. 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: A-31

CPW does not manage pronghorn unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit A-31, and unit 59 is one piece of it. The rest of A-31 is unit 591. 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.

Unit 59 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

5,224–11,713 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,647 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
646.5 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

251 tanks
10 springs
1,237 stream segments
38 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: Pikes Peak (14,105 ft), Sachett Mountain (12,586 ft), Sentinel Point (12,483 ft), Sheep Mountain (12,385 ft)

Holding ground: Bottomless Pit (11,613 ft), Bull Park (11,023 ft), Elk Park (10,986 ft), Beaver Creek SWA, Brush Hollow 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 59

CPW publishes no pronghorn success figure for unit 59 that we can tie to this unit alone, so we won't quote one. 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 Cow Mountain, Mount Garfield and Trachyte Knob

Take a position on one of Cow Mountain (11,149 ft), Mount Garfield (10,919 ft), Trachyte Knob (10,874 ft) and Big Bull Mountain (10,843 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. A tripod is worth more here than another hour of walking. On the rut hunts, early-season bucks hold does and can be decoyed where the law allows it.

Water against feed

There are 1,237 mapped stream reaches and 251 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. Sitting water works where you can see fresh tracks going in, and nowhere else.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Season normals here run Sep 69/42°F, Oct 58/32°F and Nov 47/22°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 1.7 in. in Sep, 1 in. in Oct and 0.6 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: I 25 and CO 115

I 25, CO 115 and US 24 are the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. There is little true four-wheel-drive road here, so distance from the gravel is the only thing separating you from the next hunter.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Pikes Peak, Sachett Mountain, Sentinel Point and Sheep Mountain as places to see from, and Bottomless Pit, Bull Park, Elk Park and Beaver Creek 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

647 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 Fort Carson, about 11 miles out, which is an hour of your morning each way if you sleep there. With 6,489 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. We have no pronghorn 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 59

Named routes and what they need

I 25 — 31.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CO 115 — 11.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 24 — 10.5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 67 — 10.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 67 — 8.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
Skagway Road — 7.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Fort Carson — 10.5 mi · fuel, groceries
Victor — 12 mi · lodging
Fountain — 12.8 mi · fuel, groceries
Security — 12.9 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Widefield — 13 mi · fuel, groceries, gear

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Crags Campground · Fee
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site

Season weather and signal

Jan39° / 15° · 0.6" precip
Aug75° / 49° · 3.5" precip
Sep69° / 42° · 1.7" precip
Oct58° / 32° · 1" precip
Nov47° / 22° · 0.6" precip
Dec39° / 15° · 0.6" 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.

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

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates carry no pronghorn row for unit 59 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.

Pronghorn Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Muzzleloader — 1st Season doe only (resident)	6	19	31.6%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (resident)	10	16	62.5%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (resident)	6	105	5.7%	1
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	2	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	11	181	6.1%	4
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	0	6	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 pronghorn in unit 59, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

AM059O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 181 applicants for 11 licences, 6.1% drawn, 4 preference points needed
AF059O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, resident: 105 applicants for 6 licences, 5.7% drawn, 1 preference point needed
AF059O1M — Muzzleloader, 1st Season, Doe Only, resident: 19 applicants for 6 licences, 31.6% drawn, no preference points needed
AM059O1M — Muzzleloader, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 16 applicants for 10 licences, 62.5% 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 2 further code-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 59

Unit 59 lies in Pueblo, Fremont, El Paso and Teller counties and covers about 647 square miles. Ground runs from 5,101 to 14,105 feet. CPW bounds it by U.S. 24 and U.S. 50 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 52%. Federal land covers about 31% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 59

CPW's material on unit 59 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its mule deer 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 Pueblo, Fremont, El Paso and Teller counties. It runs to about 647 square miles.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 24, U.S. 50 and Colo. 67

CPW has unit 59 bounded on the north by U.S. 24; on the east by I-25; on the south by U.S. 50; on the west by Colo. 67 and Phantom Canyon Rd., except portions of Pueblo, Fremont and El Paso counties within Fort Carson Military Reservation. (See unit 591.). 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: Windy Point, Mount Rosa and Mount Big Chief

Named high points inside the unit include Windy Point at 12,010 feet, Mount Rosa at 11,467 feet, Mount Big Chief at 11,162 feet, Cow Mountain at 11,149 feet and Mount Garfield at 10,919 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: Willow Gulch, Redner Gulch and Jones Park

Below them sit Willow Gulch at 9,234 feet, Redner Gulch at 9,128 feet, Jones Park at 9,120 feet, Hopkins Gulch at 9,080 feet and Dark Canyon at 8,898 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.

Public ground to start from: Skaguay Reservoir SWA, Table Mountain STL and Beaver Creek SWA

CPW lists Skaguay Reservoir SWA, Table Mountain STL, Beaver Creek SWA, Brush Hollow STL and Brush Hollow 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 31% of the unit on top of those.

Water in this unit

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 59 is one piece of it. The rest of D-50 is unit 511, unit 512 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.

Unit 59 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

5,224–11,713 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,647 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
646.5 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

251 tanks
10 springs
1,237 stream segments
38 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: Pikes Peak (14,105 ft), Sachett Mountain (12,586 ft), Sentinel Point (12,483 ft), Sheep Mountain (12,385 ft)

Holding ground: Bottomless Pit (11,613 ft), Bull Park (11,023 ft), Elk Park (10,986 ft), Beaver Creek SWA, Brush Hollow 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 Mule Deer in Unit 59

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 59 at archery 52% and rifle 34%. 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 Mount Arthur, Cameron Cone and The Crags

Take a position on one of Mount Arthur (10,756 ft), Cameron Cone (10,698 ft), The Crags (10,666 ft) and Raspberry Mountain (10,555 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.

Water against feed

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: I 25 and CO 115

Where unit 59 sits inside D-50

Across D-50, CPW's 2023 mule deer success runs 87% in unit 512, 56% in unit 511, 48% in unit 591 and 42% in unit 59. Unit 59 is the lowest of them, so whatever drives success in this herd is happening somewhere else in it. If the draw lets you choose, unit 512 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 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 59

Named routes and what they need

I 25 — 31.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CO 115 — 11.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 24 — 10.5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 67 — 10.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 67 — 8.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
Skagway Road — 7.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Fort Carson — 10.5 mi · fuel, groceries
Victor — 12 mi · lodging
Fountain — 12.8 mi · fuel, groceries
Security — 12.9 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Widefield — 13 mi · fuel, groceries, gear

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Crags Campground · Fee
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site

Season weather and signal

Jan39° / 15° · 0.6" precip
Aug75° / 49° · 3.5" precip
Sep69° / 42° · 1.7" precip
Oct58° / 32° · 1" precip
Nov47° / 22° · 0.6" precip
Dec39° / 15° · 0.6" 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.

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.

Pro Members Only

Unlock mule deer tactics for Unit 59

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Mule Deer Success Rates

All manners of take42%

Archery52%

Rifle34%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 59 at 42% — 70 animals taken by 168 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 — 52% success, 24 taken by 47 hunters
Rifle — 34% success, 34 taken by 98 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
Muzzleloader — 1st Season doe only (resident)	21	198	10.6%	1
Muzzleloader — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	1	15	6.7%	2
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (resident)	30	262	11.5%	2
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	10	58	17.2%	2
Archery — 1st Season buck only (resident)	113	545	20.7%	1
Archery — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	14	68	20.6%	1
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (resident)	110	966	11.4%	2
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (nonresident)	11	78	14.1%	2
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (resident)	35	788	4.4%	3
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (nonresident)	12	70	17.1%	4

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

DM059O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Buck Only, resident: 966 applicants for 110 licences, 11.4% drawn, 2 preference points needed
DM059O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Buck Only, resident: 788 applicants for 35 licences, 4.4% drawn, 3 preference points needed
DM059O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 545 applicants for 113 licences, 20.7% drawn, 1 preference point needed
DM059O1M — Muzzleloader, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 262 applicants for 30 licences, 11.5% 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 6 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 59

Unit 59 lies in Pueblo, Fremont, El Paso and Teller counties and covers about 647 square miles. Ground runs from 5,101 to 14,105 feet. CPW bounds it by U.S. 24 and U.S. 50 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 12%. Federal land covers about 31% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Elk in Unit 59

CPW draws an exact line around unit 59 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 Pueblo, Fremont, El Paso and Teller counties. It runs to about 647 square miles.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 24, U.S. 50 and Colo. 67

CPW has unit 59 bounded on the north by U.S. 24; on the east by I-25; on the south by U.S. 50; on the west by Colo. 67 and Phantom Canyon Rd., except portions of Pueblo, Fremont and El Paso counties within Fort Carson Military Reservation. (See unit 591.). 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: Trachyte Knob, Big Bull Mountain and Mount Arthur

Named high points inside the unit include Trachyte Knob at 10,874 feet, Big Bull Mountain at 10,843 feet, Mount Arthur at 10,756 feet, Cameron Cone at 10,698 feet and The Crags at 10,666 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: Douglas Gulch, Artists Glen and Butterworth Flat

Below them sit Douglas Gulch at 8,784 feet, Artists Glen at 8,014 feet, Butterworth Flat at 7,914 feet, Talcott Gulch at 7,907 feet and College Gulch at 7,887 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: Pikes Peak SWA, Rosemont Reservoir SWA and Skaguay Reservoir SWA

CPW lists Pikes Peak SWA, Rosemont Reservoir SWA, Skaguay Reservoir SWA, Table Mountain STL and Beaver Creek 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 31% of the unit on top of those.

Water in this unit

The herd this unit belongs to: E-23

CPW does not manage elk unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit E-23, and unit 59 is one piece of it. The rest of E-23 is 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.

Unit 59 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

5,224–11,713 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,647 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
646.5 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

251 tanks
10 springs
1,237 stream segments
38 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: Pikes Peak (14,105 ft), Sachett Mountain (12,586 ft), Sentinel Point (12,483 ft), Sheep Mountain (12,385 ft)

Holding ground: Bottomless Pit (11,613 ft), Bull Park (11,023 ft), Elk Park (10,986 ft), Beaver Creek SWA, Brush Hollow 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 59

CPW's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 59 at archery 5%, muzzleloader 0% and rifle 12%. A number that low means most hunters here go home empty, and the ones who don't put the days in first. 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 Ironclad Hill, Brind Mountain and Knights Peak

Take a position on one of Ironclad Hill (10,545 ft), Brind Mountain (10,503 ft), Knights Peak (10,451 ft) and Globe Hill (10,426 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, September bugling works where you can get above a drainage and let the thermals carry sound downhill.

Water against feed

There are 1,237 mapped stream reaches and 251 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. A tank with no tracks is a tank with no reason to sit on it.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: I 25 and CO 115

Where unit 59 sits inside E-23

Across E-23, CPW's 2023 elk success runs 100% in unit 512, 18% in unit 591, 11% in unit 581, 8% in unit 59 and 7% in unit 511. That puts unit 59 behind 3 of the 4 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 512 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 Pikes Peak, Sachett Mountain, Sentinel Point and Sheep Mountain as places to see from, and Bottomless Pit, Bull Park, Elk Park and Beaver Creek 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 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 59

Named routes and what they need

I 25 — 31.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CO 115 — 11.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 24 — 10.5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 67 — 10.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 67 — 8.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
Skagway Road — 7.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Fort Carson — 10.5 mi · fuel, groceries
Victor — 12 mi · lodging
Fountain — 12.8 mi · fuel, groceries
Security — 12.9 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Widefield — 13 mi · fuel, groceries, gear

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Crags Campground · Fee
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site

Season weather and signal

Jan39° / 15° · 0.6" precip
Aug75° / 49° · 3.5" precip
Sep69° / 42° · 1.7" precip
Oct58° / 32° · 1" precip
Nov47° / 22° · 0.6" precip
Dec39° / 15° · 0.6" 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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Elk Success Rates

All manners of take8%

Archery5%

Muzzleloader0%

Rifle12%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 59 at 8% — 59 animals taken by 727 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 — 5% success, 13 taken by 278 hunters
Muzzleloader — 0% success, 0 taken by 55 hunters
Rifle — 12% success, 46 taken by 394 hunters

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (resident)	74	326	22.7%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	7	24	29.2%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (resident)	70	289	24.2%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	23	88	26.1%	1
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (resident)	36	247	14.6%	—
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	1	15	6.7%	1
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (resident)	59	293	20.1%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (nonresident)	10	22	45.5%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (resident)	83	166	50.0%	—
Rifle — 5th Season cow only (nonresident)	9	10	90.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season bull only (resident)	69	264	26.1%	—
Rifle — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	25	72	34.7%	—
Rifle — 4th Season bull only (resident)	72	165	43.6%	—
Rifle — 4th Season bull only (nonresident)	6	9	66.7%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (resident)	49	260	18.8%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (nonresident)	5	25	20.0%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (resident)	8	151	5.3%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (nonresident)	1	4	25.0%	—
Archery — 1st Season either sex (resident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	147	213	69.0%	—
Archery — 1st Season cow only (resident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Archery — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	1	22	4.5%	—

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

EF059O1M — Muzzleloader, 1st Season, Cow Only, resident: 326 applicants for 74 licences, 22.7% drawn, no preference points needed
EF059O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Cow Only, resident: 293 applicants for 59 licences, 20.1% drawn, no preference points needed
EM059O1M — Muzzleloader, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 289 applicants for 70 licences, 24.2% drawn, no preference points needed
EM059O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 264 applicants for 69 licences, 26.1% 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 16 further code-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Black Bear Hunting in Unit 59

Unit 59 lies in Pueblo, Fremont, El Paso and Teller counties and covers about 647 square miles. Ground runs from 5,101 to 14,105 feet. CPW bounds it by U.S. 24 and U.S. 50 among others. CPW publishes no per-unit black bear success figure we can verify for this unit. Federal land covers about 31% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Black Bear in Unit 59

CPW draws an exact line around unit 59 and says nothing about where the black bear stand inside it. 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 Pueblo, Fremont, El Paso and Teller counties. It runs to about 647 square miles.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 24, U.S. 50 and Colo. 67

CPW has unit 59 bounded on the north by U.S. 24; on the east by I-25; on the south by U.S. 50; on the west by Colo. 67 and Phantom Canyon Rd., except portions of Pueblo, Fremont and El Paso counties within Fort Carson Military Reservation. (See unit 591.). 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: Raspberry Mountain, Ironclad Hill and Brind Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Raspberry Mountain at 10,555 feet, Ironclad Hill at 10,545 feet, Brind Mountain at 10,503 feet, Knights Peak at 10,451 feet and Globe Hill at 10,426 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Bears follow food, which in early autumn means oakbrush, chokecherry and serviceberry on south slopes.

Holding ground: Bear Canyon, Buffalo Canyon and Fishers Canyon

Below them sit Bear Canyon at 7,250 feet, Buffalo Canyon at 7,233 feet, Fishers Canyon at 7,181 feet, Gardiner Gulch at 6,833 feet and Waldo Canyon at 6,787 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Public ground to start from: Brush Hollow STL, Brush Hollow SWA and Pikes Peak SWA

CPW lists Brush Hollow STL, Brush Hollow SWA, Pikes Peak SWA, Rosemont Reservoir SWA and Skaguay Reservoir 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 31% of the unit on top of those.

Water in this unit

The herd this unit belongs to: B-2

CPW does not manage black bear unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit B-2, and unit 59 is one piece of it. The rest of B-2 is unit 58, unit 511, unit 512, unit 581 and unit 591. 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.

Unit 59 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

5,224–11,713 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,647 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
646.5 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

251 tanks
10 springs
1,237 stream segments
38 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: Pikes Peak (14,105 ft), Sachett Mountain (12,586 ft), Sentinel Point (12,483 ft), Sheep Mountain (12,385 ft)

Holding ground: Bottomless Pit (11,613 ft), Bull Park (11,023 ft), Elk Park (10,986 ft), Beaver Creek SWA, Brush Hollow 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 Black Bear in Unit 59

CPW publishes no black bear success figure for unit 59 that we can tie to this unit alone, so we won't quote one. The plan: find the berry crop first, then glass it morning and evening until something is in it.

Glassing from McKinley Peak, San Luis Peak and Evening Star Mountain

Take a position on one of McKinley Peak (10,394 ft), San Luis Peak (10,375 ft), Evening Star Mountain (10,371 ft) and Black Mountain (10,142 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. 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 hunts coincide with the feeding push before denning.

Water against feed

There are 1,237 mapped stream reaches and 251 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. A tank with no tracks is a tank with no reason to sit on it.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: I 25 and CO 115

A first plan from the pins on this page

What a day here costs you

647 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 Fort Carson, about 11 miles out, which is an hour of your morning each way if you sleep there. With 6,489 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. We have no black bear 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 59

Named routes and what they need

I 25 — 31.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CO 115 — 11.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
US 24 — 10.5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
CR 67 — 10.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
CO 67 — 8.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
Skagway Road — 7.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Fort Carson — 10.5 mi · fuel, groceries
Victor — 12 mi · lodging
Fountain — 12.8 mi · fuel, groceries
Security — 12.9 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Widefield — 13 mi · fuel, groceries, gear

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Crags Campground · Fee
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site

Season weather and signal

Jan39° / 15° · 0.6" precip
Aug75° / 49° · 3.5" precip
Sep69° / 42° · 1.7" precip
Oct58° / 32° · 1" precip
Nov47° / 22° · 0.6" precip
Dec39° / 15° · 0.6" 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.

Black Bear: 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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Black Bear Success Rates

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates carry no black bear row for unit 59 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.

Black Bear Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Archery — 1st Season either sex (resident)	90	115	78.3%	—
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	6	9	66.7%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season either sex (resident)	28	47	59.6%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	3	10	30.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season either sex (resident)	69	208	33.2%	—
Rifle — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	6	21	28.6%	—

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 black bear in unit 59, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

BE059O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 208 applicants for 69 licences, 33.2% drawn, no preference points needed
BE059O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 115 applicants for 90 licences, 78.3% drawn, no preference points needed
BE059O1M — Muzzleloader, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 47 applicants for 28 licences, 59.6% drawn, no preference points needed
BE059O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Either Sex, nonresident: 21 applicants for 6 licences, 28.6% 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

48 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including Crags Campground, Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp and Skagware Reservoir Dispersed Camping.

🛣️

Road Conditions

I 25, CO 115 and US 24 are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 92 mi paved, 27 mi gravel and 0 mi four-wheel-drive.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

5,224–11,713 ft, averaging 7,647. 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.

🌦️

Weather

Season normals: Sep 69/42°F, 1.7 in.; Oct 58/32°F, 1 in.; Nov 47/22°F, 0.6 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

Fort Carson (11 mi), Victor (12 mi), Fountain (13 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit 59?

Unit 59 lies in Pueblo, Fremont, El Paso and Teller counties, and CPW has it bounded on the north by U.S. 24; on the east by I-25; on the south by U.S. 50; on the west by Colo. 67 and Phantom Canyon Rd., except portions of Pueblo, Fremont and El Paso counties within Fort Carson Military Reservation. (See unit 591.). It covers about 647 square miles.

What is the pronghorn success rate in unit 59?

CPW publishes no pronghorn success figure we can tie to unit 59 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.

Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 59 hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 59 are at Fort Carson, about 11 miles from the unit's centre, with Victor at about 12 miles. There are also 48 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 59?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 59 at 42% across all manners of take, and archery 52% and rifle 34% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the elk success rate in unit 59?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 59 at 8% across all manners of take, and archery 5%, muzzleloader 0% and rifle 12% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the black bear success rate in unit 59?

CPW publishes no black bear success figure we can tie to unit 59 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
CPW CPWAdminData feature service — GMU and sheep/goat unit boundaries — Colorado Parks and Wildlife GIS Unit · supports: Mapped extent of the unit, Which named ground falls inside the unit line · accessed 2026-10-22
2023 Colorado Deer Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for mule deer in unit 59, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22
2023 Colorado Elk Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for elk in unit 59, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22