Colorado Elk Mule Deer Moose Black Bear Pronghorn

Unit 66 (San Luis Peak / Lake City)

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

Unit 66 lies in Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties. CPW bounds it by Morrow Point Res and Gunnison River among others. CPW's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 34%. Federal land covers about 83% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Colorado Hunting Guide

🏔️

83%

Public Land

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 66

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Colorado Unit 66 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 Mule Deer guide Moose guide Black Bear 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 66

Where to Find Elk in Unit 66

CPW draws an exact line around unit 66 and says nothing about where the elk 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 Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties.

The lines of the unit: Morrow Point Res, Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Res

CPW has unit 66 bounded on the north by Morrow Point Res., Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Res.; on the east by Colo. 149, Cebolla Creek, Spring Creek, Cathedral Creek, Groundhog Park and Spring Creek-Cochetopa Creek divide; on the south by Continental Divide; on the west by Hinsdale-San Juan Co. line, Hinsdale-Ouray Co. line, Cimarron River-Henson Creek divide and Big Blue Creek-Little Cimarron River divide, U. 50 and Big Blue Creek. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. 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: Uncompahgre Peak, Handies Peak and Wetterhorn Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Uncompahgre Peak at 14,290 feet, Handies Peak at 14,022 feet, Wetterhorn Peak at 14,019 feet, Redcloud Peak at 14,008 feet and San Luis Peak at 14,005 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: American Flats, Rambouillet Park and Palmetto Gulch

Below them sit American Flats at 12,118 feet, Rambouillet Park at 11,630 feet, Palmetto Gulch at 11,426 feet, Mineral Park at 11,412 feet and Slumgullion Pass at 11,366 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: Wind in the Willows SWA

CPW lists Wind in the Willows 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 83% of the unit on top of those.

Water: Big Springs, Tenmile Springs and Cutler Spring

Named sources include Big Springs, Tenmile Springs, Cutler Spring, Mahan Spring, Addington Springs and Goose Creek Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

The herd this unit belongs to: E-25

CPW does not manage elk unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit E-25, and unit 66 is one piece of it. The rest of E-25 is unit 67. 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.

Unit 66 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Uncompahgre Peak (14,290 ft), Handies Peak (14,022 ft), Wetterhorn Peak (14,019 ft), Redcloud Peak (14,008 ft)

Holding ground: Cinnamon Pass (12,630 ft), American Basin (12,330 ft), Schafer Basin (12,179 ft), Wind in the Willows 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 66

CPW's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 66 at archery 32%, muzzleloader 33% and rifle 34%. 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 Wood Mountain, Gravel Mountain and Whitecross Mountain

Take a position on one of Wood Mountain (13,597 ft), Gravel Mountain (13,558 ft), Whitecross Mountain (13,514 ft) and Baldy Chato (13,402 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. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, September bugling works where you can get above a drainage and let the thermals carry sound downhill.

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. One mapped public entry point falls inside the unit, so decide which one you take before the morning you take it.

Where unit 66 sits inside E-25

Across E-25, CPW's 2023 elk success runs 34% in unit 66 and 24% in unit 67. Unit 66 is the best of them on that measure, which usually means fewer tags rather than more animals. Success inside one herd moves with tag numbers and season length as much as with animals, so read the licence count alongside it.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Uncompahgre Peak, Handies Peak, Wetterhorn Peak and Redcloud Peak as places to see from, and Cinnamon Pass, American Basin, Schafer Basin and Wind in the Willows 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

899 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. 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.

Pro Members Only

Unlock detailed elk tactics for Unit 66

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Elk Success Rates

All manners of take34%

Archery32%

Muzzleloader33%

Rifle34%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 66 at 34% — 389 animals taken by 1,151 hunters. That is a lot of hunters in one unit, and the percentage is what it looks like after all of them have been through it.

Archery — 32% success, 45 taken by 141 hunters
Muzzleloader — 33% success, 20 taken by 61 hunters
Rifle — 34% success, 323 taken by 949 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)	89	479	18.6%	5
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	30	443	6.8%	15
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (resident)	19	92	20.7%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	2	24	8.3%	2
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (resident)	30	178	16.9%	6
Muzzleloader — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	7	117	6.0%	23
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (resident)	46	338	13.6%	—
Rifle — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	16	99	16.2%	1
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (resident)	74	387	19.1%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season cow only (nonresident)	22	118	18.6%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (resident)	85	385	22.1%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season cow only (nonresident)	29	129	22.5%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (resident)	26	212	12.3%	—
Rifle — 4th Season cow only (nonresident)	6	66	9.1%	1
Rifle — 1st Season bull only (resident)	115	499	23.0%	3
Rifle — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	40	384	10.4%	11
Rifle — 2nd Season bull only (resident)	108	437	24.7%	1
Rifle — 2nd Season bull only (nonresident)	38	401	9.5%	7
Rifle — 3rd Season bull only (resident)	85	268	31.7%	1
Rifle — 3rd Season bull only (nonresident)	30	219	13.7%	5
Rifle — 4th Season bull only (resident)	21	57	36.8%	1
Rifle — 4th Season bull only (nonresident)	7	66	10.6%	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 elk in unit 66, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

EM066O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 499 applicants for 115 licences, 23% drawn, 3 preference points needed
EE066O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 479 applicants for 89 licences, 18.6% drawn, 5 preference points needed
EE066O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Either Sex, nonresident: 443 applicants for 30 licences, 6.8% drawn, 15 preference points needed
EM066O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Bull Only, resident: 437 applicants for 108 licences, 24.7% drawn, 1 preference point 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.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 66

Unit 66 lies in Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties. CPW bounds it by Morrow Point Res and Gunnison River among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 74%. Federal land covers about 83% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 66

CPW's material on unit 66 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 Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties.

The lines of the unit: Morrow Point Res, Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Res

CPW has unit 66 bounded on the north by Morrow Point Res., Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Res.; on the east by Colo. 149, Cebolla Creek, Spring Creek, Cathedral Creek, Groundhog Park and Spring Creek-Cochetopa Creek divide; on the south by Continental Divide; on the west by Hinsdale-San Juan Co. line, Hinsdale-Ouray Co. line, Cimarron River-Henson Creek divide and Big Blue Creek-Little Cimarron River divide, U. 50 and Big Blue Creek. 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: Sunshine Peak, Half Peak and American Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Sunshine Peak at 13,974 feet, Half Peak at 13,829 feet, American Peak at 13,779 feet, Wood Mountain at 13,597 feet and Gravel Mountain at 13,558 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: Skull Park, Big Willow Park and Redcloud Gulch

Below them sit Skull Park at 11,364 feet, Big Willow Park at 11,317 feet, Redcloud Gulch at 11,209 feet, Monument Park at 10,967 feet and Devils Canyon at 10,924 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: Wind in the Willows SWA

Water: Armitage Springs, Cebolla Hot Springs and Treasure Falls

Named sources include Armitage Springs, Cebolla Hot Springs, Treasure Falls, Big Springs, Tenmile Springs and Cutler Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

The herd this unit belongs to: D-57

CPW does not manage mule deer unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit D-57, and unit 66 is one piece of it. The rest of D-57 is unit 54, unit 55, unit 67 and unit 551. 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 66 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Uncompahgre Peak (14,290 ft), Handies Peak (14,022 ft), Wetterhorn Peak (14,019 ft), Redcloud Peak (14,008 ft)

Holding ground: Cinnamon Pass (12,630 ft), American Basin (12,330 ft), Schafer Basin (12,179 ft), Wind in the Willows 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 66

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 66 at archery 35% and rifle 74%. 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 Bent Peak, Baldy Cinco and Broken Hill

Take a position on one of Bent Peak (13,379 ft), Baldy Cinco (13,379 ft), Broken Hill (13,225 ft) and Sunshine Mountain (12,953 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, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Getting past the roads

Where unit 66 sits inside D-57

Across D-57, CPW's 2023 mule deer success runs 67% in unit 55, 67% in unit 67, 66% in unit 66, 59% in unit 551 and 55% in unit 54. That puts unit 66 behind 2 of the 4 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 55 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 Uncompahgre Peak, Handies Peak, Wetterhorn Peak and Redcloud Peak as places to see from, and Cinnamon Pass, American Basin, Schafer Basin and Wind in the Willows 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

899 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. 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.

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 detailed mule deer tactics for Unit 66

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Mule Deer Success Rates

All manners of take66%

Archery35%

Rifle74%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 66 at 66% — 337 animals taken by 511 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 — 35% success, 25 taken by 73 hunters
Rifle — 74% success, 285 taken by 384 hunters

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (resident)	19	297	6.4%	2
Rifle — 2nd Season doe only (nonresident)	2	43	4.7%	3
Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (resident)	23	231	10.0%	1
Rifle — 3rd Season doe only (nonresident)	0	19	0.0%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (resident)	118	683	17.3%	3
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (nonresident)	42	346	12.1%	10
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (resident)	49	439	11.2%	11
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (nonresident)	12	313	3.8%	20
Rifle — 4th Season buck only (resident)	17	316	5.4%	18
Rifle — 4th Season buck only (nonresident)	4	196	2.0%	25
Archery — 1st Season buck only (resident)	52	199	26.1%	1
Archery — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	17	129	13.2%	8
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (resident)	46	122	37.7%	1
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	15	89	16.9%	8

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

DM066O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Buck Only, resident: 683 applicants for 118 licences, 17.3% drawn, 3 preference points needed
DM066O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Buck Only, resident: 439 applicants for 49 licences, 11.2% drawn, 11 preference points needed
DM066O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Buck Only, nonresident: 346 applicants for 42 licences, 12.1% drawn, 10 preference points needed
DM066O4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Buck Only, resident: 316 applicants for 17 licences, 5.4% drawn, 18 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 10 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 66

Unit 66 lies in Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties. CPW bounds it by Morrow Point Res and Gunnison River among others. CPW's harvest estimates put Shiras moose success here as high as 100%. Federal land covers about 83% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Shiras Moose in Unit 66

What CPW publishes for unit 66 is a boundary, not a Shiras moose 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 Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties.

The lines of the unit: Morrow Point Res, Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Res

CPW has unit 66 bounded on the north by Morrow Point Res., Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Res.; on the east by Colo. 149, Cebolla Creek, Spring Creek, Cathedral Creek, Groundhog Park and Spring Creek-Cochetopa Creek divide; on the south by Continental Divide; on the west by Hinsdale-San Juan Co. line, Hinsdale-Ouray Co. line, Cimarron River-Henson Creek divide and Big Blue Creek-Little Cimarron River divide, U. 50 and Big Blue Creek. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. Its value is practical — those are the features you will navigate by, and the ridges that separate one day's country from another's.

High ground inside the line: Whitecross Mountain, Baldy Chato and Bent Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Whitecross Mountain at 13,514 feet, Baldy Chato at 13,402 feet, Bent Peak at 13,379 feet, Baldy Cinco at 13,379 feet and Broken Hill at 13,225 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: Spring Creek Pass, Schafer Gulch and Cleveland Gulch

Below them sit Spring Creek Pass at 10,898 feet, Schafer Gulch at 10,895 feet, Cleveland Gulch at 10,788 feet, Powderhorn Park at 10,749 feet and West Fork Wager Gulch at 10,728 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: Wind in the Willows SWA

Water: Mahan Spring, Addington Springs and Goose Creek Spring

Named sources include Mahan Spring, Addington Springs, Goose Creek Spring, Armitage Springs, Cebolla Hot Springs and Treasure Falls. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

The herd this unit belongs to: M-4

CPW does not manage Shiras moose unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit M-4, and unit 66 is one piece of it. The rest of M-4 is unit 65, unit 67, unit 68, unit 70, unit 71, unit 72, unit 73 and unit 74 and 14 more. 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.

Unit 66 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Uncompahgre Peak (14,290 ft), Handies Peak (14,022 ft), Wetterhorn Peak (14,019 ft), Redcloud Peak (14,008 ft)

Holding ground: Cinnamon Pass (12,630 ft), American Basin (12,330 ft), Schafer Basin (12,179 ft), Wind in the Willows 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 66

CPW's own harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 66 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 Dolly Varden Mountain, Crystal Peak and Red Mountain

Take a position on one of Dolly Varden Mountain (12,925 ft), Crystal Peak (12,896 ft), Red Mountain (12,811 ft) and Mesa Seco (12,800 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, late September bulls answer a cow call near water.

Getting past the roads

Where unit 66 sits inside M-4

Across M-4, CPW's 2023 Shiras moose success runs 100% in unit 65, 100% in unit 66, 100% in unit 68, 100% in unit 75 and 100% in unit 76. Nothing in the herd beat unit 66 on that measure and 7 units 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

899 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. 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.

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.

Pro Members Only

Unlock tactics for Unit 66

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Moose Success Rates

All manners of take100%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 66 at 100% — 9 animals taken by 9 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
Archery — 1st Season cow only (resident)	4	247	1.6%	3
Archery — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	1	64	1.6%	3
Archery — 1st Season cow only (resident)	3	87	3.4%	3
Archery — 1st Season cow only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Any Legal Method — 1st Season bull only (resident)	5	958	0.5%	3
Any Legal Method — 1st Season bull only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Any Legal Method — 1st Season bull only (resident)	3	319	0.9%	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 66, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

MM066O1X — Any Legal Method, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 958 applicants for 5 licences, 0.5% drawn, 3 preference points needed
MM066S1X — Any Legal Method, 1st Season, Bull Only, resident: 319 applicants for 3 licences, 0.9% drawn, 3 preference points needed
MF066O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Cow Only, resident: 247 applicants for 4 licences, 1.6% drawn, 3 preference points needed
MF066S1A — Archery, 1st Season, Cow Only, resident: 87 applicants for 3 licences, 3.4% drawn, 3 preference points needed

Colorado runs a pure preference-point draw, so the point figure above is the requirement the agency published for that code in that year, not a forecast for the next one. There are 1 further code-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Black Bear Hunting in Unit 66

Unit 66 lies in Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties. CPW bounds it by Morrow Point Res and Gunnison River among others. CPW publishes no per-unit black bear success figure we can verify for this unit. Federal land covers about 83% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Black Bear in Unit 66

CPW's material on unit 66 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its black bear live. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties.

The lines of the unit: Morrow Point Res, Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Res

CPW has unit 66 bounded on the north by Morrow Point Res., Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Res.; on the east by Colo. 149, Cebolla Creek, Spring Creek, Cathedral Creek, Groundhog Park and Spring Creek-Cochetopa Creek divide; on the south by Continental Divide; on the west by Hinsdale-San Juan Co. line, Hinsdale-Ouray Co. line, Cimarron River-Henson Creek divide and Big Blue Creek-Little Cimarron River divide, U. 50 and Big Blue Creek. 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: Sunshine Mountain, Dolly Varden Mountain and Crystal Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Sunshine Mountain at 12,953 feet, Dolly Varden Mountain at 12,925 feet, Crystal Peak at 12,896 feet, Red Mountain at 12,811 feet and Mesa Seco at 12,800 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: Cuba Gulch, Burrows Park and Sawmill Park

Below them sit Cuba Gulch at 10,671 feet, Burrows Park at 10,645 feet, Sawmill Park at 10,644 feet, Robbers Roost at 10,641 feet and Square Gulch at 10,598 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: Wind in the Willows SWA

Water: Big Springs, Tenmile Springs and Cutler Spring

The herd this unit belongs to: B-12

CPW does not manage black bear unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit B-12, and unit 66 is one piece of it. The rest of B-12 is unit 54, unit 55, unit 67 and unit 551. 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 66 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Uncompahgre Peak (14,290 ft), Handies Peak (14,022 ft), Wetterhorn Peak (14,019 ft), Redcloud Peak (14,008 ft)

Holding ground: Cinnamon Pass (12,630 ft), American Basin (12,330 ft), Schafer Basin (12,179 ft), Wind in the Willows SWA

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

Pro Members Only

Unlock bear locations in Unit 66

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

How to Hunt Black Bear in Unit 66

CPW publishes no black bear success figure for unit 66 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 Grassy Mountain, Calf Creek Plateau and Edith Mountain

Take a position on one of Grassy Mountain (12,784 ft), Calf Creek Plateau (12,649 ft), Edith Mountain (12,555 ft) and Cannibal Plateau (12,524 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. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, September hunts coincide with the feeding push before denning.

Getting past the roads

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Uncompahgre Peak, Handies Peak, Wetterhorn Peak and Redcloud Peak as places to see from, and Cinnamon Pass, American Basin, Schafer Basin and Wind in the Willows 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

899 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. 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 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.

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.

Pro Members Only

Unlock bear tactics for Unit 66

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Black Bear Success Rates

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates carry no black bear row for unit 66 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)	23	64	35.9%	—
Archery — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	7	35	20.0%	1
Muzzleloader — 1st Season either sex (resident)	12	20	60.0%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	3	19	15.8%	2
Rifle — 1st Season either sex (resident)	43	203	21.2%	1
Rifle — 1st Season either sex (nonresident)	6	42	14.3%	1
Rifle — 5th Season either sex (resident)	33	176	18.8%	1
Rifle — 5th Season either sex (nonresident)	11	80	13.8%	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 black bear in unit 66, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

BE066O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 203 applicants for 43 licences, 21.2% drawn, 1 preference point needed
BE066O5R — Rifle, 5th Season, Either Sex, resident: 176 applicants for 33 licences, 18.8% drawn, 1 preference point needed
BE066O5R — Rifle, 5th Season, Either Sex, nonresident: 80 applicants for 11 licences, 13.8% drawn, 3 preference points needed
BE066O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 64 applicants for 23 licences, 35.9% 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 4 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 66

Unit 66 lies in Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties. CPW bounds it by Morrow Point Res and Gunnison River among others. CPW's harvest estimates put pronghorn success here as high as 40%. Federal land covers about 83% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit 66

What CPW publishes for unit 66 is a boundary, not a pronghorn map. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties.

The lines of the unit: Morrow Point Res, Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Res

CPW has unit 66 bounded on the north by Morrow Point Res., Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Res.; on the east by Colo. 149, Cebolla Creek, Spring Creek, Cathedral Creek, Groundhog Park and Spring Creek-Cochetopa Creek divide; on the south by Continental Divide; on the west by Hinsdale-San Juan Co. line, Hinsdale-Ouray Co. line, Cimarron River-Henson Creek divide and Big Blue Creek-Little Cimarron River divide, U. 50 and Big Blue Creek. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. Its value is practical — those are the features you will navigate by, and the ridges that separate one day's country from another's.

High ground inside the line: Grassy Mountain, Calf Creek Plateau and Edith Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Grassy Mountain at 12,784 feet, Calf Creek Plateau at 12,649 feet, Edith Mountain at 12,555 feet, Cannibal Plateau at 12,524 feet and Seventyone Mountain at 12,312 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: Cañon Infierno, Boulder Gulch and Grizzly Gulch

Below them sit Cañon Infierno at 10,495 feet, Boulder Gulch at 10,482 feet, Grizzly Gulch at 10,396 feet, Slumgullion Earthflow at 10,384 feet and Coyote Park at 10,279 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: Wind in the Willows SWA

Water: Armitage Springs, Cebolla Hot Springs and Treasure Falls

The herd this unit belongs to: A-23

CPW does not manage pronghorn unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit A-23, and unit 66 is one piece of it. The rest of A-23 is unit 67 and unit 551. 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.

Unit 66 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Uncompahgre Peak (14,290 ft), Handies Peak (14,022 ft), Wetterhorn Peak (14,019 ft), Redcloud Peak (14,008 ft)

Holding ground: Cinnamon Pass (12,630 ft), American Basin (12,330 ft), Schafer Basin (12,179 ft), Wind in the Willows 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 Pronghorn in Unit 66

CPW's own harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 66 at 40% across all manners of take. That is an ordinary spread for this country, and it rewards whoever scouted. 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 Seventyone Mountain, Iron Beds and Mineral Mountain

Take a position on one of Seventyone Mountain (12,312 ft), Iron Beds (12,093 ft), Mineral Mountain (12,083 ft) and Alpine Plateau (11,503 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, early-season bucks hold does and can be decoyed where the law allows it.

Getting past the roads

A first plan from the pins on this page

What a day here costs you

899 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. 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.

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.

Pro Members Only

Unlock Unit 66 pronghorn tactics

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Pronghorn Success Rates

All manners of take40%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 66 at 40% — 2 animals taken by 5 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 buck only (resident)	2	47	4.3%	10
Archery — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	0	7	0.0%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (resident)	2	14	14.3%	8
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	0	1	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	2	177	1.1%	19
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	0	23	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 66, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

AM066O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 177 applicants for 2 licences, 1.1% drawn, 19 preference points needed
AM066O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 47 applicants for 2 licences, 4.3% drawn, 10 preference points needed
AM066O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, nonresident: 23 applicants for 0 licences, 0% drawn, no preference points needed
AM066O1M — Muzzleloader, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 14 applicants for 2 licences, 14.3% drawn, 8 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.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

🚐

RV Sites

Availability varies across the unit; check USFS and BLM district sites for developed campgrounds and dispersed camping rules in advance.

⛺

Camp Sites

Dispersed camping is allowed on most public BLM and USFS land subject to local rules. Developed campgrounds may require reservations.

🛻

Trailer Access

Trailer suitability depends on specific access routes inside the GMU. Verify road condition and width before hauling.

💧

Water

Water availability varies by elevation and season. Filter or treat surface water.

🛣️

Road Conditions

Colorado mountain and plains roads range from paved to rough two-track. 4WD and high clearance are recommended for back-country routes.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

Terrain inside the GMU spans a mix of Colorado Rocky Mountain and/or high-plains habitat. Match fitness and gear to chosen zones.

👥

Hunting Pressure

Hunting pressure scales with access; roadless parcels see less pressure than areas near major trailheads.

🌦️

Weather

Expect Colorado's full seasonal range: warm fall days, cold nights, and the possibility of early snow at elevation. Pack layered systems.

📱

Cell Service

Cell service is inconsistent across Colorado public land. Carry a satellite communicator for back-country hunts.

🏘️

Nearest Town

Use CPW Hunting Atlas and mapping tools to identify nearest services for your planned access point.

Pro Members Only

Unlock logistics for Unit 66

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit 66?

Unit 66 lies in Gunnison, Hinsdale and Saguache counties, and CPW has it bounded on the north by Morrow Point Res., Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Res.; on the east by Colo. 149, Cebolla Creek, Spring Creek, Cathedral Creek, Groundhog Park and Spring Creek-Cochetopa Creek divide; on the south by Continental Divide; on the west by Hinsdale-San Juan Co. line, Hinsdale-Ouray Co. line, Cimarron River-Henson Creek divide and Big Blue Creek-Little Cimarron River divide, U. 50 and Big Blue Creek.

What is the elk success rate in unit 66?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 66 at 34% across all manners of take, and archery 32%, muzzleloader 33% and rifle 34% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 66?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 66 at 66% across all manners of take, and archery 35% and rifle 74% 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 66?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 66 at 100% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the black bear success rate in unit 66?

CPW publishes no black bear success figure we can tie to unit 66 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.

What is the pronghorn success rate in unit 66?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 66 at 40% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

Free Hunt Planning Tools

🎰 Colorado Draw Odds Unit-level tag success rates 📅 Application Timeline Deadlines for all 9 states 🦌 Rut Forecast Peak rut timing by species 💰 Hunt Cost Calculator Budget your entire hunt

Plan Your Hunt with ProHunt Pro

Unlock advanced tactics, the Tag-to-Trail Planner, AI hunt strategy assistant, and personalized camp and trip execution plans.

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

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 66, 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 Deer Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for mule deer in unit 66, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22
2023 Colorado Moose Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for Shiras moose in unit 66, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22
2023 Colorado Pronghorn Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for pronghorn in unit 66, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22