Unit 83

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 83 at rifle 81%. 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 Harrison Peak, Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Cuchilla Alta

Take a position on one of Harrison Peak (11,589 ft), Sangre de Cristo Mountains (10,904 ft), Cuchilla Alta (10,736 ft) and Ojito Peak (10,438 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-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Where unit 83 sits inside D-56

Across D-56, CPW's 2023 mule deer success runs 77% in unit 83 and 44% in unit 82. Unit 83 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 Blanca Peak, Napoleon Peak, Mount Lindsey and Culebra Peak as places to see from, and Blanca Basin, Whiskey Pass, East Alamosa STL and Mountain Home Reservoir 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

1,251 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.

What CPW publishes for unit 83 is a boundary, not a black bear map. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Alamosa, Costilla and Huerfano counties.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 160, Alamosa-Costilla Co. line and Costilla-Huerfano Co. line

CPW has unit 83 bounded on the north by U.S. 160 and Alamosa-Costilla Co. line; on the east by Costilla-Huerfano Co. line and Sangre de Cristo-Culebra Range; on the south by NM; on the west by Rio Grande River. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. Those features are what you will check against the map all week, and the divides among them are the ones that matter.

High ground inside the line: Teddys Peak, Napoleon Peak and Harrison Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Teddys Peak at 12,550 feet, Napoleon Peak at 11,854 feet, Harrison Peak at 11,589 feet, Sangre de Cristo Mountains at 10,904 feet and Cuchilla Alta at 10,736 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: Sawmill Canyon, McDowell Park and Spring Gulch

Below them sit Sawmill Canyon at 9,436 feet, McDowell Park at 9,117 feet, Spring Gulch at 9,072 feet, Baker Canyon at 9,029 feet and Stearns Gulch at 8,904 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Public ground to start from: East Alamosa STL, Mountain Home Reservoir SWA and San Luis Hills SWA

CPW lists East Alamosa STL, Mountain Home Reservoir SWA, San Luis Hills SWA, Sanchez Reservoir SWA and Smith 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 1% of the unit on top of those.

Water: Craven Well, Cat Spring and Sharbert Well

Named sources include Craven Well, Cat Spring and Sharbert Well. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

The herd this unit belongs to: B-7

CPW does not manage black bear unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit B-7, and unit 83 is one piece of it. The rest of B-7 is unit 69, unit 82, unit 84, unit 85, unit 86, unit 140, unit 691 and unit 851 and 1 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.

CPW publishes no black bear success figure for unit 83 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 Buck Mountain, Cat Mountain and Lone Rock Hill

Take a position on one of Buck Mountain (9,978 ft), Cat Mountain (9,950 ft), Lone Rock Hill (9,911 ft) and San Pedro Mesa (9,198 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. On the rut hunts, September hunts coincide with the feeding push before denning.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Blanca Peak, Napoleon Peak, Mount Lindsey and Culebra Peak as places to see from, and Blanca Basin, Whiskey Pass, East Alamosa STL and Mountain Home Reservoir 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

1,251 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. 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.

CPW publishes no pronghorn success figure for unit 83 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 Wagon Mesa, Music Mesa and Brownie Hills

Take a position on one of Wagon Mesa (9,065 ft), Music Mesa (8,579 ft), Brownie Hills (8,297 ft) and Basaltic Hills (8,061 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, early-season bucks hold does and can be decoyed where the law allows it.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Blanca Peak, Napoleon Peak, Mount Lindsey and Culebra Peak as places to see from, and Blanca Basin, Whiskey Pass, East Alamosa STL and Mountain Home Reservoir 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

1,251 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. 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.