Unit G12 (Maroon Bells)
Colorado Hunting Guide — Mountain Goat
Unit G12 lies in Garfield, Eagle, Gunnison and Pitkin counties. CPW bounds it by Roaring Fork River and Colo. 82 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mountain goat success here as high as 53%. Federal land covers about 48% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit G12
Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Colorado Unit G12 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.
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.
Mountain Goat Hunting in Unit G12
Unit G12 lies in Garfield, Eagle, Gunnison and Pitkin counties. CPW bounds it by Roaring Fork River and Colo. 82 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mountain goat success here as high as 53%. Federal land covers about 48% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Mountain Goat in Unit G12
CPW draws an exact line around unit G12 and says nothing about where the mountain goat 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 Garfield, Eagle, Gunnison and Pitkin counties.
The lines of the unit: Roaring Fork River, Colo. 82 and Pitkin CRs 14 (Aspen Mtn. Summer Rd.)
CPW has unit G12 bounded on the north and east by Roaring Fork River, Colo. 82, Pitkin CRs 14 (Aspen Mtn. Summer Rd.) and 15 E (Richmond Hill Rd.), and USFS 7761; on the south by 761.1D (Taylor River Head Rd.), USFS Trail 400 (Brush Creek Trail), USFS Rd. 738.2B (East Brush Creek Rd.) and USFS/Gunnison CR 738 (Brush Creek Rd.); on the west by Colo. 135, Gunnison CR 317 (Gothic Rd.), USFS 317 (Schofield Pass Rd.), USFS 314 (Crystal River Rd.) and Colo. 133. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. 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: Castle Peak, Maroon Bells and Maroon Peak
Named high points inside the unit include Castle Peak at 14,244 feet, Maroon Bells at 14,129 feet, Maroon Peak at 14,129 feet, Elk Mountains at 14,129 feet and Snowmass Mountain at 14,082 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Goats live above the trees on cliff and talus and come down only when weather makes them.
Holding ground: Willow Pass, Copper Pass and Heckert Pass
Below them sit Willow Pass at 12,577 feet, Copper Pass at 12,541 feet, Heckert Pass at 12,535 feet, Conundrum Basin at 12,484 feet and Buckskin Pass at 12,402 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.
Public ground to start from: Williams Hill SWA
CPW lists Williams Hill 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 48% of the unit on top of those.
Water: Penny Hot Springs, Judd Falls and Conundrum Hot Springs
Named sources include Penny Hot Springs, Judd Falls and Conundrum Hot Springs. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.
The herd this unit belongs to: MG-12
CPW does not manage mountain goat unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit MG-12, and unit G12 is one piece of it. CPW puts no other unit in MG-12, so this unit carries the herd on its own. 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 G12 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Castle Peak (14,244 ft), Maroon Bells (14,129 ft), Snowmass Mountain (14,082 ft), Capitol Peak (14,076 ft)
Holding ground: Electric Pass (13,416 ft), Triangle Pass (12,961 ft), Pearl Pass (12,697 ft), Williams Hill SWA, Penny Hot Springs
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 Mountain Goat in Unit G12
Mountain Goat Success Rates
CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mountain goat success in unit G12 at 53% — 39 animals taken by 73 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.
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.
Mountain Goat Draw Odds
| Season | Tags | Applicants | Draw % | Pts Req |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle — 1st Season either sex (resident) | 13 | 1,076 | 1.2% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season either sex (nonresident) | 1 | 446 | 0.2% | 3 |
| Rifle — 2nd Season either sex (resident) | 9 | 528 | 1.7% | 3 |
| Rifle — 2nd Season either sex (nonresident) | 1 | 349 | 0.3% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season nanny only (resident) | 1 | 48 | 2.1% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season nanny only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 2nd Season nanny only (resident) | 1 | 50 | 2.0% | 3 |
| Rifle — 2nd Season nanny 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 EngineCPW's 2026 draw recap for mountain goat in unit G12, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- GEG12O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Either Sex, resident: 1,076 applicants for 13 licences, 1.2% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- GEG12O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Either Sex, resident: 528 applicants for 9 licences, 1.7% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- GEG12O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Either Sex, nonresident: 446 applicants for 1 licences, 0.2% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- GEG12O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Either Sex, nonresident: 349 applicants for 1 licences, 0.3% drawn, 3 preference points needed
Colorado runs a pure preference-point draw, so the point figure above is the requirement the agency published for that code in that year, not a forecast for the next one. 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
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Colorado unit G12?
What is the mountain goat success rate in unit G12?
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/yrSources & Verification
Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-23.
- Colorado Sheep & Goat Hunting Brochure — Game Management Unit (GMU) Descriptions (pp. 16-17) — 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 Mountain goat Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for mountain goat in unit G12, 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