Unit research · Colorado GMU 501
GMU 501 — Colorado
91% public across 321,077 ac. Real backcountry here — 35% of the public land sits more than a mile from any road. No landlocked public land.
Computed from primary government data by the open pipeline. See the code →
Tags & season
Draw hunts on this ground.
16 limited-entry deer and elk hunts are drawn on GMU 501: apply in the Colorado draw, by the agency's deadline below.
Season dates: see Colorado Parks & Wildlife's regulations
Fees and draw dates from Colorado Parks & Wildlife, 2026, verified 2026-08-05 — past its verify-by date, confirm with the agency. Tag type from the agency's published draw statistics: a gmu that appears in none of them has no limited-entry hunt we know of. Source: 2026 Colorado Big Game brochure (rev. 2026-03-18) · CPW primary draw · CPW refunds, reversals and exchanges · Chapter W-2 (2 CCR 406-2), approved 2025-05-07.
Land & access
Backcountry
Where the ground sits
Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band
Slope mix
Which way the slopes face
Share of ground steeper than 5° — flat ground has no facing
North slopes hold shade, cover and snow; south slopes open first.
USGS 3DEP 1 arc-second (30 m), slope at native resolution in a local metric projection, sampled on a 200 m grid. See the code →
Unit intelligence report
61,420 ac of this gmu has burned — 19% of the unit. The full report assembles it into one printable document and keeps it current as the facts change.
Season conditions — measured, not vibes
Historical temperatures · 2000–2025
Normals for 2000–2025 — tap or hover for a month
Measured at USAF ACADEMY AIRSTRIP AIRPORT, 67 km from the unit’s center and ~2,700 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.
Harvest — agency survey estimates
Elk · 2024
33% success
125 taken by 378 hunters · 2,260 days afield
83 bulls · 36 cows · 6 calves
Elk hunter success · 2019–2024 · 28% → 33%
Season breakdown · 2024
| Season | Success | Harvest | Hunters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st rifle | 42% | 10 | 24 |
| 2nd rifle | 28% | 26 | 93 |
| 3rd rifle | 31% | 25 | 79 |
| 4th rifle | 41% | 13 | 30 |
| Archery | 46% | 28 | 61 |
| Muzzleloader | 24% | 15 | 61 |
Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.
Deer · 2024
59% success
216 taken by 368 hunters · 1,752 days afield
166 bucks · 44 does · 5 fawns
Deer hunter success · 2019–2024 · 44% → 59%
Season breakdown · 2024
| Season | Success | Harvest | Hunters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archery | 35% | 28 | 81 |
| Muzzleloader | 19% | 6 | 34 |
Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.
Pronghorn · 2024
44% success
4 taken by 9 hunters · 22 days afield
3 bucks · 1 does · 0 fawns
Pronghorn hunter success · 2019–2024 · 9% → 44%
Season breakdown · 2024
| Season | Success | Harvest | Hunters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archery | 22% | 1 | 5 |
| Muzzleloader | 0% | 0 | 1 |
Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.
Herd-level estimates · 95% CI
deer · DAU D-38 · 2025: 244 harvested (CI 224–265) · 46% success
elk · DAU E-18 · 2025: 562 harvested (CI 516–613) · 28% success
pronghorn · DAU A-30 · 2025: 106 harvested (CI 98–116) · 40% success
CPW’s stratified-survey estimates for the whole herd unit (DAU) this GMU belongs to — published with the uncertainty the per-GMU tables can’t carry.
CPW estimates harvest, hunters, success and recreation days from its Big Game Harvest Survey. Unit tables run 2019-2024; the 2025 report switched to per-hunt-code tables without unit totals, so unit series end at 2024 and 2025 success rates appear on the draw-odds tables instead. Source: CPW Statewide Harvest Estimates (per species-year PDFs on the species statistics pages).
How these numbers are made
Computed, not curated: no paid research team, no opinions dressed as data. If a number looks wrong, file an issue — the fix ships for everyone.
Ready to scout it?
Everything on this page, live on the map — ownership, boundaries, roads, and your own waypoints.
Take GMU 501 into the field
Download Colorado’s pack and this unit works with no signal — boundaries, ownership, roads, elevation. Record your hunt with the screen off. Check what’s visible from any ridge.
Scan to install OpenHunt for Android. Open this page on the phone afterwards and it lands in the app.
