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Units / Colorado / GMU 511

Unit research · Colorado GMU 511

GMU 511 — Colorado

63% public across 231,911 ac. Road access is easy — only 1% of the public land is more than a mile from a road. Almost none of the public land is landlocked.

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Deer draw odds (6)Elk draw odds (7)Odds and pins: free, no account
GMU 511Full map — ownership, roads, wind →
5,960–9,620 ft

elevation range

63%

public land

1%

of public >1 mi from a road

187 ac

landlocked public

4.08

road miles per mi²

488 mi

maintained trails

Computed from primary government data by the open pipeline. See the code →

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

13 limited-entry deer and elk hunts are drawn on GMU 511: apply in the Colorado draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Deer tag · 6 draw hunts (2026)$60.18 resident · $518.41 nonresident
Elk tag · 7 draw hunts (2026)$79.33 resident · $856.65 nonresident
Plus: Qualifying license (annual small game, cheapest adult route)$38.49 resident · $104.86 nonresident

Season dates: see Colorado Parks & Wildlife's regulations

2026 Colorado Big Game brochure (rev. 2026-03-18)

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

USFS 61%CITY 1%BLM 0%□ Private 37%
Unit area231,911 ac
Public land145,895 ac (63%)
Landlocked public187 ac (0.1%)
Deer draw pressure0.51 tags/mi² public (0.32 of total area)
Elk draw pressure1.1 tags/mi² public (0.68 of total area)
Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)1,477 mi
Maintained trails488 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road1,295 ac (1% of public)
Road density4.08 mi/mi²
Managed byUSFS 142k ac · CITY 3k ac · BLM 0k ac
Elevation5,960–9,620 ft
Median elevation8,630 ft
Median slope10°

Where the ground sits

5,960 ft9,620 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 23%
E 29%
S 23%
W 25%

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

66,773 ac of this gmu has burned — 29% of the unit. The full report assembles it into one printable document and keeps it current as the facts change.

Open the report →

Season conditions — measured, not vibes

Historical temperatures · 2000–2025

Monthly normal highs and lows, °F43° high16° lowJFMAMJJASOND

Normals for 2000–2025 — tap or hover for a month

Measured at USAF ACADEMY AIRSTRIP AIRPORT, 24 km from the unit’s center and ~2,100 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2024

7% success

95 taken by 1,425 hunters · 7,971 days afield

53 bulls · 41 cows · 2 calves

Elk hunter success · 2019–2024 · 8% → 7%

Season breakdown · 2024
SeasonSuccessHarvestHunters
1st rifle13%1397
2nd rifle4%20451
3rd rifle6%9156
4th rifle0%091
Archery7%33458
Muzzleloader0%095

Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.

Deer · 2024

55% success

296 taken by 534 hunters · 2,478 days afield

214 bucks · 70 does · 12 fawns

Deer hunter success · 2019–2024 · 53% → 55%

Season breakdown · 2024
SeasonSuccessHarvestHunters
Archery45%54119
Muzzleloader63%3860

Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.

Pronghorn · 2024

0% success

0 taken by 2 hunters · 18 days afield

0 bucks · 0 does · 0 fawns

Pronghorn hunter success · 2020–2024 · 33% → 0%

Season breakdown · 2024
SeasonSuccessHarvestHunters
Archery0%02

Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.

Herd-level estimates · 95% CI

deer · DAU D-50 · 2025: 504 harvested (CI 475536) · 58% success

elk · DAU E-23 · 2025: 370 harvested (CI 320427) · 10% success

pronghorn · DAU A-30 · 2025: 106 harvested (CI 98116) · 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

public_land_pct = public_area / unit_area
landlocked = public ∖ reachable(roads, corners)
remote = public ∖ buffer(roads, 1 mi)

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.

Nearby GMUs

GMU 5120% public · 0% remoteGMU 5153% public · 7% remoteGMU 58144% public · 13% remoteGMU 50191% public · 35% remoteGMU 5938% public · 22% remoteGMU 1105% public · 0% remote

Ready to scout it?

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Take GMU 511 into the field

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Watch this unit — freeReturned and leftover tags, new legal closures, fire near the unit, weather warnings — by email. One unit free, no card.