Unit research · Colorado GMU 53
GMU 53 — Colorado
77% public across 253,634 ac. Real backcountry here — 48% 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.
20 limited-entry deer and elk hunts are drawn on GMU 53: 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
444 ac of this gmu has burned — 0% 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 GUNSN-CRSTED BUTTE RGL APT, 52 km from the unit’s center and ~600 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.
Harvest — agency survey estimates
Elk · 2024
16% success
326 taken by 2,033 hunters · 11,987 days afield
218 bulls · 99 cows · 9 calves
Elk hunter success · 2019–2024 · 14% → 16%
Season breakdown · 2024
| Season | Success | Harvest | Hunters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st rifle | 30% | 43 | 146 |
| 2nd rifle | 16% | 70 | 442 |
| 3rd rifle | 14% | 25 | 183 |
| 4th rifle | 19% | 18 | 93 |
| Archery | 15% | 148 | 1,018 |
| Muzzleloader | 7% | 7 | 98 |
Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.
Deer · 2024
72% success
280 taken by 387 hunters · 1,925 days afield
246 bucks · 31 does · 3 fawns
Deer hunter success · 2019–2024 · 64% → 72%
Season breakdown · 2024
| Season | Success | Harvest | Hunters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archery | 29% | 13 | 47 |
| Muzzleloader | 32% | 4 | 13 |
Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.
Pronghorn · 2019
0% success
0 taken by 2 hunters · 27 days afield
0 bucks · 0 does · 0 fawns
Season breakdown · 2019
| Season | Success | Harvest | Hunters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archery | 0% | 0 | 2 |
Which season is the value play here — same ground, different odds.
Herd-level estimates · 95% CI
deer · DAU D-20 · 2025: 607 harvested (CI 579–636) · 70% success
elk · DAU E-5 · 2025: 1,019 harvested (CI 936–1,110) · 19% success
pronghorn · DAU A-99 · 2025: 6 harvested (CI 3–12) · 21% 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 53 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.
