Unit research · Colorado GMU 55

GMU 55 — Colorado

90% public across 567,178 ac. Road access is easy — only 17% 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 (11)Elk draw odds (11)Pronghorn draw odds (1)Odds and pins: free, no account

GMU 55Full map — ownership, roads, wind →

7,690–13,990 ft

elevation range

90%

public land

17%

of public >1 mi from a road

50 ac

landlocked public

1.86

road miles per mi²

1,122 mi

maintained trails

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

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

23 limited-entry deer, elk and pronghorn hunts are drawn on GMU 55: apply in the Colorado draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Deer tag · 11 draw hunts (2026)$60.18 resident · $518.41 nonresident

Elk tag · 11 draw hunts (2026)$79.33 resident · $856.65 nonresident

Pronghorn tag · 1 draw hunt (2026)$60.18 resident · $518.41 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) ↗

Colorado Parks & Wildlife — licenses and tags ↗Draw odds for Colorado deer →Draw odds for Colorado elk →Draw odds for Colorado pronghorn →How the Colorado draw works →

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 82%■ BLM 7%■ SFW 0%□ Private 10%

Unit area567,178 ac

Public land508,385 ac (90%)

Landlocked public50 ac (0.0%)

Deer draw pressure0.71 tags/mi² public (0.63 of total area)

Elk draw pressure1.9 tags/mi² public (1.7 of total area)

Pronghorn draw pressure0.004 tags/mi² public (0.003 of total area)

Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)1,644 mi

Maintained trails1,122 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road84,075 ac (17% of public)

Road density1.86 mi/mi²

Managed byUSFS 464k ac · BLM 39k ac · SFW 3k ac

Elevation7,690–13,990 ft

Median elevation10,380 ft

Median slope15°

Where the ground sits

7,690 ft13,990 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 18%

E 24%

S 27%

W 30%

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

254 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.

Open the report →

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, 36 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

14% success

397 taken by 2,755 hunters · 14,160 days afield

269 bulls · 123 cows · 5 calves

Elk hunter success · 2019–2024 · 8% → 14%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
1st rifle	22%	61	281
2nd rifle	11%	144	1,291
3rd rifle	13%	85	656
4th rifle	57%	23	40
Archery	16%	48	307
Muzzleloader	20%	37	180

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

Deer · 2024

66% success

459 taken by 695 hunters · 3,183 days afield

308 bucks · 143 does · 8 fawns

Deer hunter success · 2019–2024 · 51% → 66%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	38%	31	83
Muzzleloader	72%	54	75

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

Pronghorn · 2024

0% success

0 taken by 2 hunters · 11 days afield

0 bucks · 0 does · 0 fawns

Pronghorn hunter success · 2023–2024 · 0% → 0%

Season breakdown · 2024

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-57 · 2025: 1,559 harvested (CI 1,508–1,612) · 66% success

elk · DAU E-43 · 2025: 554 harvested (CI 499–614) · 12% 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

public_land_pct = public_area / unit_area
landlocked = public ∖ reachable(roads, corners)
remote = public ∖ buffer(roads, 1 mi)
# AGPL — read the pipeline →

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 47190% public · 25% remote GMU 48180% public · 40% remote GMU 5478% public · 34% remote GMU 43176% public · 63% remote GMU 4889% public · 35% remote GMU 55187% public · 3% remote

Ready to scout it?

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