Unit research · Colorado · GMU 551

GMU 551 — Colorado

87% public hunting land across 349,396 ac. Road access is easy — only 3% 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 (10)Elk draw odds (11)Pronghorn draw odds (2)Odds and pins: free, no account

GMU 551Full map — ownership, roads, wind →

7,830–13,260 ft

elevation range

87%

public hunting land

of public >1 mi from a road

638 ac

landlocked public

2.19

road miles per mi²

601 mi

trails on public land

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

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

23 limited-entry deer, elk and pronghorn hunts are drawn on GMU 551: apply in the Colorado draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Deer tag · 10 draw hunts (2026)$60.18 resident · $518.41 nonresident

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

Pronghorn tag · 2 draw hunts (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

■ Forest Service 67%■ BLM 19%■ State wildlife 1%□ Private 13%

Unit area349,396 ac

Public hunting land303,070 ac (87%)

Parks & other public163 ac · State trust

Landlocked public638 ac (0.2%)

Deer draw pressure0.84 tags/mi² public (0.73 of total area)

Elk draw pressure1.6 tags/mi² public (1.4 of total area)

Pronghorn draw pressure0.013 tags/mi² public (0.011 of total area)

Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)1,197 mi

Mapped trails on public land601 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road8,797 ac (3% of public)

Road density2.19 mi/mi²

Managed byForest Service 233k ac · BLM 68k ac · State wildlife 2k ac

Elevation7,830–13,260 ft

Median elevation9,550 ft

Median slope13°

Where the ground sits

7,830 ft13,260 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 23%

E 21%

S 23%

W 32%

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 · Pro, $5 a month or $49 a year

154 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, 38 km from the unit’s center and ~1,900 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2024

16% success

260 taken by 1,574 hunters · 8,094 days afield

167 bulls · 88 cows · 5 calves

Elk hunter success · 2019–2024 · 14% → 16%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
1st rifle	23%	25	107
2nd rifle	12%	92	770
3rd rifle	18%	73	412
4th rifle	50%	9	18
Archery	20%	33	164
Muzzleloader	22%	19	85

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

Deer · 2024

54% success

243 taken by 448 hunters · 2,406 days afield

134 bucks · 96 does · 13 fawns

Deer hunter success · 2019–2024 · 47% → 54%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	23%	14	60
Muzzleloader	42%	25	58

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

Pronghorn · 2024

67% success

3 taken by 5 hunters · 20 days afield

3 bucks (bucks only) · 0 fawns

Pronghorn hunter success · 2019–2024 · 88% → 67%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	0%	0	2
Muzzleloader	100%	1	1

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-23 · 2025: 24 harvested (CI 22–26) · 86% 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, tell us at support@openhuntmaps.com — the fix ships for everyone.

Nearby GMUs

GMU 56191% public · 9% remote GMU 68188% public · 8% remote GMU 5669% public · 15% remote GMU 6782% public · 11% remote GMU 5589% public · 17% remote GMU 6885% public · 16% remote

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