Unit research · Colorado GMU 57

GMU 57 — Colorado

76% public across 174,990 ac. Road access is easy — only 11% of the public land is more than a mile from a road. Almost none of the public land is landlocked.

Open in map

Elk draw odds (12)Pronghorn draw odds (6)Odds and pins: free, no account

GMU 57Full map — ownership, roads, wind →

6,740–10,900 ft

elevation range

76%

public land

11%

of public >1 mi from a road

255 ac

landlocked public

1.58

road miles per mi²

196 mi

maintained trails

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

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

18 limited-entry elk and pronghorn hunts are drawn on GMU 57: apply in the Colorado draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Elk tag · 12 draw hunts (2026)$79.33 resident · $856.65 nonresident

Pronghorn tag · 6 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 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 55%■ BLM 17%■ SLB 3%■ Other public 1%□ Private 24%

Unit area174,990 ac

Public land132,890 ac (76%)

Landlocked public255 ac (0.2%)

Elk draw pressure4.9 tags/mi² public (3.7 of total area)

Pronghorn draw pressure0.39 tags/mi² public (0.29 of total area)

Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)431 mi

Maintained trails196 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road14,856 ac (11% of public)

Road density1.58 mi/mi²

Managed byUSFS 96k ac · BLM 30k ac · SLB 5k ac

Elevation6,740–10,900 ft

Median elevation9,130 ft

Median slope10°

Where the ground sits

6,740 ft10,900 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 21%

E 22%

S 29%

W 29%

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

44 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, 87 km from the unit’s center and ~1,500 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2024

34% success

163 taken by 483 hunters · 2,478 days afield

71 bulls · 86 cows · 6 calves

Elk hunter success · 2019–2024 · 17% → 34%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
1st rifle	26%	18	69
2nd rifle	34%	18	52
3rd rifle	40%	41	102
4th rifle	32%	32	101
Archery	28%	19	67
Muzzleloader	19%	9	47

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

Deer · 2024

49% success

148 taken by 303 hunters · 1,175 days afield

113 bucks · 34 does · 2 fawns

Deer hunter success · 2019–2024 · 32% → 49%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	0%	0	40
Muzzleloader	0%	0	12

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

Pronghorn · 2024

39% success

14 taken by 35 hunters · 142 days afield

7 bucks · 6 does · 0 fawns

Pronghorn hunter success · 2019–2024 · 30% → 39%

Season breakdown · 2024

Season	Success	Harvest	Hunters
Archery	0%	0	10
Muzzleloader	33%	2	5

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

Herd-level estimates · 95% CI

deer · DAU D-16 · 2025: 1,048 harvested (CI 952–1,154) · 48% success

elk · DAU E-22 · 2025: 838 harvested (CI 787–891) · 34% 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

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 5670% public · 15% remote GMU 5851% public · 12% remote GMU 56191% public · 9% remote GMU 48180% public · 40% remote GMU 4972% public · 19% remote GMU 8656% public · 29% remote

Ready to scout it?

Everything on this page, live on the map — ownership, boundaries, roads, and your own waypoints.

Open GMU 57 in the map