Colorado GMU 512 elk: terrain, access and seasons
Unit 512's terrain, access, seasons and CPW elk figures, with Conditions rebuilt nightly.
Decide
The season's licenses, draw results and harvest figures.
At a glance
- Size
- 28 sq mi
- CPW unit boundary, 2025
- County
- El Paso
- Elevation
- 6,330–8,260 ft
- USGS 3DEP, 2026-10-19
- Huntable public land
- 0%
- COMaP, 2026-10-12
Licenses and draw
CPW 2026 big game brochure. Every year of draw results is under Hunt codes and draw results.
Plan
The map, Conditions, access, hunt codes and draw results for the season, and what the research says.
Map
The interactive map (public land by manager, roads by vehicle class, burns, trailheads, SNOTEL stations, terrain and CPW's mapped ranges) needs JavaScript. The outline shows where Unit 512 sits among its neighbors.
Click or tap the map to zoom and pan
Layers
Public land
Roads
Burns and stations
Terrain
CPW ranges
CPW Species Activity Mapping, 2025. These are the ranges CPW has mapped for elk, not animal locations.
Public data only. The plan lives in the app. Map sources
Conditions
As of Oct 21: no SNOTEL station sits within 6 mi of the unit; extreme drought (D3) on the US Drought Monitor over 61.7% of the unit.
Rebuilt nightly; sources at the end of the page.
| Item | Value | Data |
|---|---|---|
| SNOTEL | No SNOTEL station within 6 mi of the unit | |
| Drought | D3, Extreme droughtShare of the unit: D0 or worse 100% · D1 or worse 100% · D2 or worse 100% · D3 or worse 61.7% USDM 2026-10-13 | USDM 2026-10-13 |
| Greenness vs normal, Sep 14–29 | 111% of the September normal (2014–2023), MODIS 16-day composite 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 |
7-day forecast
Access
Unit 512 has 3 trailheads.
- Trailheads
- 3
- COTREX, computed 2026-10-19
Hunt codes and draw results
Hunt codes from the CPW 2026 big game brochure. A code valid in several units counts every hunter in all of them.
What the research says for this season
Findings from published studies and agency work, as tendencies. They describe how elk have behaved where they were studied, not where they are in Unit 512.
Build a plan for Unit 512, free.
Start freePOIs are terrain candidates — places worth checking, not animal locations.
Reference
Terrain, the multi-year numbers, neighbors and sources. Each opens in place.
Terrain and habitat
6,330–8,260 ft; conifer 41.8% and grass & meadow 19.9%; no mapped burns since 2020.
Unit-wide figures, computed 2026-10-19.
Table view
| Band | Acres |
|---|---|
| 6,000–7,000 ft | 13,080 ac |
| 7,000–8,000 ft | 4,450 ac |
Table view
| Slope class | Share |
|---|---|
| Flat (under 5°) | 49.1% |
| Gentle (5–15°) | 38.2% |
| Moderate (15–25°) | 11.2% |
| Steep (25–35°) | 1.4% |
| Very steep (35° and up) | 0.1% |
Table view
| Aspect | Share |
|---|---|
| North | 17.5% |
| Northeast | 17% |
| East | 15.7% |
| Southeast | 16.5% |
| South | 17.5% |
| Southwest | 5.7% |
| West | 3.8% |
| Northwest | 6.3% |
Table view
| Vegetation group | Share |
|---|---|
| Conifer | 41.8% |
| Grass & meadow | 19.9% |
| Developed | 19.9% |
| Shrubland | 10.5% |
| Riparian & wetland | 5.3% |
| Pinyon-juniper | 1.8% |
| Item | Value | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Burns | No burned acres in the unit since 2020 NIFC | NIFC |
| Openings in timber | 112 openings of 1–40 ac, from lidar covering 100% of the unit 2026-10-19 | 2026-10-19 |
The numbers
The Eleven Mile herd (E-23) estimate for 2025 and hunter density, 2024.
CPW lists no elk season for the unit in this license year. Unit 512 is one of 5 units in CPW's Eleven Mile herd unit (E-23), estimated at about 4,300 elk after the 2025 hunt, with 34 bulls per 100 cows.
| Item | Value | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Hunter density | 1 hunter-days per sq mi, all seasons CPW 2024 | CPW 2024 |
| Herd estimate (Eleven Mile, E-23) | 4,300 post-hunt · 4,070 in 2019 CPW 2025 | CPW 2025 |
| Bull:cow ratio | 34 bulls per 100 cows CPW 2025 | CPW 2025 |
Herd numbers cover the whole Eleven Mile herd unit (E-23), which also takes in Units 59, 511, 581 and 591: CPW manages herds, not units. Source: CPW post-hunt population estimate, 2025.
Neighbors
Units 511, 110, 51, 59 and 118, nearest first.
- Unit 511 → All seasons success 7% (2024)60% huntable public landOTC archery, second rifle and third rifle
- Unit 110 → All seasons success 30% (2023)2% huntable public landOTC plains rifle and archery
- Unit 51 → All seasons success 30% (2024)46% huntable public landDraw only
- Unit 59 → All seasons success 19% (2024)35% huntable public landOTC archery, second rifle and third rifle
- Unit 118 → All seasons success 0% (2024)2% huntable public landOTC plains rifle and archery
From each unit's own page; dates there.
What this page can't tell you
Closures, private ground, this year's pressure and animal locations.
- Closures. Forest, fire and road closure orders change through the season and aren't checked here. The managing agency's current order governs.
- Private ground. Land with no public hunting access is hunted only with the owner's permission, and the public-land share above leaves it out.
- This year's pressure. CPW's hunter numbers run a year or more behind the season you're planning.
- Animal locations. These are terrain, access, harvest and herd figures, and CPW's mapped ranges are range lines; none of them places an animal. Finding elk is still your job.
Sources
16 datasets and studies, dated where the source dates them.
- Elk statistics: population estimates and harvest reports — Colorado Parks and Wildlife
- Colorado big game hunting: brochure, seasons and hunt codes — Colorado Parks and Wildlife
- Game Management Unit boundaries (Hunting Atlas) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife On the map: unit boundaries, 2025.
- COMaP: Colorado Ownership, Management and Protection — Colorado Natural Heritage Program, 2026-10-12 On the map: public land by manager, mapped 2026-07-29.
- 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), 1/3 arc-second — U.S. Geological Survey On the map: shaded relief from 5 m and 10 m lidar elevation, mapped 2026-10-04; elevation bands and slope, mapped 2026-10-04.
- LANDFIRE Existing Vegetation Type (LF 2024) — U.S. Geological Survey / USDA Forest Service, LF2024
- 3DEP lidar point clouds (canopy height model) — U.S. Geological Survey
- COTREX: Colorado Trail Explorer — Colorado Parks and Wildlife On the map: trailheads, 2024.
- U.S. Drought Monitor — National Drought Mitigation Center, 2026-10-13
- MOD13Q1 vegetation indices (NDVI), 250 m 16-day — NASA LP DAAC, 2026-09-29
- Motor Vehicle Use Maps (MVUM) — USDA Forest Service On the map: roads by vehicle class, drawn as open on the selected season's opener, mapped 2026-08-22.
- Highways and major roads — Colorado Department of Transportation On the map: highways, mapped 2026-07-31.
- Wildland Fire Interagency Geospatial Services (WFIGS) fire perimeters — National Interagency Fire Center On the map: burns over 100 acres since 2020, mapped 2026-06-29.
- SNOTEL network: daily snow depth and snow water equivalent — USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service On the map: SNOTEL stations.
- Gazetteer files, places — U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 On the map: towns, 2024.
- Species Activity Mapping: elk seasonal ranges — Colorado Parks and Wildlife, 2025 On the map: CPW mapped ranges, 2025.
Build a plan for Unit 512, free.
Start freePOIs are terrain candidates — places worth checking, not animal locations.