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Colorado GMU 54 elk: terrain, access and seasons

Unit 54's terrain, access, seasons and CPW elk figures, with Conditions rebuilt nightly.

By Bryson, co-founder Updated

2026 season

Second rifle Oct 24–Nov 1

Every section below follows this season.

Decide

The season's licenses, draw results and harvest figures.

At a glance

Second rifle runs Oct 24–Nov 1, 2026; CPW's 2024 harvest survey put success at 15% for 1,039 hunters.

Size
584 sq mi
CPW unit boundary, 2025
County
Gunnison
Elevation
7,160–13,040 ft
USGS 3DEP, 2026-10-19
Huntable public land
79%
COMaP, 2026-10-12
Second rifle license, 2026
Draw bull, cow
CPW 2026 big game brochure
Success
15%
CPW harvest survey, 2024
Hunters
1,039
CPW harvest survey, 2024
Hunter-days per sq mi
9.2
CPW, 2024
Road miles, any vehicle
164 mi
MVUM + CDOT, open on the Oct 24 opener
Median Habitat Score
2.7 of 5
Ranks 22nd of 128 for second rifle. Glassline, v20, 2026-10-19
Snow now
0 in
Deepest at Butte SNOTEL, 2026-10-20

In short

A high-elevation, half-open draw-only unit with more far-from-road ground than most units. Most of Unit 54 sits between 8,000 and 10,000 feet, with more conifer than anything else and shrubland next, then aspen. About four-fifths of the unit is huntable public land, and about a third of that ground is more than an hour and a half on foot from a drivable road. CPW's survey counted 2,242 hunters across all seasons in 2024, down from 2,266 in 2022, while second rifle success fell from 23% to 15%. Every license here is drawn.

Licenses and draw

Second rifle in Unit 54, 2026: a draw bull license (E-M-054-O2-R) and a draw cow license (E-F-054-O2-R).

  • E-M-054-O2-R bull, draw 2026 draw: licenses left over for residents and nonresidents
  • E-F-054-O2-R cow, draw 2026 draw: drawn out at 0 points for residents and nonresidents

CPW 2026 big game brochure; CPW primary-draw recap and drawn-out-at reports, 2024–2026, adult licenses. 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 54 sits among its neighbors.

53 55 63 67 521 54

Public data only. The plan lives in the app. Map sources

Conditions

As of Oct 21: no snow on the ground at the SNOTEL station near the unit; extreme drought (D3) on the US Drought Monitor over 100% of the unit.

Rebuilt nightly; sources at the end of the page.

Item Value Data
Snow (SNOTEL) Butte (10,190 ft, 2.3 mi out): 0 in deep, SWE 0 in 2026-10-20 2026-10-20
Drought D3, Extreme droughtShare of the unit: D0 or worse 100% · D1 or worse 100% · D2 or worse 100% · D3 or worse 100% USDM 2026-10-13 USDM 2026-10-13
Greenness vs normal, Sep 14–29 101% of the September normal (2014–2023), MODIS 16-day composite 2026-09-29 2026-09-29

7-day forecast

NWS 7-day gridpoint forecast for 8,000–9,000 ft and 10,000–11,000 ft, issued Oct 21; the second rifle opener, Oct 24, is marked; no front named in the NWS discussion for the 7 days.

8,000–9,000 ft NWS GJT gridpoint 145,77, issued 2026-10-21. Gusts and lows: gridpoint only. No front named in the NWS discussion for the 7 days.
Wed 10/21 Thu 10/22 Fri 10/23 Sat 10/24 Opener Sun 10/25 Mon 10/26 Tue 10/27
High / low 54° 34°54° 42°54° 38°52° 34°50° 35°51° 33°52° 30°
Precip 0.2 in0.9 in0.1 in0.2 in0 in0 in0 in
Snow 0 in0 in0 in0 in0 in0 in0 in
Gusts 12 mph17 mph18 mph14 mph12 mph7 mph9 mph
10,000–11,000 ft NWS GJT gridpoint 144,78, issued 2026-10-21. Gusts and lows: gridpoint only. No front named in the NWS discussion for the 7 days.
Wed 10/21 Thu 10/22 Fri 10/23 Sat 10/24 Opener Sun 10/25 Mon 10/26 Tue 10/27
High / low 48° 34°48° 40°48° 36°46° 33°44° 33°45° 32°46° 29°
Precip 0.2 in1 in0.2 in0.2 in0.1 in0 in0 in
Snow 0 in0 in0 in0.1 in0.2 in0 in0 in
Gusts 12 mph18 mph18 mph13 mph12 mph6 mph9 mph

Access

Unit 54 has 15 trailheads and about 164 miles of road any vehicle may drive on the second rifle opener, plus 120 more that need high clearance. Just over a third of the huntable public ground is within a 30-minute walk of a drivable road, and about a third is more than an hour and a half away.

Trailheads
15
COTREX, computed 2026-10-19
Road miles open, second rifle opener Oct 24–Nov 1, by the smallest vehicle allowed. MVUM plus county and state roads.
Vehicle Miles
Any vehicle
164 mi
High clearance
120 mi
4x4
0 mi
Walking time from a drivable road Share of huntable public ground by foot time from the nearest drivable road. Foot time at a standard pace on Glassline's travel model (slope, vegetation, trails), from the nearest highway, road a high-clearance vehicle can drive, or trailhead, with every road open.
Walking time Share
Within 30 min
36.1%
30–60 min
15.9%
60–90 min
12.6%
Over 90 min
35.3%

Hunt codes and draw results

2 hunt codes for second rifle, 2026, with CPW's primary-draw results for 2024–2026.

Hunt code Year Licenses Residents Nonresidents
1st-choice applicants Drawn Drawn out at 1st-choice applicants Drawn Drawn out at
E-M-054-O2-R bull 2026 800 68 161 Leftover 129 263 Leftover
E-F-054-O2-R cow 2024 50 68 34 0 points 29 8 1 point
2025 50 70 35 0 points 20 7 1 point
2026 55 41 37 0 points 6 5 0 points

Hunt codes from the CPW 2026 big game brochure. A code valid in several units counts every hunter in all of them.

Draw results are CPW's primary-draw recap and drawn-out-at reports, 2024–2026, adult licenses. "Drawn out at" is the lowest preference-point level that drew a license; "Leftover" means licenses remained after the draw. A code valid in several units counts every applicant for all of them. Source: CPW draw reports, 2024–2026.

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 54.

  • In Montana GPS work, rifle-season elk tended to hold about a mile or more from open motorized routes, in blocks of 5,000 acres or more.

    Ranglack et al., 2017 Established finding

  • At Oregon's Starkey Experimental Forest, bulls chose more canopy and kept away from open roads by day during hunts, and the shift was stronger in rifle seasons than in archery.

    Smith et al., 2022 Single study

Read next: Colorado second rifle elk, 2026 · How to e-scout a Colorado elk unit

Build a plan for Unit 54, free.

Start free

POIs 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

7,160–13,040 ft; conifer 36.4% and shrubland 25.9%; burns: Lowline(2023/2024) Fire (2023).

Unit-wide figures, computed 2026-10-19.

Elevation Acres per 1,000 ft band. USGS 3DEP.
  1. 7k–8k ft 36,660 ac
  2. 8k–9k ft 110,550 ac
  3. 9k–10k ft 118,230 ac
  4. 10k–11k ft 75,920 ac
  5. 11k–12k ft 26,260 ac
  6. 12k–13k ft 4,400 ac
Table view
BandAcres
7,000–8,000 ft36,660 ac
8,000–9,000 ft110,550 ac
9,000–10,000 ft118,230 ac
10,000–11,000 ft75,920 ac
11,000–12,000 ft26,260 ac
12,000–13,000 ft4,400 ac
Slope Share of the unit per slope class.
  1. Under 5° 14.9%
  2. 5–15° 35%
  3. 15–25° 25.3%
  4. 25–35° 19.2%
  5. 35°+ 5.6%
Table view
Slope classShare
Flat (under 5°)14.9%
Gentle (5–15°)35%
Moderate (15–25°)25.3%
Steep (25–35°)19.2%
Very steep (35° and up)5.6%
Aspect Share of non-flat ground facing each way.
  1. N 8.7%
  2. NE 12.5%
  3. E 16.7%
  4. SE 13.6%
  5. S 12.4%
  6. SW 14.6%
  7. W 13.4%
  8. NW 8.1%
Table view
AspectShare
North8.7%
Northeast12.5%
East16.7%
Southeast13.6%
South12.4%
Southwest14.6%
West13.4%
Northwest8.1%
Vegetation LF2024 existing vegetation, groups of 1% or more.
  1. Conifer 36.4%
  2. Shrubland 25.9%
  3. Aspen 17%
  4. Grass & meadow 7.7%
  5. Rock & scree 3.2%
  6. Farmland 2.6%
  7. Riparian & wetland 2.3%
  8. Pinyon-juniper 1.6%
  9. Water 1.2%
  10. Developed 1%
Table view
Vegetation groupShare
Conifer36.4%
Shrubland25.9%
Aspen17%
Grass & meadow7.7%
Rock & scree3.2%
Farmland2.6%
Riparian & wetland2.3%
Pinyon-juniper1.6%
Water1.2%
Developed1%
Item Value Data
Burned 0–3 years ago 2,000 acLowline(2023/2024) Fire (2023), 1,900 ac NIFC since 2020 NIFC since 2020
Openings in timber 2,711 openings of 1–40 ac, from lidar covering 99.5% of the unit 2026-10-19 2026-10-19
Habitat Score, second rifle Share of 293,100 ac of huntable public ground in each score band. Median 2.7. Scoring v20, computed 2026-10-19.
Table view
ScoreShare of scored ground
0–0.50.7%
0.5–14.7%
1–1.512.9%
1.5–213.4%
2–2.512.5%
2.5–319.8%
3–3.525.2%
3.5–410.6%
4–4.50.1%
4.5–50%

Glassline's Habitat Score grades terrain and habitat for the season on food, water, breeding and shelter. Shown here as one distribution for the whole unit, never a map: it grades ground, not animal locations.

The numbers

CPW harvest estimates 2022–2024 for the chosen season and all seasons, the West Elk Mountains herd (E-5) estimate for 2025 and hunter density, 2024.

Second rifle success fell from 23% to 15% between 2022 and 2024, while the season's hunters rose by about a tenth. Across all seasons, hunters held about steady between 2022 and 2024. Unit 54 is one of 3 units in CPW's West Elk Mountains herd unit (E-5), estimated at about 10,000 elk after the 2025 hunt, with 28 bulls per 100 cows.

Hunters, harvest and success
Season Year Hunters Harvest Success
Second rifle 2022 940 217 23%
2023 996 233 23%
2024 1,039 161 15%
All seasons 2022 2,266 573 25%
2023 2,299 425 18%
2024 2,242 498 22%

CPW elk harvest reports, 2022–2024. A dash: not reported.

Item Value Data
Hunter density 20 hunter-days per sq mi, all seasons CPW 2024 CPW 2024
Herd estimate (West Elk Mountains, E-5) 10,230 post-hunt · 7,690 in 2019 CPW 2025 CPW 2025
Bull:cow ratio 28 bulls per 100 cows CPW 2025 CPW 2025

CPW harvest figures are survey estimates, not counts, and they cover the whole unit, private land included. Source: CPW harvest reports, 2022–2024.

Herd numbers cover the whole West Elk Mountains herd unit (E-5), which also takes in Units 53 and 63: CPW manages herds, not units. Source: CPW post-hunt population estimate, 2025.

Neighbors

Units 53, 55, 63, 67 and 521, nearest first.

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

23 datasets and studies, dated where the source dates them.
  1. Elk statistics: population estimates and harvest reports — Colorado Parks and Wildlife
  2. Colorado big game hunting: brochure, seasons and hunt codes — Colorado Parks and Wildlife
  3. Game Management Unit boundaries (Hunting Atlas) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife On the map: unit boundaries, 2025.
  4. COMaP: Colorado Ownership, Management and Protection — Colorado Natural Heritage Program, 2026-10-12 On the map: public land by manager, mapped 2026-07-29.
  5. 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.
  6. LANDFIRE Existing Vegetation Type (LF 2024) — U.S. Geological Survey / USDA Forest Service, LF2024
  7. 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.
  8. 3DEP lidar point clouds (canopy height model) — U.S. Geological Survey
  9. COTREX: Colorado Trail Explorer — Colorado Parks and Wildlife On the map: trailheads, 2024.
  10. 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.
  11. Highways and major roads — Colorado Department of Transportation On the map: highways, mapped 2026-07-31.
  12. SNOTEL network: daily snow depth and snow water equivalent — USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, 2026-10-20 On the map: SNOTEL stations.
  13. U.S. Drought Monitor — National Drought Mitigation Center, 2026-10-13
  14. MOD13Q1 vegetation indices (NDVI), 250 m 16-day — NASA LP DAAC, 2026-09-29
  15. National Weather Service 7-day gridpoint forecast — National Weather Service, 2026-10-21
  16. National Weather Service Area Forecast Discussion (BOU, GJT, PUB) — National Weather Service, 2026-10-21
  17. Effects of bull age on conception dates and pregnancy rates of cow elk — Noyes, Johnson, Bryant, Findholt and Thomas, Journal of Wildlife Management 60(3), 1996
  18. Security areas for elk during archery and rifle hunting seasons — Ranglack, Proffitt, Canfield, Gude, Rotella and Garrott, Journal of Wildlife Management 81(5), 2017
  19. Wildfire extends the shelf life of elk nutritional resources regardless of fire severity — Snobl, Proffitt and Millspaugh, Ecosphere 13(7), 2022
  20. Behavioral responses of male elk to hunting risk — Smith, Spitz, Brown, Wisdom, Rowland, Forrester, Johnson and Clark, Journal of Wildlife Management 86, 2022
  21. Plasticity in elk migration timing is a response to changing environmental conditions — Rickbeil, Merkle, Anderson, Atwood, Beckmann, Cole, Courtemanch, Dewey, Gustine, Kauffman, McWhirter, Mong, Proffitt, White and Middleton, Global Change Biology 25, 2019
  22. Gazetteer files, places — U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 On the map: towns, 2024.
  23. Species Activity Mapping: elk seasonal ranges — Colorado Parks and Wildlife, 2025 On the map: CPW mapped ranges, 2025.

Build a plan for Unit 54, free.

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POIs are terrain candidates — places worth checking, not animal locations.