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Colorado GMU 682 elk: terrain, access and seasons

Unit 682's terrain, access, seasons and CPW elk figures, with Conditions rebuilt nightly.

By Bryson, co-founder Updated

2026 season

Archery Sep 2–30

Every section below follows this season.

Decide

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

At a glance

Archery runs Sep 2–30, 2026; CPW's 2023 harvest survey put success at 0% for 3 hunters.

Size
255 sq mi
CPW unit boundary, 2025
County
Saguache
Elevation
7,540–8,030 ft
USGS 3DEP, 2026-10-19
Huntable public land
10%
COMaP, 2026-10-12
Archery license, 2026
OTC cow · Draw cow
CPW 2026 big game brochure
Success
0%
CPW harvest survey, 2023
Hunters
3
CPW harvest survey, 2023
Hunter-days per sq mi
0
CPW, 2023
Road miles, any vehicle
160 mi
MVUM + CDOT, open on the Sep 2 opener
Median Habitat Score
1 of 5
Ranks 102nd of 177 for archery. Glassline, v20, 2026-10-19

In short

A mid-elevation, open OTC unit with less far-from-road ground than most units and fewer hunters than in 2021. Almost all of Unit 682 sits between 7,000 and 8,000 feet, mostly shrubland with riparian and wetland ground after it. About a tenth of the unit is huntable public land, and almost none of that ground is more than an hour and a half on foot from a drivable road. CPW's survey counted 75 hunters across all seasons in 2023, down from 123 in 2021. Archery sells over-the-counter cow licenses; the other seasons are draw only.

Licenses and draw

Archery in Unit 682, 2026: an over-the-counter cow license (E-F-000-U1-A) and a draw cow license (E-F-682-V1-A).

  • E-F-000-U1-A cow, over the counter
  • E-F-682-V1-A cow, draw 2026 draw: licenses left over 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 682 sits among its neighbors.

82 681 791 68 86 682

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 100% 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 100% USDM 2026-10-13 USDM 2026-10-13
Greenness vs normal, Sep 14–29 99% of the September normal (2014–2023), MODIS 16-day composite 2026-09-29 2026-09-29

7-day forecast

Access

Unit 682 has 1 trailhead and about 160 miles of road any vehicle may drive on the archery opener, plus 34 more that need high clearance. Nearly all of the huntable public ground is within a 30-minute walk of a drivable road, and almost none is more than an hour and a half away.

Trailheads
1
COTREX, computed 2026-10-19
Road miles open, archery opener Sep 2–30, by the smallest vehicle allowed. MVUM plus county and state roads.
Vehicle Miles
Any vehicle
160 mi
High clearance
34 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
99.2%
30–60 min
0.8%
60–90 min
0%
Over 90 min
0%

Hunt codes and draw results

2 hunt codes for archery, 2026, with CPW's primary-draw results for 2025–2026.

Hunt code Year Licenses Residents Nonresidents
1st-choice applicants Drawn Drawn out at 1st-choice applicants Drawn Drawn out at
E-F-000-U1-A cow Over the counter: no draw
E-F-682-V1-A cow 2025 10 0 0 Leftover 0 0 Leftover
2026 10 0 0 Leftover 0 0 Leftover

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 682.

  • In an Oregon experiment with mature bulls in the herd, about half of all conceptions fell in the single week of September 15–21; breeding dates follow day length, not weather.

    Noyes et al., 1996 Established finding

  • In Montana GPS work, archery-season elk tended to hold about 1.7 miles or more from open motorized routes, and needed little canopy once they were that far out.

    Ranglack et al., 2017 Established finding

Read next: How to e-scout a Colorado elk unit

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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

7,540–8,030 ft; shrubland 62.7% and riparian & wetland 21.6%; no mapped burns since 2020.

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

Elevation Acres per 1,000 ft band. USGS 3DEP.
  1. 7k–8k ft 162,150 ac
Table view
BandAcres
7,000–8,000 ft162,150 ac
Slope Share of the unit per slope class.
  1. Under 5° 99.7%
  2. 5–15° 0.2%
  3. 15–25° 0.1%
  4. 25–35° 0%
  5. 35°+ 0%
Table view
Slope classShare
Flat (under 5°)99.7%
Gentle (5–15°)0.2%
Moderate (15–25°)0.1%
Steep (25–35°)0%
Very steep (35° and up)0%
Aspect Share of non-flat ground facing each way.
  1. N 5.9%
  2. NE 11.5%
  3. E 17.2%
  4. SE 14.3%
  5. S 16.2%
  6. SW 14.5%
  7. W 10%
  8. NW 10.4%
Table view
AspectShare
North5.9%
Northeast11.5%
East17.2%
Southeast14.3%
South16.2%
Southwest14.5%
West10%
Northwest10.4%
Vegetation LF2024 existing vegetation, groups of 1% or more.
  1. Shrubland 62.7%
  2. Riparian & wetland 21.6%
  3. Grass & meadow 6.7%
  4. Farmland 6.1%
  5. Developed 2.1%
Table view
Vegetation groupShare
Shrubland62.7%
Riparian & wetland21.6%
Grass & meadow6.7%
Farmland6.1%
Developed2.1%
Item Value Data
Burns No burned acres in the unit since 2020 NIFC NIFC
Openings in timber 3 openings of 1–40 ac, from lidar covering 100% of the unit 2026-10-19 2026-10-19
Habitat Score, archery Share of 16,900 ac of huntable public ground in each score band. Median 1. Scoring v20, computed 2026-10-19.
Table view
ScoreShare of scored ground
0–0.526.7%
0.5–123.5%
1–1.526.3%
1.5–215.3%
2–2.54.9%
2.5–31.4%
3–3.51.8%
3.5–40%
4–4.50%
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 2021–2023 for the chosen season and all seasons, the Northern San Luis Valley Floor herd (E-55) estimate for 2025 and hunter density, 2024.

CPW counted 3 archery hunters in 2023; on so few, the success rate swings widely from year to year. Across all seasons, hunters fell by about two-fifths between 2021 and 2023. Unit 682 is one of 2 units in CPW's Northern San Luis Valley Floor herd unit (E-55), estimated at about 200 elk after the 2025 hunt, with 14 bulls per 100 cows.

Hunters, harvest and success
Season Year Hunters Harvest Success
Archery 2021 8 0 0%
2022 11 6 50%
2023 3 0 0%
All seasons 2021 123 55 45%
2022 89 59 67%
2023 75 47 63%

CPW elk harvest reports, 2021–2023. A dash: not reported.

Item Value Data
Hunter density 0 hunter-days per sq mi, all seasons CPW 2024 CPW 2024
Herd estimate (Northern San Luis Valley Floor, E-55) 150 post-hunt · 150 in 2019 CPW 2025 CPW 2025
Bull:cow ratio 14 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, 2021–2023.

Herd numbers cover the whole Northern San Luis Valley Floor herd unit (E-55), which also takes in Unit 791: CPW manages herds, not units. Source: CPW post-hunt population estimate, 2025.

Neighbors

Units 82, 681, 791, 68 and 86, 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

18 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. 3DEP lidar point clouds (canopy height model) — U.S. Geological Survey
  8. COTREX: Colorado Trail Explorer — Colorado Parks and Wildlife On the map: trailheads, 2024.
  9. U.S. Drought Monitor — National Drought Mitigation Center, 2026-10-13
  10. MOD13Q1 vegetation indices (NDVI), 250 m 16-day — NASA LP DAAC, 2026-09-29
  11. 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
  12. Security areas for elk during archery and rifle hunting seasons — Ranglack, Proffitt, Canfield, Gude, Rotella and Garrott, Journal of Wildlife Management 81(5), 2017
  13. 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.
  14. Highways and major roads — Colorado Department of Transportation On the map: highways, mapped 2026-07-31.
  15. 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.
  16. SNOTEL network: daily snow depth and snow water equivalent — USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service On the map: SNOTEL stations.
  17. Gazetteer files, places — U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 On the map: towns, 2024.
  18. Species Activity Mapping: elk seasonal ranges — Colorado Parks and Wildlife, 2025 On the map: CPW mapped ranges, 2025.

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