Unit 105, Colorado

Flat to gently rolling prairie with moderately steep mesa and butte topography; elevation ranges from approximately 5,086 feet in the eastern lowlands to 6,473 feet on the higher mesas. The landscape is dissected by several intermittent creek drainages and gulches (Water, Willow, Cattle, Godfrey East, Spring Gulch). No significant mountain terrain; public land slopes are predominantly 20 percent or less. The unit spans roughly 1,143 square miles across Adams, Arapahoe, and Elbert counties.

Access is extremely limited: approximately 91 percent of the unit is private land. There is no National Forest or BLM land within GMU 105. The primary public hunting opportunity is the Jumping Cow SWA, comprising a 14,733-acre access easement and a separate 2,086-acre state trust land parcel in Elbert County. From Kiowa, take Hwy. 86 east to County Road 125, turn north and go approximately 5 miles (coordinates 39.3072, -104.1705). Hunting on both parcels requires a free special permit obtained through a drawing administered by the CPW Denver/NE Regional Office (303-291-7227, contact: District Wildlife Manager Casey Westbrook); fall applications are due the third Monday in August, spring turkey applications due the third Monday in March. The access easement permits hunting for dove, mule deer, pronghorn, white-tailed deer (doe), turkey, antlerless elk, antlerless mule deer, and antlerless white-tailed deer; the Woodard Unit within the easement additionally allows waterfowl and small game and prioritizes mobility-impaired and mentored youth hunters. The state trust land parcel allows doe white-tailed deer, doe mule deer, doe pronghorn, dove, rabbit, and waterfowl only; camping and fires are prohibited during hunting season. Both parcels are open September 1 through May 31, two hours before sunrise to one hour after sunset. Vehicle use is restricted to marked roadways leading to marked parking areas; all other access is on foot or horseback (mobility-impaired hunters may use OHVs on the Woodard Unit). The unit is bounded by US-36 on the north, I-70 on the east, US-24 and the Elbert-El Paso County line on the south, and Arapahoe County Road 137 and various Elbert County roads on the west. Hunters seeking private land access should contact landowners well in advance; some parcels along the Elbert Road corridor have been historically leased to outfitters. There are no campgrounds, hospitals, hotels, or grocery stores within a 20-mile radius of the unit core.

Dominant cover is shortgrass prairie (blue grama, buffalo grass) transitioning to sagebrush flats on higher mesas. Riparian corridors along intermittent creeks support cottonwood-willow galleries that are the primary concentration areas for white-tailed deer. Scattered oak brush and dryland crop fields occur throughout, with ponderosa pine present only at the higher western edge near the Elbert County escarpments. No spruce-fir, aspen, or alpine communities exist within the unit.

Pronghorn antelope are the primary big game species and occur throughout the open prairie grasslands. Mule deer are numerous across the unit and concentrate in cottonwood-willow riparian drainages during winter. White-tailed deer are present but limited, concentrated almost entirely in the riparian corridors along the Elbert Road area and near Byers; the eastern plains are the only range for whitetails in Colorado. Elk occur in localized, relatively small herds within Data Analysis Unit 51 (Castle Rock), which includes GMUs 51, 104, 105, 106, 110, and 111; the 2023 post-hunt population estimate for the entire DAU was approximately 3,390 elk with a bull-to-cow ratio of 42 per 100. Elk in this unit are a plains population that do not make dramatic altitudinal migrations; they hold year-round on private ranch lands and move locally based on agricultural activity and seasonal forage. Black bear and mountain lion are present at low densities on the western fringe near Elbert County escarpments. Turkey may be encountered along riparian corridors.

1. Public land percentage: HuntScore and GoHunt both report 91% private / 9% public (GoHunt: 8.8% rounded to 9%). 2. Hunter success and per-species harvest data are not publicly disaggregated by GMU at this research level; HuntScore reports an overall 52% success rate across all species for 2022 (2,090 hunters, 1,274 harvested). 3. CPW draw report PDFs (elk, deer, pronghorn) were access-restricted during fact-check; specific quota figures (470 mule deer, 825 pronghorn, 30 whitetail) are sourced from structured hunt code research in the draft and are flagged as unverified against the primary source. Always verify with the current-year CPW Big Game Brochure. 4. Jumping Cow SWA access easement (14,733 acres) and state trust land parcel (2,086 acres) details confirmed against live CPW pages. 5. The claim that elk OTC plains license runs Sep 1–Jan 31 and that GMU 105 lacks a distinct muzzleloader elk season code is consistent with the draft research but could not be verified from the BGSS PDF (binary-encoded). 6. Season dates are from the 2025–2029 BGSS framework as reported in draft; verify annually with CPW Big Game Brochure.