Unit 38, Colorado

Elevation ranges from approximately 5,100 feet in the eastern foothills near Golden to over 14,000 feet along the Continental Divide in the west. Parry Peak (13,391 ft) is the highest point in the James Peak Wilderness and James Peak (13,294 ft, per USFS) are prominent high points. The unit encompasses Clear Creek canyon near the eastern edge, rolling foothills west of Golden, open parks, multiple canyons and drainages, and alpine basins along the Divide. Terrain slope is moderate to steep, with approximately 80% of the area having slopes of 26 degrees or less. The unit spans roughly 456 square miles (291,597 acres).

Primary vehicle corridors: I-70 and US Highway 40 (Berthoud Pass) form the southern boundary; Colorado Highway 119 (Peak to Peak Scenic Byway) and County Highways 72, 93, and 128 bound the eastern and northern edges. Forest Service Road 149 (Rollins Pass Road) provides 4WD access to Yankee Doodle Lake, Jenny Lake, and the Forest Lakes Trailhead — high-clearance 4WD required, not plowed in winter. East Portal Road / Tolland Road (Gilpin County Road 16, dirt, passable for most vehicles) leads to the East Portal Trailhead at the Moffat Tunnel, the primary access point for the James Peak Wilderness. The Clear Creek Ranger District (Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests) manages approximately 200,000 acres within the unit. Key forest roads include Leavenworth Creek Road (FR 248.1), Yankee Hill Road (FR 175), Cascade Creek (FR 710), Lamartine (FR 712), Empire Loop/Mill Creek (FR 171), Argentine Pass (FR 724.1), and Kingston Peak (FR 353). Several roads have seasonal windows: Barbour Fork (FR 194.2/733.2B) is open June 16 to December 15; Loch Lomond Road (FR 701) is open July 15 to October 15; Missouri Creek (FR 177) provides campground access June 15 to October 24. The James Peak Wilderness (17,015 acres) prohibits motorized and mechanized equipment including motorcycles and bicycles. Golden Gate Canyon State Park limits big-game hunting to the Jefferson County portion only; reservations required (up to 14 days in advance); season runs Tuesday after Labor Day through Friday before Memorial Day; foot or horseback access only, no drive-in camping during hunt. Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge (approximately 5,237 acres in Jefferson County, partially within unit boundaries) is closed to hunting. Private land is a significant access constraint: approximately 57% of the unit is private, creating a checkerboard pattern particularly in the foothills and lower valleys — most harvested game in this unit comes from private rather than public land. Heavy recreational foot traffic from the Denver metro corridor is present throughout hunting season.

Diverse vegetation zones reflect the dramatic elevation gradient. Eastern foothills feature sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, oak brush, mountain mahogany, and cottonwoods and willows along stream corridors. Mid-elevation mountain slopes support ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, blue spruce, aspen, and open grassy parks. Higher elevations transition to Engelmann spruce and Douglas fir below timberline, with bristlecone pine present at upper limits. Alpine tundra above treeline consists of lichens, mosses, wildflowers, low willows, and barren rocky ground. Riparian corridors along Clear Creek and tributaries (including Ralston, Nott, and Deer Creeks) provide dense vegetation corridors used by wildlife. Golden Gate Canyon State Park (12,119 acres, Gilpin and Jefferson Counties) preserves a representative mix of ponderosa pine, Rocky Mountain juniper, Douglas fir, and aspen.

Mule deer are the primary big-game deer species; both migratory and residential herds exist, with migratory animals moving from alpine and subalpine summer range down to foothills and lower drainages in fall and winter as snow accumulates — much of this winter range falls on private land. Elk are present throughout the unit; GMU 38 and adjacent GMU 29 together support an estimated 1,200 elk combined, making this a relatively small elk herd. Bulls are found across elevation ranges at 7,000–10,500 feet, with movement from high alpine basins toward lower forested drainages and parks during the rut in September; by late rifle seasons, elk are pushed to lower private drainages by hunting pressure. A small but growing Shiras moose population occupies riparian corridors and willow-choked drainages, particularly in Golden Gate Canyon State Park and adjacent forests. Black bears inhabit the mixed-forest and oak brush zones at mid-elevations. Mountain lions range throughout the unit following deer herds into foothills and canyon country. Bighorn sheep and mountain goats are present in very limited numbers; both species are confirmed in the unit by CPW-affiliated sources but populations are extremely small. Turkey, ptarmigan, dusky grouse, rabbits, Abert's squirrel, and coyotes are also present. Pronghorn distribution is negligible in this mountainous unit — no confirmed hunt codes found.

1. Bakerville State Wildlife Area (320 acres) is confirmed in GMU 39, not GMU 38 — removed from this profile. 2. Unit-specific elk and deer harvest statistics (harvest totals, success rates, licenses issued) for GMU 38 could not be obtained from CPW harvest reports — official PDFs were binary-encoded and inaccessible; HuntScore paywalled detailed stats. 3. OTC elk: 2nd and 3rd rifle seasons are OTC confirmed by multiple sources; 1st and 4th rifle are draw; muzzleloader is draw. Nonresident archery elk is now draw-only for units west of I-25 (including GMU 38) as of 2026. 4. Bear OTC: licenses do not require a concurrent deer/elk tag; add-on licenses remain available as a separate option. 5. Mountain goats added as a confirmed species (source: visitclearcreek.com CPW-affiliated) — extremely limited draw. 6. James Peak elevation: USFS and wilderness.net cite 13,294 ft; used here. Wikipedia variants (13,271/13,272 ft) reflect different surveys. 7. Public land pct (43%) from HuntScore; GoHunt cited 40.9%. 8. CWD mandatory testing may apply to elk rifle harvests in this region — verify whether GMU 38 is on the mandatory list before the season.