Guided elk hunting · Cripple Creek + Victor
Cripple Creek elk hunting.
The old gold district on the back of Pikes Peak is GMU 59 — elk country of timber, gulches, and quiet parks above the historic towns of Cripple Creek and Victor. Elk Glade is based right here in Victor, guiding archery, muzzleloader, and rifle bull elk hunts on leased private and state land.
The district
Gold-rush country that still holds elk.
A century and a quarter ago, Cripple Creek and Victor were one of the richest gold districts on earth. Today the headframes still stand on the hills, the towns are quiet, and the high country around them — the south slope of Pikes Peak, inside GMU 59 — holds a healthy, lightly- pressured elk herd. Our leased ground sits behind the ranch gate, so the crowds of Colorado’s public over-the-counter country never arrive, and the elk live the way elk should: working the timber edges, bugling the gulches in September, drifting down as the weather turns.
Elk Glade isn’t guiding this country from a distance — we’re based in Victor, on the district’s doorstep, on 2,100 family-owned acres and over 25,000 leased acres in GMU 59. When you hunt Cripple Creek with us, you’re hunting with people who live where the elk live.
Frequently asked
Hunting the gold district.
Is there elk hunting near Cripple Creek, Colorado?
Yes — the country around Cripple Creek and neighboring Victor is genuine elk country, set on the south slope of Pikes Peak inside Colorado GMU 59. The high mining-district terrain of timber, gulches, and open parks holds a healthy elk herd. Elk Glade is based right here in Victor and runs fully guided archery, muzzleloader, and rifle bull elk hunts on exclusively-leased private and state land in this unit — so you hunt the district with an outfit that actually lives in it.
What hunting unit are Cripple Creek and Victor in?
Cripple Creek and Victor sit in Colorado GMU 59 on the southern flank of Pikes Peak. GMU 59 is limited entry for 1st and 4th rifle (draw) and over the counter for 2nd and 3rd rifle bull elk. The private and leased ground we hunt sits behind the ranch's own gate, which keeps hunting pressure lower than Colorado's busiest country and is part of why the herd around these old gold towns hunts so well. See our GMU 59 guide for the unit's seasons, tags, and how to draw it.
Where do you hunt out of Cripple Creek and Victor?
Elk Glade's ground is on the south slope above the towns — 2,100 acres of family-owned land and over 25,000 acres of leased land in GMU 59, plus access to surrounding public country. Victor, the smaller and quieter of the two historic gold towns, is effectively our doorstep. You're hunting real, lightly-pressured elk country a few minutes from a town with more 1890s mining history than just about anywhere in Colorado.
How far is Cripple Creek from Colorado Springs?
Cripple Creek and Victor are roughly an hour southwest of Colorado Springs by road, climbing up into the high country on the back side of Pikes Peak. That makes the area easy to reach — fly into Colorado Springs or Denver and be in elk country the same day — while still feeling remote once you're up among the old headframes and the timber. It's an accessible base for a genuine guided Colorado elk hunt.
What makes hunting the Cripple Creek district special?
Two things: the country and the company it keeps. The GMU 59 country above Cripple Creek and Victor combines high summer range, wintering ground, water, and the timber-meadow edges elk feed along — good, varied elk habitat. And it's wrapped in one of the most storied landscapes in the West, the Cripple Creek–Victor gold district. Hunting it from a working ranch based in Victor ties the hunt to a real place with a real history.
From the page to the field
Hunt elk where the herd is largest.
Elk Glade guides bull elk on GMU 59 limited entry, on the south slope of Pikes Peak — inside the largest elk population on Earth. Archery, muzzleloader, and four rifle seasons.
