Guided elk hunting · South slope of Pikes Peak
The south slope of the peak is the country of GMU 59 — high timber, hidden parks, and bugling September bulls above Victor and Cripple Creek. Fully guided archery, muzzleloader, and rifle hunts on exclusively-leased private and state land, hunted by people who live on the mountain.
The mountain
Pikes Peak rises over the Front Range as a postcard — but its southern flank, above the old gold towns of Victor and Cripple Creek, is working elk country. That south slope sits inside Colorado’s GMU 59, and our leased ground sits behind the ranch gate, which means less pressure and a real wild hunt instead of the crowds of the state’s public over-the-counter country. The mountain’s mix of high summer range, timber, oakbrush, and wintering ground holds elk that most people driving past the peak never imagine are there.
Elk Glade’s ground is here, on the south slope — 2,100 family-owned acres and over 25,000 leased acres, plus access to surrounding public land. We hunt it the way the country asks: glass the edges at first light, play the wind, and time the rut and the weather. The result is an accessible, genuine elk hunt in the shadow of one of America’s most famous mountains.
Frequently asked
Yes — the country around Pikes Peak holds a healthy elk herd, and the south slope falls inside Colorado Game Management Unit 59. The high, broken country of timber, parks, and oakbrush on the mountain's flanks is excellent elk habitat. Elk Glade runs fully guided hunts here on exclusively-leased private and state land near Victor and Cripple Creek, so you hunt the mountain with people who live and work on it year-round.
The south slope of Pikes Peak sits in Colorado GMU 59, on the southern flank of the peak above the towns of Victor and Cripple Creek. 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 OTC country — part of what makes the south-slope herd huntable. See our GMU 59 guide for the unit's seasons, tags, and how to draw it.
The south and southwest slopes — the GMU 59 country above Victor and Cripple Creek — combine the elements elk need: high summer range, lower wintering ground, water, and the timber-meadow edges they feed along at dawn and dusk. Elk Glade's leased ground sits in this country on the south slope, and because it's largely private/leased, it hunts far quieter than the public land closer to Colorado Springs.
The same way the country rewards: glass the timber-park edges at first and last light, work the wind and the mountain's thermals, and hunt the rut in September when the bulls bugle across the canyons. Elk move down off the high country as the weather turns, which is why a cold front during the season can make a hunt. On a guided Elk Glade hunt the guides know where the herd is in its seasonal move and which benches it crosses.
The south-slope GMU 59 country around Victor and Cripple Creek is roughly an hour's drive southwest of Colorado Springs — close enough to fly into Colorado Springs or Denver and be in elk country the same day, but far enough up the mountain to feel a world away. That accessibility, paired with a genuine guided hunt, is a big part of the appeal of hunting this side of the peak.
From the page to the field
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.
