Echo Canyon Reservoir SWA: hunting rules and access

Echo Canyon Reservoir SWA is 211 acres of State Wildlife Area in Archuleta County, Colorado, in game management unit 78. CPW lists waterfowl for it, and its rules for the property run to 9 lines: 4 on its page for the property and 5 in its regulations.

A State Wildlife Area has its own rules on top of the statewide season rules. How the kinds of public land differ.

What CPW lists for hunting here

Waterfowl.

Fishing, as CPW lists it: Fishing Opportunities, Coldwater Lake.

A species on this list is one CPW names for the property. It still needs an open season, the right license for the unit, and nothing in the restrictions below against it on your dates.

Who may enter

A valid hunting or fishing license OR SWA pass is required for everyone 16 or older accessing this state wildlife area.

Restrictions on CPW's page for this property

• A. Operating a vessel in a manner that creates a whitewater wake is prohibited.
• B. Discharge of firearms and bows is prohibited, except while hunting.
• C. Snowmobiles prohibited.
• D. Dogs must be under control and on leash by handler, except service animals or when actively hunting, training for hunting or during licensed field trials.

In CPW's regulations

• a. Launching and use of all vessels is allowed.
• b. Operating a vessel in a manner that creates a whitewater wake is prohibited.
• c. Discharge of firearms or bows is prohibited, except while hunting.
• d. Snowmobile use is prohibited.
• e. Dogs are allowed but must be kept under control on a physical leash by the handler at all times, except as authorized in #900(C)(15).

From CPW regulations, chapter W-9 (Wildlife Properties), 2 CCR 406-9, dated July 16, 2026.

Read it at the source before you go

The rules above are CPW's words, copied from CPW's page for Echo Canyon Reservoir SWA as it read on October 8, 2026 and from the regulations for CPW properties. CPW can change them or close the property at any time, signs on the ground count, and a rule that names a season moves with that season each year.

Unit 78, around Echo Canyon Reservoir SWA

• Elk in unit 78, 2024: 2,754 hunters in all seasons took 731 elk, 27% success (2023: 14% from 2,879 hunters). The rifle seasons alone: 1,874 hunters, 29%. Unit 78 elk by season
• Deer in unit 78, 2024: 1,138 hunters in all seasons took 567 deer, 50% success (2023: 58% from 1,007 hunters). The rifle seasons alone: 808 hunters, 54%. Unit 78 deer by season
• Unit 78: 763 square miles in Archuleta, Conejos, Mineral and Rio Grande Counties, 60.7% national forest and 1% BLM land, from 6,600 to 12,100 feet.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife survey estimates for the whole unit, private land included. They are not figures for this property, and whether elk or deer may be hunted here is in CPW's list above.

2026 elk and deer rifle hunt codes for unit 78

A code valid in the unit is not permission to hunt this property: the property's own list and restrictions decide that. Legal light is half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset at the coordinates above, on the Colorado clock; the state's printed table is the rule. Archery, muzzleloader, late and private-land codes are on the unit pages: unit 78 elk, unit 78 deer.

Nearest CPW properties to Echo Canyon Reservoir SWA

Straight-line miles between the middles of the boundaries CPW maps, not road miles. A property can be much nearer at its edge.

All 721 State Wildlife Areas and State Trust Lands