Unit 139 covers the southern Wet Mountains country east of the Wet Mountain Valley around Westcliffe—Custer and northern Huerfano County country reaching into the rolling oakbrush-and-conifer foothills. Elevations climb from about 6,000 feet on the lower eastern benches to 9,000 feet on the higher Wet Mountains ridgelines. Vegetation steps from PJ-and-juniper on the lower reaches into dense Gambel oakbrush in the mid-slopes (the oak in the Wet Mountains is genuinely thick—stalking through it sounds like rolling thunder when it's dry), ponderosa pine and Douglas fir with scattered aspen on the mid-to-upper slopes, and lodgepole pine with subalpine spruce-fir on the highest north-facing aspects. The Wet Mountains are gentler in profile than the Sangres but produce real elk and mule deer numbers in the timbered transition zones. Black bear hunting here is excellent—the oakbrush mast crops bring bears down in fall. San Isabel National Forest covers significant chunks of the higher country; BLM covers patches; private ranches dominate the valley floor and the eastern foothill transitions. The Wet Mountain Valley itself (around Westcliffe) is heavily private but with public access via the higher NF boundary. CO-69 runs north-south through the Wet Mountain Valley; CO-96 cuts east through the southern Wets toward Pueblo. Westcliffe is a charming small mountain town with gas, lodging, decent food, and a Sangre de Cristo backdrop that makes Yellowstone look modest; Pueblo east is full service. Cell service is fair in the Wet Mountain Valley, weaker in the timbered country. The Wet Mountains are an underrated elk unit becuase they're overshadowed by the Sangres next door—pressure is moderate and the country produces.