Colorado Pronghorn Mule Deer

Unit 124 (Pueblo / Arkansas River)

Colorado Hunting Guide — Pronghorn, Mule Deer

Unit 124 lies in Crowley and Pueblo counties. CPW bounds it by Lincoln-Crowley and El Paso-Pueblo Co. lines among others. CPW's harvest estimates put pronghorn success here as high as 54%. Federal land covers about 1% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

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Public Land

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Pronghorn guide Mule Deer guide

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Pronghorn Hunting in Unit 124

Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit 124

What CPW publishes for unit 124 is a boundary, not a pronghorn map. So the ground below is the unit's own and the read on where to start is ours, labelled as such. The unit lies in Crowley and Pueblo counties.

The lines of the unit: Lincoln-Crowley, El Paso-Pueblo Co. lines and Colo. 71

CPW has unit 124 bounded on the north by Lincoln-Crowley and El Paso-Pueblo Co. lines; on the east by Colo. 71; on the south by Colo. 96; on the west by Boone Rd. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. What it does give you is the way in: the rivers and highways you cross, and the divides that decide which drainage you end up in.

High ground inside the line: Antelope Mesa and Nero Hill

Named high points inside the unit include Antelope Mesa at 4,845 feet and Nero Hill at 4,618 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Pronghorn live in the open and trust their eyes, which is the whole problem.

Holding ground: Big Sand Hole

Below them sit Big Sand Hole at 4,744 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.

Water: Ninemile Spring

Named sources include Ninemile Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

The herd this unit belongs to: A-8

CPW does not manage pronghorn unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit A-8, and unit 124 is one piece of it. The rest of A-8 is unit 110, unit 111, unit 118, unit 119 and unit 123. Read a neighbour in the same herd before you read the state average — the herd, not the unit line, is what the agency is steering.

Unit 124 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Nero Hill (4,618 ft), Antelope Mesa (4,845 ft)

Holding ground: Big Sand Hole (4,744 ft), Ninemile Spring

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

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How to Hunt Pronghorn in Unit 124

CPW's own harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 124 at 54% across all manners of take. A number like that comes from few tags and a short season, not from easy hunting. The plan: spot from a vehicle or a rise at distance, then plan a stalk that uses the only cover there is — the curve of the ground.

Glassing from Antelope Mesa and Nero Hill

Take a position on one of Antelope Mesa (4,845 ft) and Nero Hill (4,618 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. Work the glass in strips and go back over ground you already covered — animals appear in country you looked at ten minutes ago. On the rut hunts, early-season bucks hold does and can be decoyed where the law allows it.

Where unit 124 sits inside A-8

Across A-8, CPW's 2023 pronghorn success runs 54% in unit 124, 53% in unit 111, 43% in unit 118, 43% in unit 123 and 35% in unit 110. Unit 124 is the best of them on that measure, which usually means fewer tags rather than more animals. Success inside one herd moves with tag numbers and season length as much as with animals, so read the licence count alongside it.

The way in: Colo. 71 and Colo. 96

We have no road inventory for this unit, so the only routes we can name are the ones CPW draws the boundary with: Colo. 71 and Colo. 96. Those are its edges, not its interior — useful because they are where you leave the pavement, and useless for telling you what the inside is like. Pick the edge nearest the country you mean to hunt and work in from it on foot, rather than driving the perimeter looking for a way through.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Nero Hill and Antelope Mesa as places to see from, and Big Sand Hole and Ninemile Spring as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Take the pair you can reach on one road and treat the rest as a second trip.

What a day here costs you

585 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. Leave the truck earlier than you want to and you will hunt the best half-hour of the day.

What we can't tell you

Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.

Colorado rules that decide your day

Summarised from CPW regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Colorado has no general off-road retrieval allowance. Travel stays on designated routes, so plan to pack every animal out on your back or with stock. Check the forest or BLM travel map for the roads that are actually open in hunting season.

Tagging

Validate and attach your carcass tag before the animal is moved, and keep evidence of sex attached until the carcass reaches your home or a processor.

Leaving meat

Abandoning edible meat is illegal. CPW counts the four quarters and the loins.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No discharging a firearm within 50 yards of a developed campsite, and never toward an occupied building.
Roads — No shooting from or across a public road, and no shooting from a motor vehicle.

Pronghorn: where to put the shot

Broadside, straight up the front leg, a third of the way into the body. Pronghorn are shallow-chested and the lungs sit forward.

Shots to refuse

Range it, then range it again. Open country makes 400 yards look like 250.
Wait for the buck to stop. Nobody kills a running pronghorn cleanly on purpose.
Mind the backdrop. A miss carries a long way across a flat.

Plan the carry: roughly 30– 45 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — one large cooler with ice already in it. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Pronghorn Success Rates

All manners of take54%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 124 at 54% — 231 animals taken by 426 hunters. The hunter count is large enough for the percentage to mean something and small enough that a good or bad year still moves it.

These are the agency's own printed figures for this unit, not a modelled estimate and not a state average. They describe one season, so check CPW's current harvest estimates before you read a trend into them.

Pronghorn Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (resident)	66	214	30.8%	—
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	3	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	148	257	57.6%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	6	11	54.5%	—

Data from 2026 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.

Open in Draw Odds Engine

CPW's 2026 draw recap for pronghorn in unit 124, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

AM124O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 257 applicants for 148 licences, 57.6% drawn, no preference points needed
AF124O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, resident: 214 applicants for 66 licences, 30.8% drawn, no preference points needed
AM124O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, nonresident: 11 applicants for 6 licences, 54.5% drawn, no preference points needed
AF124O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, nonresident: 3 applicants for 0 licences, 0% drawn, no preference points needed

No preference points were needed for the codes above in that year, which can change the moment applicant numbers do. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 124

Unit 124 lies in Crowley and Pueblo counties. CPW bounds it by Lincoln-Crowley and El Paso-Pueblo Co. lines among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 42%. Federal land covers about 1% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 124

CPW draws an exact line around unit 124 and says nothing about where the mule deer stand inside it. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Crowley and Pueblo counties.

The lines of the unit: Lincoln-Crowley, El Paso-Pueblo Co. lines and Colo. 71

CPW has unit 124 bounded on the north by Lincoln-Crowley and El Paso-Pueblo Co. lines; on the east by Colo. 71; on the south by Colo. 96; on the west by Boone Rd. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. Those features are what you will check against the map all week, and the divides among them are the ones that matter.

High ground inside the line: Antelope Mesa and Nero Hill

Named high points inside the unit include Antelope Mesa at 4,845 feet and Nero Hill at 4,618 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Mule deer on open country use every fold and draw there is, and almost none of the flat.

Holding ground: Big Sand Hole

Below them sit Big Sand Hole at 4,744 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Water: Ninemile Spring

Named sources include Ninemile Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

The herd this unit belongs to: D-48

CPW does not manage mule deer unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit D-48, and unit 124 is one piece of it. The rest of D-48 is unit 110, unit 111, unit 118, unit 119 and unit 123. So the objective behind your tag was written for that whole area, and a neighbouring unit in the same herd is a fairer comparison than the statewide figure.

Unit 124 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Nero Hill (4,618 ft), Antelope Mesa (4,845 ft)

Holding ground: Big Sand Hole (4,744 ft), Ninemile Spring

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

How to Hunt Mule Deer in Unit 124

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 124 at archery 0% and rifle 42%. That is an ordinary spread for this country, and it rewards whoever scouted. The plan: glass the broken edges at first light, then sit still and keep glassing the same ground.

Glassing from Antelope Mesa and Nero Hill

Take a position on one of Antelope Mesa (4,845 ft) and Nero Hill (4,618 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. A tripod is worth more here than another hour of walking. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Where unit 124 sits inside D-48

Across D-48, CPW's 2023 mule deer success runs 43% in unit 110, 41% in unit 123, 38% in unit 111, 38% in unit 118 and 37% in unit 124. That puts unit 124 behind 4 of the 5 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 110 carried the better number in the same herd — check its tag count before you read that as an easier hunt.

The way in: Colo. 71 and Colo. 96

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Nero Hill and Antelope Mesa as places to see from, and Big Sand Hole and Ninemile Spring as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Join two of them into a morning: be on the first before light, move to the second once the thermals turn.

What a day here costs you

585 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. Decide the night before where you will be at first light, and go there in the dark.

What we can't tell you

Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.

Colorado rules that decide your day

Summarised from CPW regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Tagging

Validate and attach your carcass tag before the animal is moved, and keep evidence of sex attached until the carcass reaches your home or a processor.

Leaving meat

Abandoning edible meat is illegal. CPW counts the four quarters and the loins.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No discharging a firearm within 50 yards of a developed campsite, and never toward an occupied building.
Roads — No shooting from or across a public road, and no shooting from a motor vehicle.

Mule Deer: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body.

Shots to refuse

Nothing behind or overlapping the animal you picked.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have shot a three-shot group into a paper plate from the rest you are carrying.
Pass the shot you are talking yourself into.

Plan the carry: roughly 40– 120 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two large coolers. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Mule Deer Success Rates

All manners of take37%

Archery0%

Rifle42%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 124 at 37% — 26 animals taken by 70 hunters. The hunter count is large enough for the percentage to mean something and small enough that a good or bad year still moves it.

Archery — 0% success, 0 taken by 4 hunters
Rifle — 42% success, 26 taken by 61 hunters

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (resident)	11	29	37.9%	—
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	26	45	57.8%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	0	1	0.0%	—

Data from 2026 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.

Open in Draw Odds Engine

CPW's 2026 draw recap for mule deer in unit 124, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

DM124O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 45 applicants for 26 licences, 57.8% drawn, no preference points needed
DF124O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, resident: 29 applicants for 11 licences, 37.9% drawn, no preference points needed
DM124O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, nonresident: 1 applicants for 0 licences, 0% drawn, no preference points needed

No preference points were needed for the codes above in that year, which can change the moment applicant numbers do. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit 124?

Unit 124 lies in Crowley and Pueblo counties, and CPW has it bounded on the north by Lincoln-Crowley and El Paso-Pueblo Co. lines; on the east by Colo. 71; on the south by Colo. 96; on the west by Boone Rd.

What is the pronghorn success rate in unit 124?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 124 at 54% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 124?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 124 at 37% across all manners of take, and archery 0% and rifle 42% by weapon. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

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Sources & Verification

Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-23.

Colorado Big Game Hunting Brochure — Game Management Unit (GMU) Descriptions (pp. 79-80-81-82) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: GMU boundary description, Counties the unit lies in, Data analysis unit (DAU) the unit belongs to · accessed 2026-10-22
2023 Colorado Pronghorn Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for pronghorn in unit 124, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22
CPW CPWAdminData feature service — GMU and sheep/goat unit boundaries — Colorado Parks and Wildlife GIS Unit · supports: Mapped extent of the unit, Which named ground falls inside the unit line · accessed 2026-10-22
2023 Colorado Deer Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for mule deer in unit 124, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22