Colorado Pronghorn Mule Deer

Unit 135

Colorado Hunting Guide — Pronghorn, Mule Deer

Unit 135 lies in Las Animas, Pueblo and Otero counties. CPW bounds it by Colo. 10 and U.S. 50 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put pronghorn success here as high as 32%. Federal land covers about 32% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

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32%

Public Land

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Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Colorado Unit 135 guide around your hunt: three ranked spots with morning, afternoon and evening plays, a day-by-day plan, topo maps with every pin numbered, a camp and access plan, the legal and retrieval rules for this unit, shot discipline, a meat-care and pack-out plan, and a pre-trip checklist. Every coordinate sits on land recorded as public.

Pronghorn guide Mule Deer guide

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Pronghorn Hunting in Unit 135

Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit 135

What CPW publishes for unit 135 is a boundary, not a pronghorn map. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Las Animas, Pueblo and Otero counties.

The lines of the unit: Colo. 10, U.S. 50 and Colo. 109 (N of Purgatoire River)

CPW has unit 135 bounded on the north by Colo. 10 and U.S. 50; on the east by Colo. 109 (N of Purgatoire River) and Purgatoire River (S of Colo. 109); on the south by Las Animas-Otero Co. line and N boundary of U.S. Army Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site; on the west by U.S. 350 and Colo. Interstate Gas Pipeline 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: Bloom Hills, Merker Hills and Iron Springs Hills

Named high points inside the unit include Bloom Hills at 5,221 feet, Merker Hills at 4,990 feet, Iron Springs Hills at 4,958 feet, Shale Hills at 4,851 feet and Jack Point at 4,739 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: South Fork Jack Canyon, North Fork Jack Canyon and Withers Canyon

Below them sit South Fork Jack Canyon at 4,365 feet, North Fork Jack Canyon at 4,364 feet, Withers Canyon at 4,315 feet, Riley Canyon at 4,271 feet and Jack Canyon at 4,248 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Public ground to start from: Bloom Hills STL, Bull Pasture STL and Crooked Arroyo STL

CPW lists Bloom Hills STL, Bull Pasture STL, Crooked Arroyo STL, David Canyon STL and Dixie Bluffs STL inside this unit as ground open to public hunting. Each property sets its own restrictions, and the agency's page for it is where they are written down. Federal land covers about 32% of the unit on top of those.

The herd this unit belongs to: A-7

CPW does not manage pronghorn unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit A-7, and unit 135 is one piece of it. The rest of A-7 is unit 128, unit 129, unit 133, unit 134, unit 140, unit 141, unit 142 and unit 147. That matters twice over: the population objective and the licence numbers are set for the whole area, and the animals move across unit lines inside it without noticing them.

Unit 135 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Merker Hills (4,990 ft), Iron Springs Hills (4,958 ft), Shale Hills (4,851 ft), Jack Point (4,739 ft)

Holding ground: Christian Canyon (4,903 ft), Sheep Canyon (4,791 ft), Packers Gap (4,707 ft), Bloom Hills STL, Bull Pasture STL

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 Pronghorn in Unit 135

CPW's own harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 135 at 32% across all manners of take. That is an ordinary spread for this country, and it rewards whoever scouted. 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 Iron Springs Hills, Shale Hills and Jack Point

Take a position on one of Iron Springs Hills (4,958 ft), Shale Hills (4,851 ft), Jack Point (4,739 ft) and Dixie Bluffs (4,321 ft) and be on it before light. Cold air slides downhill in the dark, so keep your scent out of the bowl you mean to watch; expect the thermals to turn uphill an hour after the sun reaches the slope. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, early-season bucks hold does and can be decoyed where the law allows it.

Getting past the roads

There is little true four-wheel-drive road here, so distance from the gravel is the only thing separating you from the next hunter. 9 mapped public entry points fall inside the unit, so decide which one you take before the morning you take it.

Where unit 135 sits inside A-7

Across A-7, CPW's 2023 pronghorn success runs 75% in unit 140, 59% in unit 129, 59% in unit 141, 53% in unit 134 and 50% in unit 142. That puts unit 135 behind 7 of the 8 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit 140 carried the better number in the same herd — check its tag count before you read that as an easier hunt.

The way in: Colo. 10, U.S. 50 and Colo. 109

We have no road inventory for this unit, so the only routes we can name are the ones CPW draws the boundary with: Colo. 10, U.S. 50, Colo. 109 and U.S. 350. 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. Check each of them on a current motor-vehicle-use map before you count on it, because a line on a boundary description is not a promise of public access.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Merker Hills, Iron Springs Hills, Shale Hills and Jack Point as places to see from, and Christian Canyon, Sheep Canyon, Packers Gap and Bloom Hills STL 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

743 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

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 take32%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 135 at 32% — 95 animals taken by 296 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)	17	430	4.0%	3
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	20	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (resident)	5	15	33.3%	—
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	31	710	4.4%	7
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	4	107	3.7%	7
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	22	34	64.7%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	3	8	37.5%	—

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 135, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

AM135O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 710 applicants for 31 licences, 4.4% drawn, 7 preference points needed
AF135O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, resident: 430 applicants for 17 licences, 4% drawn, 3 preference points needed
AM135O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, nonresident: 107 applicants for 4 licences, 3.7% drawn, 7 preference points needed
AM135P1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 34 applicants for 22 licences, 64.7% drawn, no preference points needed

Colorado runs a pure preference-point draw, so the point figure above is the requirement the agency published for that code in that year, not a forecast for the next one. There are 3 further code-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 135

Unit 135 lies in Las Animas, Pueblo and Otero counties. CPW bounds it by Colo. 10 and U.S. 50 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 42%. Federal land covers about 32% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 135

CPW draws an exact line around unit 135 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 Las Animas, Pueblo and Otero counties.

The lines of the unit: Colo. 10, U.S. 50 and Colo. 109 (N of Purgatoire River)

CPW has unit 135 bounded on the north by Colo. 10 and U.S. 50; on the east by Colo. 109 (N of Purgatoire River) and Purgatoire River (S of Colo. 109); on the south by Las Animas-Otero Co. line and N boundary of U.S. Army Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site; on the west by U.S. 350 and Colo. Interstate Gas Pipeline 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: Dixie Bluffs, Bloom Hills and Merker Hills

Named high points inside the unit include Dixie Bluffs at 4,321 feet, Bloom Hills at 5,221 feet, Merker Hills at 4,990 feet, Iron Springs Hills at 4,958 feet and Shale Hills at 4,851 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: Gaussion Canyon, Vogel Canyon and Plum Canyon

Below them sit Gaussion Canyon at 4,223 feet, Vogel Canyon at 4,198 feet, Plum Canyon at 4,980 feet, Christian Canyon at 4,903 feet and Devils Canyon at 4,895 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Public ground to start from: East Timpas STL, Haight STL and Iron Springs STL

CPW lists East Timpas STL, Haight STL, Iron Springs STL, Jack Canyon STL and North Devils Canyon STL inside this unit as ground open to public hunting. Each property sets its own restrictions, and the agency's page for it is where they are written down. Federal land covers about 32% of the unit on top of those.

The herd this unit belongs to: D-45

CPW does not manage mule deer unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit D-45, and unit 135 is one piece of it. The rest of D-45 is unit 128, unit 133, unit 134, unit 136, unit 141, unit 142 and unit 147. 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 135 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Merker Hills (4,990 ft), Iron Springs Hills (4,958 ft), Shale Hills (4,851 ft), Jack Point (4,739 ft)

Holding ground: Christian Canyon (4,903 ft), Sheep Canyon (4,791 ft), Packers Gap (4,707 ft), Bloom Hills STL, Bull Pasture STL

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 135

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 135 at archery 13% 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 Bloom Hills, Merker Hills and Iron Springs Hills

Take a position on one of Bloom Hills (5,221 ft), Merker Hills (4,990 ft), Iron Springs Hills (4,958 ft) and Shale Hills (4,851 ft) and be on it before light. In the dark the air runs downhill. Pick an approach that doesn't send it into the country you want to see, and plan to move once the slope warms. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Getting past the roads

Where unit 135 sits inside D-45

Across D-45, CPW's 2023 mule deer success runs 64% in unit 142, 63% in unit 141, 53% in unit 134, 48% in unit 147 and 47% in unit 136. Unit 135 is the lowest of them, so whatever drives success in this herd is happening somewhere else in it. If the draw lets you choose, unit 142 carried the better number in the same herd — check its tag count before you read that as an easier hunt.

The way in: Colo. 10, U.S. 50 and Colo. 109

We have no road inventory for this unit, so the only routes we can name are the ones CPW draws the boundary with: Colo. 10, U.S. 50, Colo. 109 and U.S. 350. 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. Park on the boundary and walk; a unit you can only enter from its rim rewards whoever is willing to leave the truck at the rim.

A first plan from the pins on this page

What a day here costs you

743 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

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 take29%

Archery13%

Rifle42%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 135 at 29% — 30 animals taken by 103 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 — 13% success, 3 taken by 25 hunters
Rifle — 42% success, 27 taken by 63 hunters

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (resident)	15	65	23.1%	—
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	1	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	21	153	13.7%	2
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	0	13	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 135, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

DM135O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 153 applicants for 21 licences, 13.7% drawn, 2 preference points needed
DF135O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, resident: 65 applicants for 15 licences, 23.1% drawn, no preference points needed
DM135O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, nonresident: 13 applicants for 0 licences, 0% drawn, no preference points needed
DF135O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, nonresident: 1 applicants for 0 licences, 0% drawn, no preference points needed

Colorado runs a pure preference-point draw, so the point figure above is the requirement the agency published for that code in that year, not a forecast for the next one. 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 135?

Unit 135 lies in Las Animas, Pueblo and Otero counties, and CPW has it bounded on the north by Colo. 10 and U.S. 50; on the east by Colo. 109 (N of Purgatoire River) and Purgatoire River (S of Colo. 109); on the south by Las Animas-Otero Co. line and N boundary of U.S. Army Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site; on the west by U.S. 350 and Colo. Interstate Gas Pipeline Rd.

What is the pronghorn success rate in unit 135?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 135 at 32% 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 135?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 135 at 29% across all manners of take, and archery 13% 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 135, 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 135, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22

Unit 135

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 135

Pronghorn Hunting in Unit 135

Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit 135

The lines of the unit: Colo. 10, U.S. 50 and Colo. 109 (N of Purgatoire River)

High ground inside the line: Bloom Hills, Merker Hills and Iron Springs Hills

Holding ground: South Fork Jack Canyon, North Fork Jack Canyon and Withers Canyon

Public ground to start from: Bloom Hills STL, Bull Pasture STL and Crooked Arroyo STL

The herd this unit belongs to: A-7

Unit 135 terrain and land status

Named features inside the unit

How to Hunt Pronghorn in Unit 135

Pronghorn Success Rates

Pronghorn Draw Odds

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 135

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 135

The lines of the unit: Colo. 10, U.S. 50 and Colo. 109 (N of Purgatoire River)

High ground inside the line: Dixie Bluffs, Bloom Hills and Merker Hills

Holding ground: Gaussion Canyon, Vogel Canyon and Plum Canyon

Public ground to start from: East Timpas STL, Haight STL and Iron Springs STL

The herd this unit belongs to: D-45

Unit 135 terrain and land status

Named features inside the unit

How to Hunt Mule Deer in Unit 135

Mule Deer Success Rates

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Explore Related Units

Unit 134 — Pronghorn

Unit 129 — Mule Deer

Frequently Asked Questions

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Sources & Verification