Colorado Pronghorn Mule Deer

Unit 140

Colorado Hunting Guide — Pronghorn, Mule Deer

Unit 140 lies in Las Animas County. CPW bounds it by U.S. 160 and Colo. 389 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put pronghorn success here as high as 75%. No federal land falls inside it, so every acre is a permission question. 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 140

Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit 140

CPW draws an exact line around unit 140 and says nothing about where the pronghorn stand inside it. Every place named below sits inside the unit line. Which of them holds animals in your season is for you to find out. The unit lies in Las Animas County.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 160 and Colo. 389

CPW has unit 140 bounded on the north by U.S. 160; on the east by Colo. 389; on the south by NM; on the west by I-25. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. 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: Fishers Peak, Fishers Peak Mesa and Little Fishers Peak Mesa

Named high points inside the unit include Fishers Peak at 9,635 feet, Fishers Peak Mesa at 9,604 feet, Little Fishers Peak Mesa at 9,015 feet, Horseshoe Mesa at 8,787 feet and Burro Mesa at 8,745 feet. None carries a public-land flag we trust, so settle the ownership question before you plan to stand on one. Pronghorn stay on the open rolling ground and leave the timber alone.

Holding ground: Raton Ski Basin, Coblett Canyon and Big Flat

Below them sit Raton Ski Basin at 7,789 feet, Coblett Canyon at 7,256 feet, Big Flat at 7,238 feet, Strasia Meadow at 7,221 feet and Twentythree Canyon at 7,023 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Public ground to start from: James M. John SWA and Lake Dorothey SWA

CPW lists James M. John SWA and Lake Dorothey SWA 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 0% 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 140 is one piece of it. The rest of A-7 is unit 128, unit 129, unit 133, unit 134, unit 135, 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 140 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Fishers Peak (9,635 ft), Little Fishers Peak Mesa (9,015 ft), Horseshoe Mesa (8,787 ft)

Holding ground: San Francisco Pass (8,436 ft), Marion Flat (8,242 ft), James M. John SWA, Lake Dorothey SWA

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 140

CPW's own harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 140 at 75% 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 Mesita Negra, Loma Mujer and Loma de la Cruz

Take a position on one of Mesita Negra (7,003 ft), Loma Mujer (6,859 ft), Loma de la Cruz (6,758 ft) and Eagle Rock (6,618 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. 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.

Where unit 140 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. Unit 140 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: U.S. 160, Colo. 389 and I-25

We have no road inventory for this unit, so the only routes we can name are the ones CPW draws the boundary with: U.S. 160, Colo. 389 and I-25. 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 Fishers Peak, Little Fishers Peak Mesa and Horseshoe Mesa as places to see from, and San Francisco Pass, Marion Flat, James M. John SWA and Lake Dorothey SWA 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

459 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 take75%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 140 at 75% — 92 animals taken by 122 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)	15	28	53.6%	—
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	1	7	14.3%	—
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (resident)	10	68	14.7%	2
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	50	81	61.7%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	41	48	85.4%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	8	133	6.0%	17
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	0	0	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 pronghorn in unit 140, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

AM140O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, resident: 81 applicants for 50 licences, 61.7% drawn, no preference points needed
AM140O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Buck Only, nonresident: 48 applicants for 41 licences, 85.4% drawn, no preference points needed
AF140O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, resident: 28 applicants for 15 licences, 53.6% drawn, no preference points needed
AF140O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Doe Only, nonresident: 7 applicants for 1 licences, 14.3% 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 140

Unit 140 lies in Las Animas County. CPW bounds it by U.S. 160 and Colo. 389 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put mule deer success here as high as 33%. No federal land falls inside it, so every acre is a permission question. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 140

CPW's material on unit 140 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its mule deer live. 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 Las Animas County.

The lines of the unit: U.S. 160 and Colo. 389

CPW has unit 140 bounded on the north by U.S. 160; on the east by Colo. 389; on the south by NM; on the west by I-25. 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: Bobblers Knob, Baldy and Saddle Rock

Named high points inside the unit include Bobblers Knob at 8,728 feet, Baldy at 8,051 feet, Saddle Rock at 7,220 feet, Mesita Negra at 7,003 feet and Loma Mujer at 6,859 feet. None carries a public-land flag we trust, so settle the ownership question before you plan to stand on one. Mule deer bed on broken ground with a view and feed on the brush below it.

Holding ground: McCoy Canyon, Nile Canyon and Moores Canyon

Below them sit McCoy Canyon at 6,702 feet, Nile Canyon at 6,488 feet, Moores Canyon at 6,386 feet, Snyder Canyon at 6,379 feet and Number Six Canyon at 6,350 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: James M. John SWA and Lake Dorothey SWA

The herd this unit belongs to: D-32

CPW does not manage mule deer unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit D-32, and unit 140 is one piece of it. The rest of D-32 is unit 85 and unit 851. 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 140 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Fishers Peak (9,635 ft), Little Fishers Peak Mesa (9,015 ft), Horseshoe Mesa (8,787 ft)

Holding ground: San Francisco Pass (8,436 ft), Marion Flat (8,242 ft), James M. John SWA, Lake Dorothey SWA

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 140

CPW's own harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 140 at archery 33% and rifle 27%. 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 Loma de los Conejos, McBride Butte and Watervale Butte

Take a position on one of Loma de los Conejos (6,599 ft), McBride Butte (6,361 ft), Watervale Butte (6,230 ft) and Plaza Butte (6,044 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. 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.

Where unit 140 sits inside D-32

Across D-32, CPW's 2023 mule deer success runs 53% in unit 85, 51% in unit 851 and 29% in unit 140. Unit 140 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 85 carried the better number in the same herd — check its tag count before you read that as an easier hunt.

The way in: U.S. 160, Colo. 389 and I-25

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Fishers Peak, Little Fishers Peak Mesa and Horseshoe Mesa as places to see from, and San Francisco Pass, Marion Flat, James M. John SWA and Lake Dorothey SWA as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Walk between two of them rather than driving between four, and you will learn more in a day.

What a day here costs you

459 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. One good position held through the whole of first light beats three visited in a hurry.

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%

Archery33%

Rifle27%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 140 at 29% — 59 animals taken by 203 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 — 33% success, 17 taken by 53 hunters
Rifle — 27% success, 36 taken by 137 hunters

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts Req
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (resident)	6	23	26.1%	—
Rifle — 1st Season doe only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (resident)	29	65	44.6%	—
Rifle — 2nd Season buck only (nonresident)	13	15	86.7%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (resident)	18	50	36.0%	—
Rifle — 3rd Season buck only (nonresident)	4	10	40.0%	—
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (resident)	2	27	7.4%	17
Rifle — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Rifle — 4th Season buck only (resident)	27	49	55.1%	—
Rifle — 4th Season buck only (nonresident)	8	12	66.7%	—
Archery — 1st Season buck only (resident)	18	20	90.0%	—
Archery — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	22	26	84.6%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (resident)	4	7	57.1%	—
Muzzleloader — 1st Season buck only (nonresident)	8	9	88.9%	—

Data from 2022 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 140, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

DM140O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Buck Only, resident: 65 applicants for 29 licences, 44.6% drawn, no preference points needed
DM140O3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Buck Only, resident: 50 applicants for 18 licences, 36% drawn, no preference points needed
DM140O4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Buck Only, resident: 49 applicants for 27 licences, 55.1% drawn, no preference points needed
DM140O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Buck Only, nonresident: 26 applicants for 22 licences, 84.6% 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. There are 6 further code-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

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RV Sites

Basic RV services in Springfield and Walsh. Dispersed camping on Comanche NG.

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Camp Sites

Limited developed sites. Two Buttes SWA to the north has primitive camping.

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Trailer Access

Yes on paved and graded gravel roads.

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Water

Stock tanks and windmills. Haul your own for camp.

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Road Conditions

Paved main routes; gravel and two-track interior. Greasy when wet.

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Terrain Difficulty

Easy. Flat to gently rolling prairie.

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Hunting Pressure

Moderate during rifle pronghorn season.

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Weather

Warm early, cold north winds possible in October. Flash floods can strand vehicles in draws.

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Cell Service

Good along highways, spotty on grassland interior.

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Nearest Town

Springfield

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit 140?

Unit 140 lies in Las Animas County, and CPW has it bounded on the north by U.S. 160; on the east by Colo. 389; on the south by NM; on the west by I-25.

What is the pronghorn success rate in unit 140?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 140 at 75% 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 140?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put mule deer success in unit 140 at 29% across all manners of take, and archery 33% and rifle 27% 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 140, 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 140, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22

Unit 140

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 140

Pronghorn Hunting in Unit 140

Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit 140

The lines of the unit: U.S. 160 and Colo. 389

High ground inside the line: Fishers Peak, Fishers Peak Mesa and Little Fishers Peak Mesa

Holding ground: Raton Ski Basin, Coblett Canyon and Big Flat

Public ground to start from: James M. John SWA and Lake Dorothey SWA

The herd this unit belongs to: A-7

Unit 140 terrain and land status

Named features inside the unit

How to Hunt Pronghorn in Unit 140

Pronghorn Success Rates

Pronghorn Draw Odds

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 140

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 140

The lines of the unit: U.S. 160 and Colo. 389

High ground inside the line: Bobblers Knob, Baldy and Saddle Rock

Holding ground: McCoy Canyon, Nile Canyon and Moores Canyon

Public ground to start from: James M. John SWA and Lake Dorothey SWA

The herd this unit belongs to: D-32

Unit 140 terrain and land status

Named features inside the unit

How to Hunt Mule Deer in Unit 140

Mule Deer Success Rates

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Explore Related Units

Unit 140 — Mule Deer

Unit 134 — Pronghorn

Frequently Asked Questions

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Sources & Verification