Colorado GMU 136 Mule Deer Hunting
Las Animas County, southeast Colorado · 570 sq mi
Based on the EASIEST unit-wide buck or either-sex hunt code available to adult Colorado residents in the 2026 primary draw — the lowest preference-point tier that drew reliably. Private-land-only and Ranching for Wildlife hunts are excluded because neither is a unit-wide public-land opportunity — NOT because the public cannot draw them. A private-land-only license requires the hunter's own permission to hunt private ground; a Ranching for Wildlife license is valid on the participating ranches enrolled in that program. They are separate systems. Other weapons, seasons and nonresident applicants can require substantially more points. The band is a floor, not a target: even the easiest qualifying hunt here sits in that range.
What hunting GMU 136 is like
Colorado GMU 136 covers 570 square miles of low-elevation country in southeastern Las Animas County, spanning 4,200 feet to 5,900 feet with a typical elevation around 5,200 feet. The terrain is gentle and rolling, with 79 percent of the unit in gentle slopes, 13 percent moderate, 7 percent steep, and 1 percent rugged by area. A mean slope of 6.5 degrees confirms the overall character: this is walkable country for a hunter on foot, without the sustained climbing or scrambling that defines higher terrain.
Mule deer hunting here faces a significant land-access constraint. The unit is approximately 85 percent private, with roughly 6.3 percent—about 36 square miles—of National Forest ground generally open to public hunting. An additional 7.7 percent consists of Colorado State Trust Land where access depends on enrollment in CPW's Public Access Program; which parcels are enrolled is not disclosed here. Ownership of roughly 1.3 percent remains unclassified. For a hunter without private permission, legal access is the limiting factor regardless of how easy the terrain is to walk.
Mule deer occupy the unit across its full mapped range, though the seasonal-range data does not indicate a substantial concentration of winter ground. Overall Range covers the entire unit; Winter Range comprises only 2 percent with no mapped Winter Concentration area. This suggests mule deer are distributed throughout the unit in fall and winter rather than concentrated on specific winter grounds, though actual distribution may shift with weather and snow conditions as the season advances.
The unit offers five seasons: Archery (September 2–30), Muzzleloader (September 12–20), Plains Early Rifle (October 24–November 3), Plains Late Rifle (December 1–14), and Ranching for Wildlife (dates not published). A public applicant can hunt the first four. The two rifle seasons fall across the fall transition into the primary rut, with Plains Early Rifle occurring during the early fall migration and early pre-rut phases and Plains Late Rifle falling in the late rut and winter consolidation. September temperatures range from lows near 50°F to highs near 81°F; by November, conditions cool to highs near 57°F and lows near 26°F. Overall hunter pressure is moderate, and draw difficulty for the easiest unit-wide buck or either-sex code available to adult Colorado residents is easy—often at zero points.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 4,200–5,900 ft, typically around 5,200 ft
- Steepness
- Gentle — mean slope 6.5°
- Slope breakdown
- 79% gentle · 13% moderate · 7% steep · 1% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~36 sq mi, plus ~44 sq mi of State Trust Land where access depends on enrollment
Land & access
About 6% of GMU 136 is public land a hunter can count on — National Forest. A further 8% is State Trust Land, which is huntable only where CPW has enrolled it.
- National Forest6%
- BLM<1%
- State Trust Land8%
- Unclassified ownership1%
- Private85%
Colorado State Trust Land is open to public hunting only where it is enrolled in CPW's Public Access Program. Check current enrollment before planning around it.
“Ownership unclassified” means the source dataset does not record an owner for that acreage. It is not known to be public or private.
Where mule deer live in the unit
Colorado Parks & Wildlife maps mule deer seasonal ranges statewide. This is how much of GMU 136 each range covers — the single best clue to whether mule deer are here in September, in November, or only passing through. The layers overlap, so they do not add to 100%.
- Overall Range100%the full extent of range CPW maps for mule deer — near 100% on most units, and not a statement about when mule deer are present
- Winter Range2%used in winter
- Winter Concentration<1%where mule deer bunch up in winter
Mule Deer seasons & weapons (2026)
| Season | Dates | Tags offered |
|---|---|---|
| Archery | September 2 – September 30 | Either-sex, Doe |
| Muzzleloader | September 12 – September 20 | Doe, Buck |
| Plains Early Rifle | October 24 – November 3 | Doe, Buck |
| Plains Late Rifle | December 1 – December 14 | Either-sex, Doe, Buck |
| Ranching for Wildlife | Dates vary by hunt code | Doe, Buck |
Dates span every hunt code of that type in this unit and can differ by code. Confirm the current brochure with Colorado Parks & Wildlife before applying.
Fall weather
- September — highs around 81°F, lows around 50°F (mid-elevation normals)
- October — highs around 69°F, lows around 36°F, about 0.7 in of snow (mid-elevation normals)
- November — highs around 57°F, lows around 26°F, about 1 in of snow (mid-elevation normals)
GMU 136 mule deer hunting FAQ
How much ground can a public-land hunter actually hunt on foot?
About 36 square miles of National Forest is generally open to public hunting. An additional 44 square miles of State Trust Land exists, but access there depends on CPW enrollment in the Public Access Program, and which parcels are enrolled is not known from this guide. The remaining 85 percent is private. Without private permission, a hunter's options are limited to scouting and hunting the open National Forest acreage.
Is this a realistic unit for someone with no preference points?
Yes. The easiest unit-wide buck or either-sex code available to adult Colorado residents draws at easy difficulty, often at zero points. Other weapons, seasons, and nonresident applicants can require substantially more points, so applicants should check which specific hunt they are targeting before applying.
Is this unit better suited to early or late season?
The terrain is walkable throughout, but archery and muzzleloader in September find deer in the velvet-shed phase when their behavior differs from the rut. Plains Early Rifle in late October and early November begins during the early fall migration phase, while Plains Late Rifle in December falls in the late rut and winter consolidation, when buck movement and vulnerability peak. Season choice depends on hunting style and when the applicant draws tags.
How does terrain walkability compare to the access problem?
The gentle and rolling terrain is easy to hunt on foot—79 percent of the unit is gentle slope. However, 85 percent of the unit is private ground. Walkability and legal access are separate issues: even terrain that is pleasant to walk means nothing if the ground is closed to public hunting. Access is the real constraint here.
Do mule deer concentrate on winter ground in this unit?
No. Winter Range covers only 2 percent of the unit with zero percent in Winter Concentration. Instead, mule deer occupy the full mapped range throughout fall and winter. Actual distribution may shift with weather and snow, but the seasonal-range data does not indicate animals clustering on specific winter grounds as they do in some other units.
What does the draw-difficulty label cover and what does it not?
The easy difficulty rating describes the easiest unit-wide buck or either-sex code available to adult Colorado residents in the primary draw and assumes zero or minimal preference points. It does not cover private-land-only hunts, Ranching for Wildlife licenses, other weapons or season types, or nonresident applicants—all of which can require substantially more points. Applicants must confirm the specific hunt code they plan to draw.
Data sources & methodology
- Colorado Parks & Wildlife — Big Game hunting — seasons, weapons, hunt codes and license types
- CPW — Primary Draw rules — how preference points and the hybrid draw work
- CPW — Deer statistics, draw recap and Drawn Out At reports — the point levels behind the draw-difficulty bands
- CPW — Secondary Draw — licenses remaining after the primary draw
- CPW — Maps and GIS (Species Activity Mapping) — mule deer seasonal range
- CPW — State Trust Land Finder — which State Trust acreage is enrolled and open to public hunting
- Federal and state land-ownership datasets — land ownership and access
- NOAA climate normals — fall weather
Draw difficulty is a qualitative band, not published odds — the note under the summary above states exactly which hunt code it describes. Land shares are separate, non-overlapping categories: publicly owned is not the same as open to hunting, and State Trust Land is huntable only where CPW has enrolled it. Unit data last updated August 31, 2026.