Colorado GMU 101 Pronghorn Hunting
Washington and Yuma counties, northeast Colorado · 685 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 101 is like
Colorado GMU 101 spans 685 square miles across Washington and Yuma counties in the northeast region and consists of gentle, rolling terrain at low elevations between 3,500 and 4,600 feet. The unit is nearly flat, with 99% of its area classified as gentle slope and a mean gradient of 1.8 degrees. This is open shortgrass prairie country that rolls gradually from one section to the next, offering straightforward walking in terms of terrain alone.
The unit is dominated by private land, which comprises 92% of the area. Public ground is extremely limited: only about 1 square mile of State Wildlife Areas is dependably open to public hunting. An additional 52 square miles of Colorado State Trust Land falls within the unit, but access to that ground depends on enrollment in CPW's Public Access Program, and not all parcels are enrolled. Legal access, not terrain, is the controlling factor in what a pronghorn hunter can actually hunt here.
Pronghorn range across most of the unit's footprint. The Overall Range layer covers 83% of the unit, describing the full extent of mapped pronghorn use. Winter Range covers 22% of the unit. As the fall season progresses, pronghorn in this unit move through the Late Rut and post-rut recovery phase into the fall-grouping and winter-transition phase, with seasonal-range shifts following typical late-season patterns driven by snow and cold.
The unit offers two public seasons: a Muzzleloader season from September 21 to 29 (buck only, hunting the Primary Rut and Late Rut phases), and a Rifle season from October 3 to 11 (buck or doe, hunting the Late Rut and post-rut recovery phase). Hunter pressure is high. The draw difficulty for the easiest unit-wide hunt code is moderate, with most applicants drawing reliably at 1–2 preference points.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 3,500–4,600 ft, typically around 4,200 ft
- Steepness
- Gentle — mean slope 1.8°
- Slope breakdown
- 99% gentle · 1% moderate · 0% steep · 0% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~1 sq mi, plus ~52 sq mi of State Trust Land where access depends on enrollment
Habitat & cover
What actually grows here, by elevation. Each band adds to 100% on its own — these are shares of that band, not of GMU 101.
Across the unit
- Grass and meadow66%
- Other cover34%
Cover classes from the USGS National Land Cover Database, split into elevation bands. “Other cover” is the remainder of the classification — bare ground, water, agriculture and developed land — and is left unnamed rather than guessed at.
Land & access
About <1% of GMU 101 is public land a hunter can count on — State Wildlife Areas. A further 8% is State Trust Land, which is huntable only where CPW has enrolled it.
- State Wildlife Area<1%
- BLM<1%
- State Trust Land8%
- Private92%
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.
Where pronghorn live in the unit
Colorado Parks & Wildlife maps pronghorn seasonal ranges statewide. This is how much of GMU 101 each range covers — the single best clue to whether pronghorn are here in September, in November, or only passing through. The layers overlap, so they do not add to 100%.
- Overall Range83%the full extent of range CPW maps for pronghorn — near 100% on most units, and not a statement about when pronghorn are present
- Winter Range22%used in winter
Pronghorn seasons & weapons (2026)
| Season | Dates | Tags offered |
|---|---|---|
| Muzzleloader | September 21 – September 29 | Buck |
| Rifle | October 3 – October 11 | 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.
GMU 101 pronghorn hunting FAQ
How much ground can a public-land pronghorn hunter actually hunt in this unit?
Only about 1 square mile of State Wildlife Areas is dependably open to public hunting across the entire 685-square-mile unit. An additional 52 square miles of State Trust Land lies within the unit, but access is contingent on CPW enrollment in the Public Access Program, and not all parcels participate. Legal access, rather than terrain difficulty, is the severe constraint.
Is this a realistic unit for someone with no preference points?
An applicant with zero preference points can expect to draw the easiest available buck or either-sex hunt code reliably at 1–2 points. Applicants with no points can sometimes draw even when the floor sits at 1–2, though that outcome is not guaranteed. However, the unit's extreme scarcity of public access makes a tag less useful than the draw odds alone would suggest.
What is the timing difference between the Muzzleloader and Rifle seasons?
The Muzzleloader season (September 21–29) runs during the Primary Rut and into the Late Rut phase, when bucks are actively seeking does. The Rifle season (October 3–11) falls in the Late Rut and post-rut recovery phase, after the peak of rut activity. The Rifle season opens about two weeks after Muzzleloader ends, covering a different phase of the pronghorn calendar.
Does terrain here make it easy to cover large amounts of ground?
The terrain is genuinely gentle and walkable—99% of the unit is gentle slope with a mean gradient of only 1.8 degrees—so a hunter on foot can traverse the prairie efficiently. Severe access restrictions to private land make this distinction moot; terrain difficulty is not the limiting factor in how much huntable ground exists.
What does the mapped Winter Range layer tell me about where pronghorn are in October?
The Winter Range layer covers 22% of the unit but does not indicate a location or elevation band; it describes a share of the area where pronghorn concentrations shift as winter approaches. By October, pronghorn in this unit are in the Late Rut or fall-grouping phase, beginning seasonal transitions, but the timing and extent of any movement vary with weather and snow.
Can a hunter actually reach the State Trust Land to hunt it?
Not necessarily. The 52 square miles of State Trust Land in the unit are only huntable if CPW has enrolled them in the Public Access Program, and even then, access depends on roads, trailheads and seasonal closures—information not contained in this guide. A hunter should contact CPW or check the Public Access Program site directly for which parcels are currently enrolled and how to access them.
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 — Pronghorn 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
- USGS / MRLC — National Land Cover Database — habitat and cover classes by elevation band
- CPW — Maps and GIS (Species Activity Mapping) — pronghorn seasonal range
- CPW — State Trust Land Finder — which State Trust acreage is enrolled and open to public hunting
- USGS PAD-US — Protected Areas Database of the United States — land ownership and access
- Daymet daily climate, 1991–2020 (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) — 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 September 24, 2026.