Colorado GMU 120 Pronghorn Hunting
Lincoln, Crowley and Kiowa counties, southeast Colorado · 519 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 120 is like
Unit 120 covers 519 square miles of low-elevation prairie and rolling shortgrass country across Lincoln, Crowley, and Kiowa counties in the southeast region. Elevation ranges from 4,300 to 5,400 feet, with a typical elevation around 4,800 feet. The terrain is gentle and rolling throughout, with a mean slope of 1.1 degrees and no areas of steep or rugged ground. This is walking country, but only in small patches is it legally huntable.
Approximately 0.8 percent of the unit, roughly 4 square miles, is generally open to public hunting on BLM land and State Wildlife Areas. An additional 10 percent, about 53 square miles, is Colorado State Trust Land where access depends on CPW enrollment in the Public Access Program—which parcels are enrolled is not known from this data. The remaining 89 percent is private land. Legal access rather than terrain difficulty is the limiting factor for hunters on this unit.
The Overall Range layer for pronghorn covers the entire unit. No other seasonal-range layers are mapped for pronghorn here, which means the unit's range mapping provides no information about where within the unit pronghorn concentrate or move through the seasons. Hunters should treat the unit's entire mapped range as potential pronghorn habitat and plan access accordingly.
Four seasons are offered: Muzzleloader from September 21 to September 29 for either-sex hunting, Rifle from October 3 to October 11 for either-sex hunting, Late Rifle from December 5 to December 13 for does, and a private-land-only season from October 3 to December 13 for either-sex hunting. The Muzzleloader and Rifle seasons overlap the Primary Rut and Late Rut phases of the pronghorn cycle. The Late Rifle season falls in the Fall Grouping phase as pronghorn group and transition toward winter. Draw difficulty for the easiest unit-wide hunts is easy, with animals often drawable at zero preference points, though this unit also holds premium buck seasons requiring substantially more points. Hunter pressure here is extreme.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 4,300–5,400 ft, typically around 4,800 ft
- Steepness
- Gentle — mean slope 1.1°
- Slope breakdown
- 100% gentle · 0% moderate · 0% steep · 0% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~4 sq mi, plus ~53 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 120.
Across the unit
- Grass and meadow87%
- Sagebrush6%
- Other cover6%
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 120 is public land a hunter can count on — BLM and State Wildlife Areas. A further 10% is State Trust Land, which is huntable only where CPW has enrolled it.
- BLM<1%
- State Wildlife Area<1%
- State Trust Land10%
- Private89%
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 120 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 Range100%the full extent of range CPW maps for pronghorn — near 100% on most units, and not a statement about when pronghorn are present
Pronghorn seasons & weapons (2026)
| Season | Dates | Tags offered |
|---|---|---|
| Muzzleloader | September 21 – September 29 | Doe, Buck |
| Rifle | October 3 – October 11 | Doe, Buck |
| Late Rifle | December 5 – December 13 | Doe |
| Private-land only | October 3 – December 13 | 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 120 pronghorn hunting FAQ
How much public land can a hunter actually hunt in Unit 120?
Approximately 0.8 percent of the unit, or about 4 square miles on BLM and State Wildlife Areas, is generally open to public hunting. An additional 10 percent (roughly 53 square miles) of State Trust Land may be huntable where CPW has enrolled parcels in the Public Access Program, but which parcels are enrolled is not known from this data. Legal access is the limiting factor here, not the gentleness of the terrain.
Is this unit realistic for an applicant with no preference points?
An applicant with zero points can reliably draw one of the unit's easiest either-sex seasons in the primary draw. However, this unit also holds premium buck seasons that require substantially more preference points, and a hunter interested in a specific hunt code should verify which tier applies to that code. The secondary draw (pure random, no points used) is also open to any applicant.
When is the best time to hunt pronghorn here?
The Muzzleloader season (September 21–29) occurs during the Primary Rut, when pronghorn are actively defending territory and bucks are responsive. The Rifle season (October 3–11) bridges the Late Rut and early Fall Grouping phases as pronghorn begin aggregating. The Late Rifle season (December 5–13) falls during the Fall Grouping phase when pronghorn are fully grouped but still mobile.
What does the Overall Range layer tell me about where pronghorn are in this unit?
The Overall Range layer shows the full extent of CPW's mapped pronghorn range, which covers the entire unit. No other seasonal-range layers are mapped here, so this data does not identify specific areas of concentration, movement corridors, or seasonal shifts within the unit. Pronghorn may use any part of the mapped range, and access to the small amount of public land is the decisive factor for hunting success.
How does hunter pressure affect hunting opportunities here?
Hunter pressure in Unit 120 is extreme, but draw difficulty and pressure are separate things—an easy-to-draw unit can still be crowded. With over 0.8 percent of the unit open to public hunting and substantial private land, hunter concentration on the available public ground is high. Success depends heavily on legal access and finding uncrowded public parcels within the small open area.
Is the terrain walkable for a hunter on foot?
Yes, the terrain is gentle and rolling with no steep or rugged sections, making it physically manageable on foot. However, only about 0.8 percent of the unit is generally open to public hunting, so walkability is less relevant than legal access. A hunter must first locate and reach the small patches of open BLM or State Wildlife Area land before terrain difficulty comes into play.
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.