Colorado GMU 125 Pronghorn Hunting
Bent, Crowley, Kiowa and Otero counties, southeast Colorado · 585 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 125 is like
GMU 125 is a 585-square-mile pronghorn unit in the southeast corner of Colorado, spanning Bent, Crowley, Kiowa and Otero counties. The landscape is gentle and rolling throughout, with elevations ranging from 3,900 feet at the low end to 4,600 feet at the high end, and a typical elevation around 4,200 feet. The terrain is uniformly gentle, rising gradually across the unit with no steep or rugged terrain present.
Public hunting access is severely limited. Only about 1.4 square miles of the unit—roughly 1.4 percent—is generally open to public hunting. That ground is managed by the State Wildlife Areas and Bureau of Land Management. An additional 37 percent of the unit, or about 218 square miles, is Colorado State Trust Land. Access to State Trust Land parcels depends on enrollment in CPW's Public Access Program; not all are open. The remaining 61 percent is private land.
CPW maps pronghorn seasonal range across 88 percent of the unit as Overall Range. This extensive mapping covers the full extent of pronghorn range CPW has recorded but does not indicate where animals concentrate or how they distribute through the year. Hunters should expect pronghorn to be present across most of the unit's terrain but recognize that legal access remains the controlling constraint.
The unit offers four seasons: a Muzzleloader season from September 21 to September 29 for doe and buck, a Rifle season from October 3 to October 11 for doe and buck, a Late Rifle season from December 5 to December 13 for doe, and a Private-land-only season from October 3 to December 13 for doe and buck. The Muzzleloader season falls during the Primary Rut and Late Rut phases; the Rifle season occurs during Late Rut and early Fall Grouping; the Late Rifle season spans the Fall Grouping phase. Draw difficulty for the easiest unit-wide buck or either-sex code is Easy, often available at zero preference points. Hunter pressure across the unit is low.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 3,900–4,600 ft, typically around 4,200 ft
- Steepness
- Gentle — mean slope 0.7°
- Slope breakdown
- 100% gentle · 0% moderate · 0% steep · 0% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~8 sq mi, plus ~218 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 125.
Across the unit
- Grass and meadow70%
- Other cover16%
- Sagebrush8%
- Riparian6%
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 125 is public land a hunter can count on — State Wildlife Areas and BLM. A further 37% is State Trust Land, which is huntable only where CPW has enrolled it.
- State Wildlife Area<1%
- BLM<1%
- State Trust Land37%
- National Park Service<1%
- Private61%
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 125 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 Range88%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 125 pronghorn hunting FAQ
Can a hunter with zero preference points draw pronghorn here?
An applicant with zero preference points can reliably draw the easiest unit-wide buck or either-sex hunt code available to adult Colorado residents in the primary draw. Other hunt codes, weapons, and nonresident applicants may require substantially more points. Additionally, the Secondary Draw (a separate June draw open to anyone, awarding tags by pure random chance with no preference points used) and the Leftover List (first-come, first-served after the primary draw) are separate pathways to tags that do not require prior points.
Is there public ground a hunter can actually access and hunt?
Only about 1.4 percent of the unit is generally open to public hunting—State Wildlife Areas and Bureau of Land Management ground totaling roughly 8 square miles. An additional 37 percent is Colorado State Trust Land, but access there requires prior enrollment in CPW's Public Access Program; not all parcels are open. Private land covers 61 percent of the unit. Hunters should confirm both ownership and permission before attempting to access any specific area.
Which season is the best option for a first-time pronghorn hunter?
The Rifle season (October 3–11) falls during Late Rut, when pronghorn are grouping and buck behavior is somewhat more predictable than at peak rut, and it is a season either-sex applicants can draw with zero points. The Muzzleloader season (September 21–29) occurs during the Primary Rut when bucks are most active but is more demanding technically. The Late Rifle season (December 5–13) hunts during Fall Grouping as animals transition toward winter behavior and is limited to does.
How much of the unit can a public-land hunter actually cover on foot?
The terrain throughout the unit is gentle and rolling, making it walkable across its full elevation range. However, legal access rather than terrain is the limiting factor here: only 1.4 percent of the unit is generally open to public hunting, so a hunter's actual range is constrained by land ownership and access permission, not by difficulty of foot travel.
Is this unit realistic for someone with limited time to scout?
The extensive lack of dependably open public ground makes this unit challenging for hunters without prior knowledge of accessible parcels. Only State Wildlife Areas and BLM land totaling roughly 8 square miles are generally open, and an additional 37 percent on State Trust Land may or may not be enrolled in the Public Access Program. Pre-hunt research into which State Trust Land parcels are enrolled and where BLM access points are located is essential.
Does pronghorn distribution shift significantly as the season advances?
CPW maps pronghorn range across 88 percent of the unit as Overall Range, indicating animals may be present widely, but the mapped range does not specify how distribution changes between the September Muzzleloader hunt and the December Late Rifle season. Hunters should expect pronghorn presence across most of the unit throughout the fall, though specific concentrations may vary with weather and local conditions.
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.