Colorado GMU 301 Pronghorn Hunting
Moffat County, northwest Colorado · 367 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 301 is like
GMU 301 spans 367 square miles of gentle and rolling terrain in Moffat County's northwestern corner, with elevations ranging from 6,000 feet to 7,500 feet and a mean slope of 6.8 degrees. The landscape is 83 percent gentle by area, 16 percent moderate, and 1 percent steep, making it accessible to hunters on foot. Pronghorn occupy the unit across most of its extent, with overall mapped range covering 97 percent.
Public access is limited. Approximately 11 percent of the unit, or 42 square miles, is BLM land generally open to public hunting. Colorado State Trust Land comprises 3.9 percent, roughly 14 square miles, but only parcels enrolled in CPW's Public Access Program are huntable—the enrollment status of specific tracts is not public information. The remaining 85 percent is private ground. For a public-land hunter, legal access constrains opportunity far more than terrain difficulty does.
Pronghorn range throughout the unit across seasons. Winter Range covers 96 percent of the unit, and a Winter Concentration layer marks 24 percent as clustered-use ground during the winter months. No other seasonal-range layer—no Migration Corridor, no Summer Range boundary—is mapped here. This concentration layer does not specify locations; hunters should expect pronghorn to cluster in winter but should not assume even distribution across the mapped range at other times.
The unit offers five seasons to hunt pronghorn in 2026: Archery (August 15 – September 20, buck only), Muzzleloader (September 21 – September 29, buck only), and Rifle (October 3 – October 11, buck only), all open to the general public draw, plus a private-land-only season (September 19 – October 4) and a Ranching for Wildlife season (September 5 – October 14), neither of which requires public-land access. The rifle season is the only one in its class. Competition for limited tags is extreme, and the easiest qualifying buck hunt reliably draws in the 6–9 preference-point band, making this a hard-to-draw unit for residents without substantial points banked.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 6,000–7,500 ft, typically around 6,600 ft
- Steepness
- Gentle — mean slope 6.8°
- Slope breakdown
- 83% gentle · 16% moderate · 1% steep · 0% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~42 sq mi, plus ~14 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 301.
Across the unit
- Sagebrush86%
- Other cover7%
- Grass and meadow7%
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 11% of GMU 301 is public land a hunter can count on — BLM. A further 4% is State Trust Land, which is huntable only where CPW has enrolled it.
- BLM11%
- State Trust Land4%
- 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.
Where pronghorn live in the unit
Colorado Parks & Wildlife maps pronghorn seasonal ranges statewide. This is how much of GMU 301 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 Range97%the full extent of range CPW maps for pronghorn — near 100% on most units, and not a statement about when pronghorn are present
- Winter Range96%used in winter
- Winter Concentration24%where pronghorn bunch up in winter
Pronghorn seasons & weapons (2026)
| Season | Dates | Tags offered |
|---|---|---|
| Archery | August 15 – September 20 | Buck |
| Muzzleloader | September 21 – September 29 | Buck |
| Rifle | October 3 – October 11 | Buck |
| Private-land only | September 19 – October 4 | Buck |
| Ranching for Wildlife | September 5 – October 14 | 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 301 pronghorn hunting FAQ
How much ground can a public-land hunter actually hunt here?
About 11 percent of the 367-square-mile unit, or roughly 42 square miles of BLM land, is dependably open to public hunting. Colorado State Trust Land makes up another 3.9 percent, but only if individual parcels are enrolled in CPW's Public Access Program—most are not. The remaining 85 percent is private. Legal access, not terrain difficulty, is the controlling constraint on where a public hunter can go.
Is this unit realistic for someone with zero or few preference points?
No, not for the primary draw. The easiest unit-wide buck hunt here requires reliably drawing at 6–9 preference points in the primary draw, making this a hard-to-draw unit. An applicant with no points can enter the Colorado secondary draw (a separate June drawing, pure random, open to anyone) or check the leftover list after the primary draw closes, but neither is guaranteed. Private-land-only and Ranching for Wildlife seasons are also options if access to those grounds is arranged separately.
When does pronghorn hunting fall in the rut?
Archery (August 15 – September 20) spans the Pre-Rut and Primary Rut phases. Muzzleloader (September 21 – September 29) and Rifle (October 3 – October 11) both occur during the Late Rut and Post-Rut Recovery phase. Peak rut activity occurs in early September, before the muzzleloader and rifle seasons begin.
What does the 24 percent Winter Concentration figure tell hunters?
Winter Concentration marks 24 percent of the unit as ground where pronghorn cluster during the winter months—a seasonal layer showing relative density, not specific location or geography. The figure does not say where that concentrated ground sits, only that a quarter of the unit serves as focal winter habitat. Hunters should expect pronghorn to gather in winter but cannot use this layer to pinpoint where.
Is the terrain difficult to walk if a hunter gains legal access?
No. The unit is 83 percent gentle terrain by area, with 16 percent moderate slopes and only 1 percent steep ground, making it well-suited to foot travel for hunters who can reach open or enrolled State Trust Land. Walkability is not the limiting factor here—access to huntable ground is.
Does pronghorn distribution shift as the season advances through fall?
No seasonal-range layer other than Winter Range and Winter Concentration is mapped for this unit. Without a mapped Summer Range or Migration Corridor, the data does not describe how pronghorn distribution changes across the archery, muzzleloader, and rifle seasons. Hunters should expect pronghorn to concentrate in winter as mapped, but movement and distribution patterns during late summer and early fall are not described by the available range data.
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.