Colorado GMU 682 Pronghorn Hunting
Saguache County, southwest Colorado · 255 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 682 is like
Unit 682 is a pronghorn hunting area covering 255 square miles in Saguache County in the southwest region of Colorado. The unit sits at elevations between 7,500 and 8,000 feet and features gentle and rolling terrain across its entire expanse. The landscape is accessible on foot and poses no steep obstacles, making the country walkable for hunters seeking out pronghorn across open sagebrush and grassland country.
Roughly 4.1 percent of the unit, or about 10 square miles, is generally open to public hunting on BLM and State Wildlife Areas. An additional 8.4 percent is Colorado State Trust Land, where hunting access depends on CPW's Public Access Program enrollment at individual parcels; some trust land is enrolled and huntable, while others are not. Private land comprises roughly 85 percent of the unit, with a small 2.2 percent of unclassified ownership where the source data does not record an owner. The scarcity of dependably open ground means legal access, not terrain, is the primary constraint on where a hunter can pursue pronghorn here.
Pronghorn occupy the unit across 86 percent of its mapped overall range, with the densest use concentrated on 61 percent of the unit during winter months. A 4 percent concentration layer identifies ground where pronghorn cluster during the winter season, and 1 percent of the unit falls within mapped migration corridors. As the calendar moves from late summer into fall, pronghorn shift through the pre-rut and primary-rut phases, with the overall pattern supporting an expectation of movement toward winter ground as the season progresses, though timing and extent vary with weather and snow.
Three buck seasons are offered: archery from August 15 to September 20, when pronghorn are in the pre-rut and primary-rut phases; muzzleloader from September 21 to September 29, spanning the primary rut and late-rut phases; and rifle from October 3 to October 11, during the late-rut and post-rut recovery phase. The archery season is limited and drawn. The draw difficulty for the easiest qualifying buck code available to an adult Colorado resident is very hard, requiring 6 to 9 preference points; other seasons and weapons can demand substantially more points. Hunter pressure on the unit is low overall.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 7,500–8,000 ft, typically around 7,600 ft
- Steepness
- Gentle — mean slope 0.3°
- Slope breakdown
- 100% gentle · 0% moderate · 0% steep · 0% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~10 sq mi, plus ~21 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 682.
Across the unit
- Sagebrush65%
- Riparian23%
- Other cover9%
- Grass and meadow2%
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 4% of GMU 682 is public land a hunter can count on — BLM and State Wildlife Areas. A further 8% is State Trust Land, which is huntable only where CPW has enrolled it.
- BLM3%
- State Wildlife Area<1%
- State Trust Land8%
- Unclassified ownership2%
- 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 pronghorn live in the unit
Colorado Parks & Wildlife maps pronghorn seasonal ranges statewide. This is how much of GMU 682 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 Range86%the full extent of range CPW maps for pronghorn — near 100% on most units, and not a statement about when pronghorn are present
- Winter Range61%used in winter
- Winter Concentration4%where pronghorn bunch up in winter
- Migration Corridors<1%movement between ranges, not residence
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 |
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 682 pronghorn hunting FAQ
How much public ground can a hunter actually rely on reaching here?
About 4.1 percent of the unit, or 10 square miles, is dependably open to public hunting on BLM and State Wildlife Areas. An additional 8.4 percent is State Trust Land, but hunting there depends on whether individual parcels are enrolled in CPW's Public Access Program — not all are. The remaining 85 percent is private land, so legal access is the main constraint on where a hunter can hunt, regardless of how walkable the terrain is.
Does an applicant with zero preference points have a realistic chance to draw here?
The easiest qualifying buck hunt in the primary draw requires 6 to 9 preference points to have reliably drawn in past years. An applicant with zero points is below that band and is unlikely to draw through the primary draw, though Colorado's secondary draw (a separate June lottery open to anyone without preference points) and the leftover list (first-come, first-served afterward) offer alternative routes to tags that this data does not capture.
When is the rut, and which season hunts it?
Pronghorn enter their primary rut from September 6 to September 25. The archery season (August 15–September 20) spans the pre-rut and primary-rut phases, meaning it covers the early rut and runs partway through peak rut; the muzzleloader season (September 21–September 29) catches the tail end of the primary rut and the late-rut phase. The rifle season (October 3–October 11) occurs entirely during the post-rut recovery phase, after the rut has ended.
Are pronghorn spread evenly across the unit or concentrated in certain areas?
While overall range covers 86 percent of the unit, a 4 percent winter concentration layer indicates that pronghorn cluster on specific ground during the winter season, rather than spreading uniformly. The unit also contains 1 percent of mapped migration corridors, supporting the expectation that pronghorn shift and concentrate as the fall season advances and winter approaches.
Is this unit realistic for someone with no preference points or someone new to the draw?
With a very hard draw requiring 6 to 9 preference points for the easiest buck hunt, zero-point applicants face steep odds in the primary draw. However, new hunters should know that Colorado's secondary draw (open to all applicants in June with no points used) and the leftover list provide additional opportunities; whether those routes yield tags here depends on availability that this data does not detail.
Will the terrain be manageable for someone hiking on foot?
Yes — the unit is entirely gentle and rolling with no steep or rugged country, so the terrain itself poses no physical barriers to hunting on foot. However, legal access is the binding constraint: only 4.1 percent is dependably open to public hunting, so a hunter's ability to reach prime pronghorn country depends far more on private-land arrangements or State Trust Land enrollment than on the ease of walking the landscape.
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.