Colorado Unit 124 Pronghorn Antelope Hunting Guide

Colorado Unit 124 sits in the low-elevation plains country of eastern Colorado, with elevations ranging from 4,296 to 5,396 feet across 374,357 acres. For pronghorn hunters researching this unit, the most important fact to understand upfront is structural: every pronghorn hunt here is limited-quota. There is no general season in Unit 124 — if a hunter wants to pursue pronghorn in this unit, a draw tag is required, full stop.

That draw-only structure, combined with harvest numbers that show real volume, makes Unit 124 a unit worth understanding in detail before investing points or planning a season around it. In 2025 alone, 3,431 hunters pursued pronghorn here, a massive jump from the 800-900 hunter range seen in the previous four years. Success rates have remained consistently in the 49-57% range across five seasons of data, which tells a fairly stable story about huntability even as hunter numbers fluctuate.

Public land access is a critical constraint in this unit. At just 6% public land, Unit 124 is overwhelmingly private ground. This is not a unit where DIY hunters can expect to wander public sections and find pronghorn — the vast majority of huntable habitat sits behind private boundaries, and hunters need to plan access strategy (landowner permission, leased ground, or guided access) well before putting in for the draw. There is no wilderness designation in this unit, so terrain access isn't restricted by wilderness regulations, but the private land reality is the dominant access issue hunters need to solve.

HuntPilot Analysis

Is Unit 124 worth applying for? The answer depends heavily on what a hunter is after and how prepared they are to deal with the access situation.

On the harvest side, the data is encouraging. Success rates of 49-57% over five seasons (2021-2025) indicate that hunters who draw a tag and get access to huntable ground have a solid chance of filling it. The 2024 season produced a 57% success rate on 864 hunters, and even the surge year of 2025 — which saw hunter numbers quadruple to 3,431 — still produced a 49% success rate. That consistency across wildly different hunter volumes suggests the pronghorn population and the available hunting ground can support substantial pressure without success collapsing.

The buck:doe ratio across six survey years (2018-2024) averages 49:100, which is a reasonable, biologically plausible ratio for a pronghorn herd and doesn't raise any red flags about herd composition or sample size issues. It's not an exceptional ratio, but it's a believable, stable number that points to a functioning herd.

Where hunters need to be realistic is trophy potential. The counties overlapping this unit have a limited history of producing record-book pronghorn. That doesn't mean mature bucks aren't present, but hunters chasing a genuine trophy-class animal should treat Unit 124 as a numbers-and-opportunity unit rather than a unit with a proven trophy pedigree. This is consistent with what the forum chatter in this region describes more broadly — hunters in nearby public-land pockets of southeastern Colorado describe heavy pressure on visible, accessible bucks, with multiple trucks sometimes converging on the same animal. That dynamic is a realistic expectation anywhere pronghorn hold near limited public access in open country.

The private land dominance (94% of the unit) is the single biggest factor to weigh. Hunters without a landowner relationship, a lease arrangement, or a guide with private ground access will be competing hard for the thin sliver of public or walk-in ground available. This unit rewards hunters who do their access homework long before the season, not hunters hoping to wing it on foot from a public parcel.

Bottom line: Unit 124 is worth applying for if a hunter has — or is willing to arrange — access to private ground, and is hunting primarily for a solid opportunity and a good success rate rather than a trophy wall-hanger. For DIY hunters without an access plan, the 6% public land figure should be a serious caution flag.

Harvest Success Rates

The five-year harvest trend for Unit 124 shows a unit that produces consistent results:

• 2025: 3,431 hunters, 1,696 harvested — 49% success
• 2024: 864 hunters, 496 harvested — 57% success
• 2023: 821 hunters, 448 harvested — 55% success
• 2022: 868 hunters, 463 harvested — 53% success
• 2021: 715 hunters, 389 harvested — 54% success

Four of the five years sit in a tight band between 53-57% success, with hunter numbers in the 700-900 range. The 2025 season stands out as an outlier in volume, with hunter numbers jumping more than fourfold. Even with that surge in pressure, success only dropped to 49% — a relatively modest decline given the scale of the increase. This suggests the unit's pronghorn population and available habitat can absorb a significant increase in hunting pressure without success rates falling off a cliff, which is a positive sign for the health of the local herd and the quality of huntable ground (for those with access to it).

Hunters should note that these are unit-wide totals across all draw hunts, not broken out by hunt code or sex class, so a hunter targeting an either-sex or antlered tag specifically should check HuntPilot's unit page for the current hunt-by-hunt breakdown.

Trophy Quality

Trophy data for the counties overlapping Unit 124 shows a limited history of record-book entries. Hunters should view this unit through a realistic lens: this is not a unit with a strong, proven trophy pedigree, and hunters whose primary goal is a genuine record-class buck may want to look elsewhere or treat a trophy as a bonus rather than the expectation. That said, limited record-book history doesn't mean mature bucks don't exist here — it simply means the unit hasn't produced a meaningful volume of documented trophy-class animals relative to units with a deeper trophy history. Hunters should set expectations accordingly: Unit 124 is better framed as a solid-opportunity, good-success-rate unit than a trophy destination.

Herd Health & Population Trends

The six years of survey data (2018-2024) show an average buck:doe ratio of 49:100. This is a stable, believable ratio for pronghorn — not flagged as an unusually small sample or statistical outlier, and not showing signs of a buck shortage relative to typical pronghorn herd structure. Combined with the sustained harvest success rates across the same multi-year window, the data points to a herd that is holding steady rather than declining or spiking unpredictably. Hunters shouldn't read too much into year-to-year survey swings beyond what's provided, but the overall multi-year average is a reasonable baseline for what to expect from herd composition in this unit.

Access & Terrain

Access is the defining challenge of Unit 124. With only 6% public land across 374,357 acres, the overwhelming majority of this unit is private property. There is no wilderness designation here (0% wilderness), so there are no wilderness-specific access restrictions to navigate — but that's a minor point next to the private land reality.

Elevation in the unit ranges from 4,296 to 5,396 feet, putting this squarely in low-elevation plains and prairie country typical of eastern Colorado pronghorn range — open, relatively flat terrain where animals can be spotted at distance but are also highly visible to other hunters. That kind of open-country visibility, paired with heavy private land concentration, means hunters without secured access should expect significant competition for whatever public or walk-in ground is available, and should plan to glass and move early to avoid pressure from other hunters working the same visible bucks.

For hunters without an existing landowner connection, serious pre-season legwork — identifying any walk-in access programs, reaching out to landowners directly, or arranging a lease or guided hunt — is essentially a prerequisite for a successful season in this unit, not an optional add-on.

How to Apply

Every pronghorn hunt in Unit 124 is a limited-quota draw hunt — there is no general season or over-the-counter option here. Hunters must apply through Colorado's draw system to be eligible for a tag in this unit, regardless of whether they're after an antlered or either-sex tag.

Colorado's draw operates on a true preference point system: hunters with the highest number of points in a given pool draw first, meaning that accumulating points over multiple years can eventually put a hunter in range to draw a specific hunt code in this unit. This is not a weighted lottery — point totals carry real weight in determining draw sequence, which is why the forum discussion referenced above shows hunters routinely citing double-digit point totals before targeting a specific sought-after unit.

Nonresident and resident applicants draw from separate pools, and point requirements can vary significantly by hunt code and sex class within the same unit. Because draw odds, tag quotas, and point requirements shift from year to year as Colorado Parks and Wildlife adjusts quotas, hunters should not rely on historical point talk from forums to plan their application strategy. Instead, check HuntPilot's Colorado page for the current application structure, deadlines, and fees, and review the live draw odds for Unit 124's specific hunt codes before applying.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Unit 124 worth applying for pronghorn? It depends on access. The unit shows consistent harvest success (49-57% across five recent seasons) and a stable buck:doe ratio, which are positive signs. But with only 6% public land, hunters without a plan for private land access, a lease, or a guided hunt will struggle regardless of their draw tag. It's worth applying for hunters who have access sorted out; it's a riskier bet for hunters hoping to find huntable public ground on arrival.

What is harvest success like in Colorado Unit 124? Success rates have ranged from 49% to 57% over the five most recent seasons of data (2021-2025), with four of those five years clustering tightly between 53-57%. The 2025 season saw hunter numbers surge to 3,431 (up from under 900 in prior years) while success held at 49%, suggesting the unit can handle increased pressure without a dramatic drop in results.

What is the terrain like in Unit 124? The unit sits at relatively low elevation for Colorado, ranging from 4,296 to 5,396 feet, consistent with open plains and prairie habitat typical of eastern Colorado pronghorn country. There's no wilderness designation in the unit, so terrain access isn't limited by wilderness rules — the primary access constraint is the 6% public land figure, not terrain difficulty.

How big are the pronghorn in Unit 124? Trophy records from the counties overlapping this unit show a limited history of record-book entries, meaning this unit has not been a major producer of documented trophy-class pronghorn. Hunters should treat this as an opportunity-and-success unit rather than a trophy destination, though mature bucks can still be present even where documented trophy history is thin.

Does Unit 124 have a general pronghorn season? No. Every pronghorn hunt in Unit 124 is limited-quota — there is no general, over-the-counter season available here. All hunters, resident and nonresident, must apply through Colorado's draw system for a tag in this unit.