Colorado Unit 136 Mule Deer Hunting Guide

Colorado Unit 136 is a limited-quota mule deer unit that draws attention from hunters willing to work for a buck in low-elevation, low-cover terrain where pressure and visibility can make for a genuinely tough hunt. With elevations ranging from 4,168 to 5,877 feet and a total footprint of 364,711 acres, this is lower-elevation country than the high alpine basins many Colorado mule deer hunters picture — and that distinction matters when planning a hunt here.

What sets Unit 136 apart from a lot of Colorado's general mule deer country is its hunt structure: there is no general season here. Every hunt in this unit is limited-quota, meaning every hunter afield — whether pursuing an antlered buck or an antlerless tag — went through the draw to get there. That changes the character of the unit considerably compared to over-the-counter areas, concentrating hunting pressure into a defined, managed number of tags rather than an open-ended crowd.

Public land is scarce here. At just 14% public ownership, Unit 136 is overwhelmingly private land, and DIY hunters need to recognize upfront that access will be the single biggest variable in their hunt — far more than tag quality or herd numbers. This is not a unit where hunters can expect to wander onto public ground and find elbow room; successful hunts here typically depend on either drawing public parcels precisely, securing permission on private ground, or working with a landowner voucher or access program.

HuntPilot Analysis: Is Unit 136 Worth Applying For?

The harvest numbers out of Unit 136 tell a story of a unit that produces results for hunters who draw a tag. Success rates have been remarkably consistent across the last several seasons: 42% in 2025, 45% in 2024, 47% in 2023, and 46% in 2022. That's a tight band of success in the mid-to-high 40s (with 2025 dipping slightly to 42%), and it reflects a unit where hunters who put in the time connect on a deer at a rate well above what's typical for many western mule deer units, particularly limited-quota units where pressure and distribution of game can vary wildly year to year.

The hunter numbers also tell an important story. In 2025, hunter participation jumped sharply to 916 hunters (up from 320 in 2024), with harvest also climbing to 389 animals. That's a meaningful shift in both tag numbers and overall pressure compared to the 2022–2024 seasons, which ran in a tighter band of 278 to 326 hunters afield. Hunters pulling a tag for Unit 136 in recent years should recognize that the on-the-ground pressure picture has changed, and more hunters in the field — even with a still-respectable 42% success rate — likely means more competition for the limited public ground and more pressure on accessible private parcels.

On trophy potential, the counties overlapping Unit 136 carry a strong history of producing trophy-class mule deer, based on record-book data compiled across the broader geographic area. This should be read with an important caveat: record-book entries are logged by county, not by individual hunt unit, so that trophy pedigree is shared with neighboring units whose boundaries fall in the same counties. It does not mean every big buck came from inside Unit 136's lines specifically. Still, for hunters chasing genuine trophy potential rather than just opportunity, a strong regional trophy history is a meaningful positive signal — it indicates the genetics, age structure, and habitat in this corner of Colorado have historically been capable of producing exceptional bucks.

The herd health picture is more of a mixed bag. The available survey data shows a buck:doe ratio of 31:100 from a single survey year (2024). That's a modest ratio by mule deer standards — well below what's typically associated with abundant mature buck age classes — and with only one year of survey data available, it's difficult to establish a trend. Hunters should treat this single data point as a snapshot rather than a verdict on herd quality, but it's also not a ratio that screams an overabundance of bucks relative to does. It suggests a herd that is functional but not necessarily loaded with surplus mature males, which lines up with the realities of a heavily private, lower-elevation unit where buck survival to maturity is influenced heavily by hunting and land-use pressure.

So, is it worth applying for? For hunters focused purely on volume of opportunity, the consistent mid-to-high 40s success rates are attractive. For hunters chasing a genuinely big, mature buck, the regional trophy history is a real selling point, but the thin public land base (14%) and modest buck:doe ratio mean success will depend heavily on access — likely private land access — more than on simply having a tag in hand. This unit rewards hunters who've done their homework on landowner relationships or who are prepared to hunt hard on a small public land footprint.

Access & Terrain

With only 14% of Unit 136 in public ownership, this is fundamentally a private-land-dominated unit. Hunters need to go in with their eyes open: the majority of acreage here is not available for walk-in access, and DIY hunters without a landowner connection, lease, or access agreement will be competing for a small slice of huntable public ground. This is not a unit where "plenty of public land" can be assumed, and it should factor heavily into how hunters plan logistics, scouting, and realistic expectations for the hunt.

There is no wilderness designation within Unit 136, so there are no backcountry pack-in requirements or wilderness-specific access restrictions to plan around. The terrain itself sits at relatively low elevation for Colorado mule deer country — running from 4,168 to 5,877 feet — which generally translates to drier, lower-relief country compared to the high alpine basins and timbered slopes found in many of Colorado's better-known mule deer units. Hunters should expect more open, arid terrain types typical of lower-elevation Colorado mule deer range, where visibility can work both for and against a hunter: deer are often easier to spot at a distance, but they can also spot hunters just as easily across open country.

Given the private land dominance, hunters serious about scouting Unit 136 should lean heavily on mapping tools that clearly delineate public versus private boundaries before ever setting foot in the unit. HuntPilot's public land overlays and mapping tools are built exactly for this kind of pre-season boundary work, letting hunters identify the specific parcels of accessible ground within the unit's 364,711 total acres before committing scouting time or travel.

Harvest Success Rates

Unit 136's harvest data across the past four seasons shows a unit that reliably produces deer for hunters who draw a tag:

• 2025: 916 hunters, 389 harvested, 42% success
• 2024: 320 hunters, 145 harvested, 45% success
• 2023: 278 hunters, 131 harvested, 47% success
• 2022: 326 hunters, 151 harvested, 46% success

These are unit-total figures combining all hunt types, but the consistency is notable — three straight years in the mid-to-high 40s followed by a 2025 season that saw both a large jump in hunter numbers and a slight dip in success rate. The increase in hunter numbers between 2024 and 2025 (from 320 to 916) is the most significant shift in the recent data and worth watching going forward, as it may reflect changes in tag allocation that increase both opportunity and on-the-ground competition. Hunters evaluating whether to apply should view the 42–47% range as a realistic expectation band rather than assuming the most recent or the most favorable year will repeat.

Trophy Quality

Unit 136 benefits from strong trophy potential tied to the broader county-level record history in this part of Colorado. The counties overlapping this unit have a track record of producing trophy-class mule deer that shows up in record-book data, which is a meaningful positive indicator for hunters specifically targeting a mature, big-bodied, wide-racked buck rather than simply filling a tag.

That said, this trophy signal is a regional one, not a unit-exact guarantee — record-book entries are credited to the county where an animal was taken, and those counties overlap with neighboring units as well, meaning the same pool of trophy history is shared across a wider area. Hunters should treat the strong regional trophy history as evidence that the habitat and genetics in this part of the state are capable of growing exceptional deer, while recognizing that finding one of those bucks within Unit 136's specific boundaries will still require scouting, access to the right ground, and a fair amount of hunting pressure tolerance given the limited public land base.

Herd Health & Population Trends

The only survey data available for Unit 136 comes from a single year (2024), showing a buck:doe ratio of 31:100. With just one year of data, it's not possible to establish a multi-year trend, and hunters should be cautious about reading too much into a single snapshot. A ratio in this range is on the lower end for mule deer herds generally, suggesting that bucks make up a modest share of the population relative to does in the surveyed sample.

Without additional survey years to compare against, it's difficult to say whether this ratio represents a stable pattern or a one-off data point. Hunters relying on herd health as a factor in their decision to apply should treat this figure as limited information rather than a definitive characterization of the unit's deer population, and should weigh it alongside the harvest success data and regional trophy history when forming expectations.

How to Apply

Colorado mule deer tags in units like 136 are allocated entirely through the state's limited-quota draw system — there is no general season option here, so every hunter who wants to pursue a buck (or an antlerless animal, where offered) in this unit must apply through the draw and be selected for a tag.

Colorado's draw operates on a true preference point system, which means hunters who accumulate the highest number of points are prioritized ahead of lower-point applicants for a portion of available tags, while the rest are allocated through a weighted random process. This is fundamentally different from a simple lottery — building points in Colorado has real, trackable value over time, and residents and nonresidents apply through separate draw pools, which affects how competitive any given hunt code will be for each group.

Both resident and nonresident hunters go through the same basic application structure: submit a license application during the designated application window, select hunt choices, and either draw a tag or accumulate a point toward future applications. Fees, application windows, and deadlines change from year to year, so hunters should not rely on past-season information when planning their application. For the current application windows, fees, and draw odds specific to Unit 136's hunt codes, check HuntPilot's Colorado state page at /states/co, which reflects the live, current-cycle numbers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the terrain like in Colorado Unit 136? Unit 136 sits at relatively low elevation for Colorado mule deer country, ranging from 4,168 to 5,877 feet, which generally means drier, more open terrain compared to higher alpine mule deer units elsewhere in the state. There is no wilderness designation in the unit, so there are no backcountry wilderness access restrictions to navigate.

What is harvest success like in Unit 136? Success rates have been consistently strong over the past four seasons, running 42% in 2025, 45% in 2024, 47% in 2023, and 46% in 2022. Hunter numbers increased substantially in 2025, which is worth factoring into expectations about field pressure going forward.

How big are the mule deer in Unit 136? The counties overlapping Unit 136 carry a strong regional history of producing trophy-class mule deer based on record-book data, though that history is shared with neighboring units whose boundaries fall in the same counties rather than being unit-exact. Hunters targeting a genuinely mature, trophy-class buck should view this as a positive regional signal rather than a unit-specific guarantee.

Is Unit 136 worth applying for? It depends on what a hunter is after. The success rates are consistently solid, and the regional trophy history is a real positive for hunters chasing a big buck. But with only 14% public land, access will be the determining factor in most hunts here — hunters without a private land connection should plan carefully around the limited public ground available.

What is the biggest challenge hunting Unit 136? Access. With public land making up just 14% of the unit, the majority of huntable ground is private property. DIY hunters need to identify accessible public parcels well before the season, using detailed mapping tools to separate public from private boundaries, since showing up without that groundwork done will severely limit hunting opportunity regardless of tag quality or herd health.