Colorado Unit 136 Pronghorn Antelope Hunting Guide

Colorado Unit 136 is a limited-quota pronghorn unit where every hunt is issued through the draw — there is no general season here. For hunters chasing an antelope tag on the eastern plains or similar open-country terrain in this part of the state, Unit 136 offers a data-backed opportunity with recent harvest success rates ranging from 32% to 44% over the past five seasons. This article breaks down what the numbers actually say about hunting Unit 136, so hunters can decide whether to spend an application here.

Unit 136 covers 364,711 total acres at a relatively low elevation band of 4,168 to 5,877 feet, typical of the high plains terrain pronghorn favor. Public land makes up just 14% of the unit, a figure hunters need to take seriously before committing an application. With no wilderness acreage and no general season structure, this is entirely a limited-entry draw proposition, and access planning matters as much as draw strategy.

HuntPilot Analysis: Is Unit 136 Worth Applying For?

The honest answer is that Unit 136 is worth applying for, but only for hunters who go in with the right expectations and access plan.

Start with harvest performance. Over the last five seasons, Unit 136 has produced a consistent success rate in the low-to-mid 30s to mid-40s percent range: 36% in 2025 (112 of 312 hunters), 44% in 2024 (148 of 335 hunters), 36% in 2023 (113 of 316 hunters), 32% in 2022 (134 of 422 hunters), and 37% in 2021 (97 of 260 hunters). That's a five-year average hovering right around 37%, with no dramatic swings in either direction. This is a stable unit in terms of hunter outcomes — pronghorn hunters here are neither getting an easy walk-up hunt nor facing a coin-flip lottery on success once they're in the field. The variation in hunter numbers (260 to 422 across these years) suggests tag quotas have shifted somewhat year to year, but the success percentage has stayed in a fairly narrow band, which is a good sign of herd stability translating into predictable hunter outcomes.

The bigger factor hunters need to weigh is access. At just 14% public land, the majority of Unit 136 is private property. This is well below the threshold where a unit can be called DIY-friendly, and hunters planning to show up with a tag and figure out access on the fly will struggle. Public parcels exist, but they represent a minority slice of the unit's acreage, and competition for those parcels — plus the fences pronghorn routinely walk through between properties — means hunters need a real access plan before they apply, not after they draw. This isn't a unit where a hunter can lean on national forest or BLM blocks to spread out and avoid other hunters; landowner permission, walk-in access programs, or leased ground are likely necessary parts of the equation for most nonresident and even many resident applicants.

On the trophy side, the counties overlapping Unit 136 carry a strong history of producing trophy-class pronghorn, based on records data associated with this region. That's a meaningful data point for hunters who aren't purely meat hunting and want a shot at a genuinely good buck. It's worth being precise about what that means: record-book entries are logged by county, and the counties that overlap Unit 136 also overlap neighboring units, so that trophy pedigree is shared across the broader area rather than being exclusive proof of what Unit 136 alone produces. Still, a strong regional trophy history is a positive signal worth factoring into the decision, especially paired with a stable harvest success rate in this range.

The wildlife survey data is worth a caveat. Across six survey years from 2018 to 2024, the average buck:doe ratio came in at 23:100. That's a fairly low ratio relative to what a healthy pronghorn herd would typically show, and it suggests hunters should not expect to see bucks behind every doe group — this points toward a herd structure where does substantially outnumber bucks in the population, which is consistent with pressure on the buck segment in a heavily private, road-accessible landscape. Combined with the harvest data, this reinforces that hunters need quality scouting and patience rather than assuming volume of encounters will make up for a lower buck density.

Net assessment: Unit 136 is worth applying for if a hunter has, or can secure, access to private ground or is committed to working the limited public parcels hard. The harvest numbers back up a real chance at success once drawn, and the regional trophy history adds upside. But this is not a unit to draw blind and hope access sorts itself out in the field.

Harvest Success Rates

Unit 136's harvest data over the last five years shows a unit that delivers respectable, consistent outcomes for hunters who draw a tag:

• 2025: 312 hunters, 112 harvested, 36% success
• 2024: 335 hunters, 148 harvested, 44% success
• 2023: 316 hunters, 113 harvested, 36% success
• 2022: 422 hunters, 134 harvested, 32% success
• 2021: 260 hunters, 97 harvested, 37% success

The five-season average lands right around 37%, with 2024 standing out as the strongest year at 44%. There's no indication of a downward trend in success — if anything, the unit has held remarkably steady despite hunter numbers swinging by more than 150 hunters between the low year (2021) and the high year (2022). That stability is a good sign that whatever is driving success — herd density, terrain visibility, hunter effort — isn't eroding over time. Hunters using HuntPilot to research this unit will find this kind of multi-year harvest trend more useful than any single season's number, since it smooths out weather and access variability from year to year.

Trophy Quality

Pronghorn hunters targeting a genuinely mature buck should know that the counties overlapping Unit 136 carry a strong trophy history in the record books. This regional pedigree suggests the habitat and herd genetics in this part of Colorado have consistently produced trophy-class animals over time.

That said, hunters need to keep the county-level caveat in mind: those record entries are attributed to the broader county area, not to Unit 136 specifically, and the same trophy history is shared with neighboring units that overlap the same counties. A hunter cannot assume every recorded trophy buck came from within Unit 136's boundaries. Still, in the absence of unit-exclusive data, a strong regional trophy history is a meaningful positive indicator, particularly when paired with the unit's above-average and stable harvest success rates. Hunters purely chasing meat can expect solid odds regardless; those holding out for a genuine trophy should scout hard on any public or accessible private ground and be selective rather than settling for the first legal buck encountered.

Herd Health & Population Trends

The survey data available for Unit 136 spans six years, from 2018 through 2024, and shows an average buck:doe ratio of 23:100. This is a low ratio by pronghorn standards and points to a population where does significantly outnumber bucks. Hunters should treat this as the more reliable long-term indicator of herd composition rather than expecting a buck around every corner — a 23:100 ratio means hunters will typically need to work through more doe groups to locate a shooter buck, and that patience and glassing discipline will matter more than volume of pronghorn sightings.

This ratio, combined with the private-land-heavy landscape, suggests buck harvest pressure and limited escape terrain (given the flat, open nature of pronghorn country and the fence-crossing behavior common to the species) may be factors keeping the ratio on the lower side. Hunters should not read this as a herd in decline without more context, but it does mean expectations should be calibrated: this is a unit where locating and closing on a mature buck takes real fieldcraft, not a numbers game where bucks are abundant relative to does.

Access & Terrain

Unit 136 sits at a low elevation range of 4,168 to 5,877 feet across 364,711 total acres — classic pronghorn habitat, open and relatively flat compared to mountain units, with long sightlines that both help and hurt hunters depending on how they use them. There is no wilderness acreage in this unit, so there are no guide requirements or wilderness-specific access restrictions to worry about.

The critical access number is the 14% public land figure. With the large majority of Unit 136 under private ownership, DIY hunters relying solely on public ground will find themselves working a small fraction of the unit's total acreage, and that public ground will see concentrated hunter pressure during the season. Hunters serious about this unit should be lining up landowner permission, walk-in access, or leased ground well before they ever draw a tag — waiting until after the draw to solve the access puzzle is a recipe for a frustrating hunt in a unit where private fences and property lines define where the huntable pronghorn actually are. Open, flat terrain in pronghorn country also means hunters can't rely on topography to get away from other hunters or pressured animals the way they might in mountain units — visibility cuts both ways, and pronghorn that feel pressured on one property will often move to the next without much distance covered.

How to Apply

Because Unit 136 has no general season, every pronghorn hunter wanting to hunt here — resident or nonresident — must go through Colorado's limited-quota draw system. There is no over-the-counter option and no walk-in tag availability; the draw is the only path to a tag in this unit.

Colorado's draw operates on a preference point system where the highest point holders are awarded tags first, meaning a sufficiently high point total can put a hunter in a strong competitive position for this unit over time. Residents and nonresidents apply through separate pools, and nonresident tag numbers are typically more limited relative to resident allocations, which hunters should factor into how many points they may need to accumulate before applying seriously for Unit 136.

Application dates, fees, and current draw odds change every cycle, so this article won't cite specific numbers that will go stale. For the current application windows, fees, and draw odds for Unit 136, check HuntPilot's Colorado state page at /states/CO or the unit-specific page at /units/136.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the terrain like in Colorado Unit 136? Unit 136 sits at a lower elevation range of 4,168 to 5,877 feet across 364,711 acres, consistent with open, high-plains pronghorn habitat. There is no wilderness acreage in the unit, and the terrain offers long sightlines typical of pronghorn country, which affects both stalking strategy and how far hunters can realistically get from other hunters on public ground.

What is harvest success like in Unit 136? Success rates have been consistent over the past five years, ranging from 32% to 44%, with a five-year average around 37%. The 2024 season was the strongest recent year at 44% (148 of 335 hunters), while 2022 was the softest at 32% (134 of 422 hunters).

How big are the pronghorn in Unit 136? The counties overlapping Unit 136 carry a strong trophy history in the record books, which suggests solid genetics and habitat quality in the broader area. Because record-book entries are logged by county rather than by unit, this trophy pedigree is shared with neighboring units in the same counties, so it should be read as a regional indicator rather than proof specific to Unit 136 alone.

Is Colorado Unit 136 worth applying for? Yes, for hunters who have or can secure private land access, or who are prepared to work the limited 14% public land hard. The consistent harvest success rate and strong regional trophy history support the unit as a solid pick, but the low public land percentage means access planning has to happen before the draw, not after.

Is Unit 136 a good unit for a DIY public land pronghorn hunt? It's a difficult one to recommend as fully DIY-friendly given that only 14% of the unit is public land. Hunters without landowner connections or access arrangements should expect to compete for a small slice of public ground, and should strongly consider lining up private access options before applying.