Colorado Unit 98 Mule Deer Hunting Guide

Colorado Unit 98 is a limited-quota mule deer unit that draws attention from hunters chasing genuine trophy potential in a landscape defined by low elevation, sprawling private ranchland, and a demanding draw. At 1,146,236 acres, Unit 98 is a large piece of country, but with only 5% public land, it is anything but wide open for the average DIY hunter. Elevations here run relatively low for Colorado mule deer country, from 3,345 to 4,543 feet, putting this unit in classic breaks, badlands, or shortgrass-prairie transition terrain rather than high alpine basins.

Unlike many Colorado deer units that offer a general season option, Unit 98 has no general season at all — every mule deer hunt here is limited-quota, meaning hunters must draw a tag before they ever set foot in the unit. That includes hunts for antlered and either-sex deer, which is an important structural detail: there's no fallback general tag to pick up if the draw doesn't go a hunter's way. Anyone targeting Unit 98 needs to plan entirely around the draw system from day one.

The combination of a fully limited-quota structure, minimal public land, and a trophy pedigree tied to the surrounding counties makes Unit 98 a unit that rewards patience, research, and realistic expectations more than any other single factor.

HuntPilot Analysis: Is Unit 98 Worth Applying For?

Unit 98 is a unit built for a specific kind of hunter — one who has done the homework, values trophy potential over volume, and is prepared to work hard for access on a landscape that's overwhelmingly private. This is not a unit to blindly apply for hoping to draw and figure out the rest later.

The harvest numbers tell an interesting story. In the 2025 season, 1,889 hunters took to the field and harvested 791 animals for a 42% success rate — a significant jump in hunter numbers compared to prior years, yet success held roughly steady. Going back through the recent stretch: 2024 saw 740 hunters with a 46% success rate, 2023 had 810 hunters at 42%, 2022 posted 785 hunters at a strong 51%, and 2021 — with far fewer hunters afield at 434 — produced a standout 67% success rate. That kind of success-rate range, generally sitting in the low-to-mid 40s to as high as 67% in a lower-hunter-pressure year, suggests this unit consistently produces opportunity for hunters who draw a tag, even as hunter numbers have fluctuated.

What elevates Unit 98 above a typical limited-quota unit is its trophy pedigree. The counties overlapping this unit carry a strong history of producing trophy-class mule deer, which is a meaningful signal for hunters willing to be selective and patient in the field. That said, trophy potential and access are two different equations, and Unit 98's access situation is the biggest variable working against the average applicant.

With just 5% public land across more than 1.1 million acres, the overwhelming majority of Unit 98 is private property. That is a critical number for anyone considering this unit: DIY hunters relying purely on public ground will find extremely limited room to operate. This unit's access reality functionally筛 hunters into two camps — those who have existing relationships with private landowners in the area, or those securing access through a landowner agreement or guided arrangement. Public-land-only hunters should treat Unit 98 as a long shot for practical access, regardless of how attractive the draw odds or trophy history look on paper.

The wildlife survey data adds another layer worth understanding. The 2024 survey reported a buck:doe ratio of 35:100, based on a single survey year. That ratio is on the lower end for a mule deer herd and, taken at face value alongside the fact that it represents just one year of data, should be interpreted cautiously rather than treated as a definitive read on herd health. A single-year snapshot doesn't establish a trend, and hunters should treat this figure as a data point rather than a verdict on buck availability.

Put together, Unit 98 is worth applying for if a hunter has realistic access — either family land, a longstanding connection to a local ranch, or the willingness to negotiate access on private ground — and is chasing quality over a numbers game. For hunters without an access plan already, this unit should rank lower on the priority list no matter how good the trophy history looks.

Harvest Success Rates

Unit 98's harvest data over the past five years shows a unit that reliably converts drawn tags into recovered animals, particularly when hunter numbers are more moderate. The 2021 season is the standout, with just 434 hunters posting a 67% success rate — the highest of the five years reviewed. As hunter numbers climbed in subsequent seasons (785 in 2022, 810 in 2023, 740 in 2024, and a substantial jump to 1,889 in 2025), success rates settled into a more typical band between 42% and 51%.

The 2025 season is notable simply for the scale of the increase in hunters — nearly 2.5 times the hunter count of 2024 — while success held at 42%, resulting in 791 total harvests, by far the highest raw harvest total of the group. This suggests the unit's carrying capacity and huntable deer population can support a substantially larger hunter load without success rates collapsing, though whether that pressure increase becomes a longer-term trend is something hunters should track going forward.

Overall, a mid-40s to low-50s percent success rate is solid for a limited-quota mule deer hunt, and the outlier 67% year in 2021 shows what's achievable when hunter density is lower relative to the deer population.

Trophy Quality

Trophy potential is where Unit 98 separates itself from a typical limited-quota mule deer unit. The counties overlapping this unit carry a strong history of producing trophy-class mule deer, reflecting sustained, multi-decade trophy production rather than a one-off anomaly. That history is a meaningful reason hunters target Unit 98 specifically, rather than settling for a more accessible neighboring unit.

It's worth noting that trophy-record entries are logged at the county level, not the unit level, so the trophy history associated with Unit 98 is shared with neighboring units that fall within the same counties. That doesn't diminish the significance of the pedigree — it simply means hunters should understand that a big buck credited to "the area" could have come from anywhere within those overlapping boundaries, not necessarily Unit 98's exact lines.

Given the low public land percentage and the general pattern of trophy-caliber deer favoring hard-to-access private ground, hunters chasing a genuinely exceptional buck in Unit 98 should expect that the best-quality animals are likely concentrated on private land with limited hunting pressure — which is consistent with why this unit has built the trophy reputation it has.

Herd Health & Population Trends

The available survey data for Unit 98 comes from a single year, 2024, which reported a buck:doe ratio of 35:100. This is on the lower side compared to what's typically considered a healthy, buck-rich mule deer herd, though a single survey year doesn't provide enough of a track record to call this a definitive trend. Hunters should treat this figure as informational rather than a red flag or a green light — more years of consistent data would be needed to identify whether the herd's buck ratio is stable, improving, or declining.

Given the limited survey history available, hunters planning a Unit 98 application should look to supplement this figure with more recent state wildlife agency survey releases and firsthand scouting reports before drawing conclusions about current herd composition.

Access & Terrain

Access is the defining challenge of hunting Unit 98. With only 5% of the unit's 1,146,236 acres classified as public land, this is fundamentally a private-land unit. Hunters without an established access plan — whether through family ownership, a long-term relationship with a local landowner, or a paid access arrangement — will find very little room to hunt on their own. This is not a unit where a hunter can show up, study a map, and expect to find enough public ground to make a plan work.

The elevation profile, ranging from 3,345 to 4,543 feet, places Unit 98 well below Colorado's high-country mule deer units. This lower-elevation terrain typically means more open, arid landscape — think breaks, drainages, and rolling rangeland rather than steep alpine basins or heavy timber. That terrain type tends to hold deer in more predictable patterns tied to food, water, and cover in the lower-relief terrain, which can work in a scouting hunter's favor if they can secure access to the right pockets of ground.

There is no wilderness acreage reported for Unit 98, meaning hunters won't encounter wilderness-specific access restrictions or guide requirements tied to designated wilderness areas — though the private-land access barrier is a far bigger practical obstacle here than any wilderness designation would be.

Hunters serious about scouting Unit 98 should focus their pre-season efforts on identifying which pockets of public land exist within the unit boundary, cross-referencing them against likely deer travel corridors given the lower-elevation terrain, and using HuntPilot's public land mapping tools to identify realistic access points before investing further in an application strategy.

How to Apply

Because Unit 98 has no general season, every mule deer hunt in this unit — including hunts for antlered and either-sex animals — is filled exclusively through Colorado's limited-quota draw. There is no over-the-counter or leftover-tag fallback option here; a drawn tag is the only legal path to hunting deer in this unit.

Colorado's deer draw operates on a preference point system, and this is a true preference-point structure — the highest point holders are awarded tags first, meaning at a sufficient point level, drawing becomes highly likely rather than a matter of pure chance. Colorado is not a weighted lottery in the way some other Western states operate; consistent point accumulation over multiple years directly improves standing in the draw.

Both residents and nonresidents apply through the same core draw system, though resident and nonresident applicants typically compete within different quota allocations, and nonresidents should expect a more competitive path given tighter nonresident tag allocations across most Colorado limited-quota units. Given Unit 98's reputation and trophy history, hunters should expect this unit to require meaningful point investment, particularly for nonresidents pursuing an antlered tag.

Application dates, fees, and current draw odds change every cycle. For the most current numbers and deadlines, see HuntPilot's Colorado state page for up-to-date application information before building an application strategy around Unit 98.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the terrain like in Colorado Unit 98? Unit 98 sits at a relatively low elevation for Colorado mule deer country, ranging from 3,345 to 4,543 feet. This suggests open, arid rangeland or breaks-type terrain rather than high alpine basins or heavy timber. There is no wilderness acreage in the unit, so hunters won't face wilderness-specific access rules here.

What is harvest success like in Unit 98? Recent harvest data shows success rates ranging from 42% to 67% over the past five years. The 2021 season posted the highest success rate at 67% with 434 hunters afield, while more recent years with higher hunter counts — including 1,889 hunters in 2025 — have settled into a 42-46% success range, still a solid outcome for a limited-quota mule deer unit.

How big are the mule deer in Unit 98? The counties overlapping Unit 98 carry a strong history of producing trophy-class mule deer, giving this unit a genuine trophy reputation. Because trophy records are logged by county rather than unit, that history is shared with neighboring units in the same county boundaries, but it still reflects real, sustained trophy potential in the broader area.

Is Unit 98 worth applying for? It depends heavily on access. The trophy history and solid harvest success rates make this an attractive unit on paper, but with only 5% public land across the unit's 1.1 million acres, hunters without an existing private-land access plan will struggle to hunt effectively here. It's a strong option for hunters with access already lined up, and a riskier bet for public-land-only DIY hunters.

Does Unit 98 have a general season for mule deer? No. Every mule deer hunt in Unit 98 is limited-quota — there is no general season option. Hunters must draw a tag through Colorado's preference-point draw system to hunt deer in this unit, including for antlered and either-sex animals.