Unit 123, Colorado

Flat to gently rolling shortgrass plains with creek and river bottoms incised by Fountain Creek, Chico Creek, and the Arkansas River. Elevation ranges from approximately 4,528 to 5,151 feet — one of Colorado's lowest-elevation big game units with no mountainous terrain. The Pueblo Chemical Depot occupies a portion of the southern unit and is off-limits to the public.

Unit is bounded on the north by Hanover Road, Finch Road, and Myers Road; on the east by Yoder Road, Shear Road, and Boone Road; on the south by the Arkansas River; and on the west by I-25. The unit covers 545 sq mi (348,645 acres). Approximately 53% of the unit is private land; 2% is BLM (the only freely accessible public hunting ground — roughly 11 sq mi along Boone Road on the eastern edge); 45% is Colorado State Trust Land, which requires a paid day-use permit (starting ~$50/day via LandTrust.com). North Boone State Trust Land (~2,700 acres near the town of Boone) offers paid-permit hunting for pronghorn and mule deer. There is no public access to Fountain Creek, Chico Creek, or the Arkansas River riparian bottoms — hunters must obtain written landowner permission or arrange access through an outfitter for the creek-bottom deer hunting. County roads provide good access throughout the unit during dry weather; wet-weather conditions make county roads slick and impassable at times. The nearest services (fuel, lodging, food) are in Pueblo and Colorado Springs; no campgrounds exist within 20 miles of the unit. No designated wilderness, national forest, or federal wilderness study areas are present.

Dominated by shortgrass prairie (blue grama, buffalo grass) interspersed with dryland and irrigated farmland (winter wheat, corn, sorghum). Riparian corridors along the Arkansas River, Fountain Creek, and Chico Creek support dense cottonwood and willow stands that provide the unit's primary thermal cover and browse for deer. No conifer, aspen, or sagebrush habitat is present at this elevation.

Pronghorn are the unit's most abundant and accessible big game, occurring throughout but in highest densities in the northern two-thirds of the unit on open prairie; the rut runs early September through mid-October. Mule deer use agricultural fields and broken creek terrain; some resident bucks grow to mid-range trophy class. White-tailed deer inhabit the cottonwood-willow riparian corridors along Fountain Creek, Chico Creek, and the Arkansas River where they commonly reach trophy size due to limited hunting pressure and abundant food — but essentially all of this habitat is on private land. Elk are listed as present but are not a primary management species at this low plains elevation; any elk are likely transient individuals. Black bear and mountain lion are listed as present, almost certainly in very low numbers given the lack of mountain habitat. Wild turkey occur along the river and creek bottoms.

PUBLIC LAND: HuntScore reports 47% total public (2% BLM + 45% State Trust); public_land_pct is set to 9% (BLM-only, ~11 sq mi) as functionally accurate for freely accessible hunting — State Trust requires paid permit. HARVEST: 2022 aggregate (all species combined): 454 hunters, 199 animals, 32.8% success (HuntScore) — not broken out per species. PER-SPECIES quotas and draw recap data for GMU 123 were not accessible from public-facing CPW PDFs. SEASON DATES: 2026 deer/elk dates corroborated by Raghorn Outfitters and CPW 5-year structure (3rd Rifle corrected to Nov 7–17 per Raghorn). Pronghorn dates (archery Aug 15–Sep 20, muzzleloader Sep 21–29, rifle Oct 3–11) from third-party 2026 guides — verify against 2026 CPW Big Game Brochure before applying. ELK/BEAR/LION: Low-confidence species at this elevation — listed as present by CPW/HuntScore but unlikely to be viable target populations.