Unit 124, Colorado

Level to gently rolling shortgrass prairie. Elevation ranges from approximately 4,381 to 5,381 feet above sea level. The unit covers approximately 660 square miles. The landscape is broadly flat, characteristic of the southeastern Colorado plains, with slight relief along seasonal creek drainages that feed into the Arkansas River corridor on the unit's southern boundary.

GMU 124 is bounded on the north by the Lincoln-Crowley and El Paso-Pueblo county lines, on the east by County Highway 71, on the south by the Arkansas River, and on the west by the Yoder-Boone Road. The unit has no national forest or wilderness. Public land totals approximately 6% of the unit: roughly 1% (~6-7 sq miles) BLM surface and approximately 5% (~33 sq miles) Colorado State Trust Land. The remaining 94% is private ranch and agricultural land. A county road system crosses the unit, but road access does not provide hunting access — virtually all huntable habitat is behind private fences. Pronghorn hunters typically secure landowner permission; some ranchers grant it and pronghorn commonly move between ranches. Deer access is rated fair: ranchers seldom grant deer hunting permission and hunters should expect to lease or pay for access. Gaining access is often described as more difficult than obtaining a license. Pueblo offers complete services; Rocky Ford provides limited supplies.

Dominant cover is shortgrass prairie. The southeastern corner contains limited dryland and irrigated farmland. Riparian corridors along the Arkansas River and seasonal creek beds support cottonwood-willow gallery forest, which is the primary wooded cover in the unit. No pinyon-juniper, aspen, or conifer forest is present at these elevations.

Pronghorn are the most abundant big game species, scattered throughout the unit with higher concentrations in the northern portion; they regularly move across ranch boundaries. Mule deer are present across the shortgrass prairie and agricultural areas. White-tailed deer occupy the riparian cottonwood corridors along the Arkansas River and seasonal drainages, expanding into adjacent cropland particularly during harvest season. Black bear and mountain lion are present but uncommon given the plains character of the unit. Elk presence is documented on HuntScore but is incidental in this shortgrass plains unit — no meaningful elk hunting opportunity exists here. Plains-resident deer and pronghorn are largely year-round residents within the unit's ranch-land matrix with no documented significant seasonal migration from outside ranges.

1. GMU 124 is an atypical hunting unit — southeastern Colorado shortgrass plains with approximately 94% private land; no national forest, BLM wilderness, or significant public access comparable to mountain units. 2. Public land breakdown: ~1% BLM (~6-7 sq miles) and ~5% Colorado State Trust Land (~33 sq miles); total ~6% public. 3. The HuntScore 2022 combined-species figures (612 hunters, 312 harvest, 40.3% success) represent all species aggregated and could not be disaggregated by species from publicly accessible data. 4. Plains Late Rifle season (Dec 1–Dec 14) from original draft was not confirmed by eRegulations 2025 for this unit and has been removed pending brochure confirmation. 5. Bear rifle season framing as 'plains rifle Sep 2–Nov 23' was not confirmed; only the archery season (Sep 2–30) is retained as confirmed. 6. White-tailed deer OTC availability confirmed by CPW website (statewide). 7. Pronghorn draw odds and license quota for unit 124 specifically were not accessible from public data; plains pronghorn draws in this region generally require 0–2 preference points. 8. Elk hunting opportunity in GMU 124 is likely nonexistent or extremely limited; documented only as incidental presence by HuntScore. 9. Pueblo Chemical Depot reference from original draft was removed — not confirmed by any sourced hunting data.