Unit 99

Antelope Flats and Pleasant Ridge provide minor elevation changes useful for glassing the open country. Prospect Valley runs through the unit and offers natural travel corridors. Major water features include Moore Reservoir Number 4, Banner Lakes, and De Remer Lakes—reliable navigation markers and water sources.

Poison Springs and the several creek drainages (Little Muddy, Bijou, Little Comanche, Wetzel, Wolf) provide linear reference points and seasonal water. Round Top and Bidwell Hill offer the only true summits, though both are modest elevations useful mainly for spotting from distance.

Terrain ranges from roughly 4,200 to 5,600 feet across predominantly low-elevation plains. This is open country—grasslands and sagebrush flats dominate, with scattered cottonwoods and willows confined mainly to creek bottoms and irrigation ditches. The landscape is fundamentally unforested; any vegetation above grass and brush remains minimal.

Spring and early summer bring green-up to ranches and pastures, while late season exposes bare ground and dried grass. The entire unit sits in the transition zone between true high plains and the Front Range foothills.

The connected road network of 2,400 miles sounds extensive but spreads thinly across ranch and agricultural landscape. Most roads are ranch roads, county roads, and local gravel routes—not highways. Interstate 76 and Highway 71 provide boundaries but limited hunting access.

Access to hunting areas requires navigation through private ranch land; permission is essential. Proximity to Denver guarantees significant pressure during opening weeks, particularly on public or easily accessible parcels. Solitude increases substantially in late season or on private ranches where access is limited to permission holders.

Unit 99 occupies the northern plains foothill zone in Weld, Morgan, and Adams counties, approximately 40 miles northeast of Denver. Interstate 76 forms the northern and western boundary, Highway 71 marks the eastern edge, and U.S. 36 closes the southern boundary, with County Road 25N and local ranch roads defining portions of the west and south. The unit encompasses roughly 2,400 road miles of accessible terrain across ranch country and agricultural lands.

Nearby towns including Hudson, Keenesburg, Wiggins, and Roggen provide staging areas and supply access.

Water is scattered but concentrated in reservoirs and creek systems. Moore Reservoir and the Banner Lake complex offer year-round or near-year-round water. Poison Springs Creek, Little Muddy Creek, East and West Bijou Creek, and Wolf Creek are the primary drainages—some seasonal, some perennial depending on irrigation operations upstream.

These creeks are often narrow, willow-lined, and confined within ranch irrigation infrastructure. The extensive network of irrigation ditches (Denver-Hudson Canal, Prospect Lateral, Nile Ditch, others) crosses the unit but is unreliable for hunting strategy. Early-season hunters should focus on reservoir access; late season may require scouting creek drainages carefully.

Unit 99 historically supports elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, pronghorn, and moose in the creek bottoms and open plains. Elk habitat is concentrated along Little Muddy, Bijou, and Wolf Creek drainages where willows provide cover and water. Mule deer use similar creek corridors but range more broadly across grasslands.

Pronghorn thrive on open Antelope Flats and surrounding prairie. Moose are possible but rare. Early season favors higher-elevation creek drainages where water and browse concentrate animals.

Rut season (September-October) brings movement along drainages and between water sources. Late season hunting requires glassing from ridges and road access to private lands with permission. Scout water sources early; understand which drainages hold water through your hunting dates.