Wyoming Expert Analysis

Overview
Why Hunt Deer in Wyoming
Mule Deer Analysis

Overview

“The deer and antelope outlook for Wyoming continues to be spotty at best. With the rough winters of 2016 and 2017 behind us, we have now been hit with three drought years in a row which have taken their toll on our antelope and low land deer herds.”

“Wyoming’s mule deer herds have suffered significant declines statewide over the past decade.”

“It is very important to keep in mind that a boatload of preference points will not easily buy you into a 200” deer in the Cowboy State.”

Wyoming’s mule deer woes continue to plague the Cowboy State. Coming off back-to-back beyond-rough winters in 2016 and 17, the deer herds have suffered yet another climate event with three straight years of historic drought conditions to even further damage what once was one of the most prolific mule deer herds on the face of the earth. However, with a statewide snowpack level sitting right around 80% of normal and a very mild winter there is some hope for a rebound ahead. Add to that the fact that some of the deer herds west of the Continental Divide may already be on the cusp of a rebound of historic proportions, the outlook might not be quite as bleak as we previously thought.

I have talked to the Region G biologist regularly throughout the winter months and from what they have seen so far, the deer in that region are looking very, very good. Very high doe to fawn ratios and nearly unheard of, pre-winter fat reserves have things certainly headed in the right direction in that area of the state. We also spent some time on the winter range this year filming bucks, and I can honestly report that the buck quality this year was very solid to say the least. This information is further backed up by the biologist check station from last fall’s hunt where the state saw some very good quality in the bucks they did in fact check through the hunter checkpoint, as well a very solid older age class of bucks. I think the rebound in Region H is probably two years behind Region G and Region K may be a year or two behind that. It’s beginning to look like the 2016 winter is far enough behind us now, that we are finally starting to see a higher quality age class of bucks in the four to five years of age range hitting the hills. And so far, it looks like this year should be even better.

The limited quota areas continue to struggle however. With most of these units located in the lower, more arid country, the drought has taken its toll hard on these deer herds. Most of these areas have seen some drastic tag quota reductions and shortened seasons as a result. Along with quota reductions come stiffer draw odds. Many of the historically high-quality areas have seen point creep on steroids over the past few years. Some areas that have historically taken 6 or 7 points are now taking ten to 12 points to draw.

The state has yet to update the hunter success statistics from the hunt last fall, but I predict those numbers to be lower than normal again this year. Because of the lack of this critical piece of data I was not able to put a final grade on many of the hunts yet for next fall when it comes to chip color. Once the state publishes this data I will make some final adjustments to the hunt grades for both antelope and mule deer. If you are a member of our TagHub digital MRS service you will be able to access these changes before you apply. But for the most part, many of the areas have remained downgrades similar to last year.

One important thing to remember when it comes to Wyoming mule deer is the fact that the State of Wyoming does not manage for true trophy mule deer like some other states might. Wyoming manages for herd numbers and hunter satisfaction, which means the big game managers and biologists in Wyoming want a healthy population of mule deer and a fair number of bucks that hit maturity. In a nutshell, Wyoming does not manage for six and seven-year-old bucks, period. The winters here are too severe and the state does not want to leave too much resource on the table when a rough winter strikes, which occurs about every five to seven years.
With that said, at this point in time, the fact remains that the vast majority of the areas you will study in this section are managed to an at-or-near objective herd level, and a buck to doe ratio in the 30-40 per 100 range. This is not the Arizona Strip or the Henry Mountains folks, and for that reason, a boatload of preference points will not easily buy you into a 200” deer in the Cowboy State.

There are two different types of draw hunts in Wyoming to apply for. The first is the general region-wide tag. These are big regions consisting of a dozen or so individual hunting units. A tag draw for the region allows a hunter to hunt bucks in any open general hunt area within that region. Believe it or not, this is where the vast majority of Wyoming’s biggest deer are killed each fall. To kill a big buck here, you are going to have your work cut out for you however. Historically speaking, the best general regions for big bucks are; Region G, H, K, D and L in that order. Regions G and H are very rough and rugged and can offer up a very tough hunt for big bucks, but the payoff can be exceptional here if you hunt hard and get lucky on the right year. To draw a tag in either of these regions can take anywhere between 8 and 9 preference points for the likes of Region G and only 4 or 5 preference points for Region H. There are three 200” bucks hanging in our office, all three of which are products of Wyoming’s general region hunts. Keep in mind however, these hunts can be very heavy with hunting pressure because resident hunters can purchase these tags over-the-counter every year without restrictions.

The second type of hunts are the limited quota only hunts. Most of these hunts are for individual hunt areas with a limited number of tags available for both residents and non-residents alike. These hunts have limited hunting pressure with later season dates during the middle of October generally. Throughout the entire state of Wyoming there are now 33 limited quota mule deer hunts, which is somewhat scarce when compared to the nearly 70 limited quota elk hunts and 123 limited quota antelope hunts available for Wyoming. Of these 33 total hunts, a very small handful of them are what I would consider blue-chip grade hunts or top-quality areas for this year. Most of the high point holders will hold out for these hunts. These hunts tend to be a bit easier to find bucks in, but sometimes lack in the over-all top end buck potential.

More than 75% of the records book quality bucks in Wyoming are taken in a general hunt region, and not in high profile limited quota areas like some may think. But, if you desire a higher quality hunt with easier country and limited hunting pressure for a good buck in the 160” to 190” class the limited quota hunts are probably your best option.

All deer hunts in Wyoming are any weapon hunts where a hunter can hunt both the archery and rifle seasons with their deer license. Wyoming does not offer any archery only or muzzleloader hunts for buck deer at this point in time.

Why Hunt Deer in Wyoming
The state has sliced the quotas in most of the core general hunt regions over the past few years and shortened many of the hunting seasons in an effort to help the deer rebound faster. Over the past ten years, Wyoming has removed nearly 30% of the nonresident general region tags from the draw, this equates to over 9,000 nonresident mule deer tags. This fact alone is the main reason a Region G tag has shot up to an astronomical 8 preference points to draw. Region G alone had a quota of 3,500 nonresident tags available when I graduated high school in 1990. Today that total is a measly 400 tags and holding steady. At 2008 tag quota levels alone, Region G would only require 3 or 4 points to draw. Region H has also seen drastic cuts in quota but still remains a 3 or 4 preference point hunt, which seems much more in line with the quality of the hunt available.

As for the Wyoming limited quota mule deer units-there have also been drastic tag quota cuts causing draw odds to plummet. Many of these areas contain very arid sagebrush habitat and have been hit very hard by the drought and winter conditions of the past three years and counting. Most of these 40 mule deer hunt areas have seen drastic decreases in mule deer populations and buck to doe ratios over the past few years. The average buck to doe ratio in the limited quota units, based on recent 2020 surveys, is about 28 bucks per 100 does - a nearly 12 buck drop in the past 24 months. On average Wyoming mule deer herd sits below the state objective level by over 30% statewide.

Historically speaking, Wyoming does have some very good big buck potential. Wyoming remains the fourth best state to kill a records class buck behind only the historic mule deer powerhouses of Colorado, Idaho and Utah. When it comes to a pure county-by-county breakdown, Wyoming holds two of the top ten counties in the entire country, Lincoln and Carbon. Only the mule deer mega-mecca of Colorado has more top ten counties for monster bucks over the past 20 years.

The snowpack this year has been slightly below normal in most areas. The snowpack statewide is sitting about 80% of normal and is confined to the higher elevations where it belongs for the most part, all great news for our deer. As usual by this time of year, we will see what the late spring and summer hold.

The top general region mule deer tag, Region G took 8.5 preference points to draw in 2021. We fully expect this tag to take nine and maybe even 10 points to draw this year. The next best general regions of H and K took 5 and 3 points respectively to draw last year.

If you want to hunt a top-quality general unit you need to plan for about 5 or 6 preference points, but if you want to commit to a top-quality limited quota area, plan on sticking with the system for about 12 years or more.

A quick draw tip for the wise: the vast majority of the remaining general region tags can usually be drawn as a second choice, therefore saving your preference points for another year, particularly in the more expensive “special” draw.

Mule Deer Analysis
Purely on a statistical basis, the chances of killing a Boone and Crockett mule deer buck in Wyoming is about 4,000 or 5,000 to 1, Colorado provides a 10X better chance to kill a monster buck. Two of the biggest bright spots in Wyoming are Carbon and Lincoln Counties. Carbon County alone has 26% of the total records book entries for Wyoming, and more than 30% of them have come in the past 15 years alone.

The newly formed limited quota areas in the heart of Carbon County, Areas 78, 79, 80, and 81 are fairly easy to draw and keep getting better and better each year. There could be a real diamond in the rough sitting inside this block of relatively new limited quota hunt units in my opinion, particularly for those who don’t have a massive amount of preference points.

When you look at the master deer chart for Wyoming it is very important to keep in mind that last year, as a conservative measure, I downgraded a lot of mule deer hunts from blue chip to green and I have chosen to keep this trend in place for another year. Since the chart is mostly based on historical data, most of these areas will look much stronger on paper than they actually are at this point in time in reality. The only exceptions to this would be Areas 87, 101, 128 and 130, which are the only three mule deer hunts I think even warrant a blue-chip rating for this year.

I highly suggest you check out and join our TagHub online research tool and service. Through that application we are able to take questions and concerns as well as hand out advice regarding hunt areas in all the western states. There you will also find the charts in their entirety along with additional information not found in the magazine for space reasons, helpful data such as herd and horn data, terrain data, and additional hunts not listed in the magazine pages. TagHub.eastmans.com

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Deer Table - Recently updated March 25, 2022

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For the 2021 elk hunt, the state of Wyoming made only a few major changes. The more notable being a late-season limited-draw hunt in the Black Hills Area 116 and a new limited Type-2 hunt in Area 100, which allows the 25 elk hunters to hunt within the Farson-Eden Irrigation Project starting in August through the year and into the end of January. Also, hunters who draw the very limited Ferris hunt (Area 22) can now also hunt in Area 111 after November 15th. 

As for changes for 2022, we do not have any indication yet of any major changes for the upcoming Wyoming elk season. However, the state will not release much information if any regarding the 2022 season until after the new year. With a print deadline of December 15th, these changes will not be available for this issue of the magazine. As a result, I would highly suggest subscribing to our digital research platform, TagHub, where more up-to-date information and data will be housed. Well worth the extra few bucks if you want to be kept up to date on such changes and additions for any of the Western states we cover in the MRS.  

The overall elk herd estimate in Wyoming continues to hover around a 20-year high at over 120,000 animals and holding steady according to the latest state estimates. To give a little perspective, in 1987 the Wyoming elk herd hovered right around 65,000 animals, given the latest estimate of nearly 120,000 elk, which represents a growth rate of nearly 85% over the past 35 years. Elk are definitely a bright spot for Wyoming wildlife management. The question now remains: How is the trophy quality of the bulls in the Wyoming elk herd? Aside from the past two drought years, the data show that over the long haul, the state of Wyoming is not only growing its elk herd but also growing the quality of the bulls as well. With the onset of more limited quota areas, more elk, better habitat and improved management, Wyoming has secured its place as one of the best blends of opportunity and quality of any state in the West in my opinion.   

From a records book standpoint, Wyoming elk hunters are putting nearly twice as many bull elk into the Boone and Crockett records book as they did in the 1990s. Big bull powerhouse states like Arizona, Utah and Montana still manage to enter twice as many elk into the books as Wyoming, but not many elk states can offer up the volume of elk tags and elk country that Wyoming can. With roughly 88 limited elk hunts to choose from, in addition to a somewhat easy-to-draw general elk tag option, Wyoming has a very good system in place for the elk hunter who wants to get out and hunt for a nice bull on public land. Elk opportunity continues to be king in the Cowboy State.

Wyoming does, however, tend to struggle when it comes to the mega-bulls versus some other states. Contrary to the beliefs of some, bulls in the 400-class are extremely rare in Wyoming. The hunt areas in Park County can produce bulls in the 340-380 class each fall, but many of those hunts are hard to draw and tend to be very physically demanding. However, when it comes to records book bulls, Wyoming does produce more than its fair share of qualifying specimens, topping the great state of Colorado and sliding right in underneath the historic monster bull factory of Utah. Fact of the matter is, the state of Wyoming is the fourth best place on the entire continent to kill a records book bull elk.  

Most of the best elk states in the West have only a handful of counties that produce most of the biggest bulls in their state, and the state of Wyoming is no different. The two counties bordering Yellowstone National Park (Park and Teton) alone account for more than half of Wyoming’s largest bulls. These two counties encompass the entire northwest corner of the state. Add to that the bordering counties of Johnson, Fremont and Sublette and you have the five counties in Wyoming that consistently produce the largest bulls in the state by far. These five counties account for over 75% of the records book bulls from the state of Wyoming. In fact, Park County, Wyoming is now the third best county on the continent to find a big bull elk, only trailing the likes of the famed counties of Coconino County, Arizona and White Pine County, Nevada. 

With the elk herd in Wyoming hovering near an all-time high and trophy quality continuing to remain solid, Wyoming is without a doubt a “must apply” state when it comes to elk applications and elk preference points. Wyoming is one of the most stable elk states in the entire West. The Game and Fish Department in Wyoming has a very stable, consistent and time-tested management strategy for elk. This strategy continues to produce plenty of good elk hunting opportunities for hunters, resident and nonresident alike. Even with Wyoming’s wolf and grizzly bear issues, the state still manages to produce some very good hunting for some very nice bulls, many of which are on public lands. 

In the draw, 75% of available licenses in each hunt area and license type will be allocated to the preference point drawing. In Wyoming, preference points rank applicants’ pools. The remaining 25% of available licenses will be allocated in a random drawing, regardless of preference points. The random drawing is intended to provide everyone who applies a chance of drawing a license, regardless of their preference point total.

“Every applicant is in the preference point drawing even if they have no preference points. After the preference point drawing is completed, all unsuccessful applicants will then participate in the random drawing.”

Youth can start to collect preference points, but he or she has to be at least eleven (11) years old at the time of submitting an application for a big game limited-quota license in the initial drawing and must be at least 12 years old when in the field hunting. Youth can apply for preference points when they are 11 years old at the time of submitting a preference point-only application and must be at least 12 years old by December 31 of that year. 

- Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Elk Table - Recently updated December 17, 2021

Overview
Why Hunt Antelope in Wyoming?
Wyoming Antelope Analysis
Carbon Region (Areas 53, 55, 56, 61, 62 and 108)
Sweetwater Region (Areas 57, 58, 59, 60, 90, 91, 92, 93 and 96)
Central Fremont Region (Areas 64, 65, 66, 67, 74 and 75)
Natrona Region (Areas 69, 71, 72, 73, and 75)
Northern Bighorn Region (Areas 80, 83, 114, and 115)

Overview

“Antelope hunting in Wyoming has been a bit of a struggle over the past few years to put it mildly. With three back-to-back to back droughts and coyote populations exploding, the antelope herds in Wyoming have suffered tremendously over the past three years and we have no reason to believe that this year will be any different.”

Historic drought conditions and predator problems have caused a downward spiral in Wyoming’s prolific antelope herds. These factors have forced the State Game and Fish Department to drastically cut antelope tag quotas over the past two years, and we may not have seen the end of that trend. I fully expect the Game and Fish to further slash antelope tags again for this year’s draw. 

The cuts have been nearly statewide and have resulted in reductions that range from 10% to 30% depending on the area and region. The hardest hit regions are those in the center of the state in Natrona, Fremont and Campbell Counties. The net result is nearly 6,000 buck antelope tags being cut from the state hunt quota over the past two years. I fully expect given the lackluster hunt results and reports from last fall that the state might yet again cut more tags from the quota for the 2022 hunt draw when it is all said and done. 

The disappointments for Wyoming pronghorn hunting continued during the 2021 hunting season. Coming off a very lackluster year in 2019 and again in 2020, a very dry spring, summer and fall in 2021 continued the downward trend for antelope hunters in the Cowboy State. Both trophy quality and herd quality suffered substantially over the past 18 months causing drops in quotas, hunter success rates and hunter satisfaction levels.  

It is always good to keep in mind however, that just because there are less antelope tags and less antelope available does not necessarily mean there still can’t be some big bucks roaming the plains of Wyoming come fall. If we can manage to get a nice wet spring and summer, there could be some good bucks available for hunters to chase come September. No matter the weather, Wyoming seems to always produce a few big bucks somehow. 

Time will tell of course, but again this year I would personally be very reluctant to burn more than 10 preference points on an antelope tag, under most circumstances. 

For the 2021 season Wyoming allocated about 32,000 buck pronghorn tags for the big game draw which was a significant decrease in tag quota versus the five-year high set in 2018 of nearly 38,000 pronghorn tags. I fully expect the buck antelope tag quota to be further reduced again for this year. We could see fewer than 30,000 buck antelope tags in Wyoming for the first time in nearly five years. 

The average blue chip antelope unit in Wyoming took about 10 points to draw in 2021, while the average green chip unit took 7 points to draw, about the same as the previous year. However, these averages are drastically higher in point total than only a few years ago, mostly due to the downgrades in trophy quality which turned a lot of blue-chip units to green. Historically, on average, 5 or 6 preference points for Wyoming pronghorn will put an applicant into a very good antelope hunt, but with the massive number of downgrades over the past few years this number has settled in at about 8 or 9 points for a good antelope hunt. 

On a more normal year, the sweet spot for antelope preference points seems to be right around the 5 or 6-point mark. With 5 or 6, big buck country such as Carbon, Fremont or Natrona counties comes into play. These antelope hunt areas usually offer up a very good hunt with plenty of public land to hunt on and loads of antelope bucks to sort through. If you want a hunt for a true monster buck with little hunting pressure I would look into a county such as the better hunts in Hot Springs, Washakie or Park counties or of course the core top antelope areas in Sweetwater and Carbon counties. This may not be the case this year however. I see a much more spotty antelope landscape for this year versus normal with a few blue chip units sprinkled across Wyoming’s historic big buck areas.

Why Hunt Antelope in Wyoming?

 Even as dark as the current landscape is regarding antelope, make no mistake about it, Wyoming is, and continues to be, big antelope country. With nearly as many antelope as residents, Wyoming is not only a go-to for the bulk of the West’s pronghorn, the Cowboy State also persists as the prime destination for big, records book class bucks. 

When it comes to pronghorns, there is little argument where you should be applying or buying points and that is Wyoming. Wyoming has put more big antelope into the records book than any other state by a massive margin. To put things in perspective, Wyoming has put more than 1,500 bucks into the Boone and Crockett records book, while the likes of Arizona has only entered about 400. More than 1/3  of all the pronghorn bucks in the records book have come from Wyoming. Surprisingly to me, Wyoming also competes very well for the biggest of the big when it comes to pronghorn bucks. Of the total bucks in the book that score 90” and above, Wyoming accounts for nearly ¼ of those entries as well. Only Arizona can top this statistic with more than 30%. 

If we look at the top pronghorn counties nationwide, the Cowboy State again comes up big, with four out of the top five counties in the entire country. The counties of Carbon, Sweetwater, Fremont and Natrona have produced nearly ¼ of all of the records book antelope ever recorded in known history for this continent! These four Wyoming counties alone account for nearly 73% of Wyoming’s massive haul of records book antelope. 

With over 30,000 buck antelope tags available, a very liberal five-week season and more than 1/3 all the records book entries, Wyoming cannot be denied when looking to enter your name into the records book next to a monster pronghorn. One of the drawbacks when it comes to Wyoming pronghorn hunting is the fact that it has so many antelope that finding a big buck is not as easy as it looks on paper. The bulk of the big bucks seem to come from very specific regions of the state and are very, very diluted in a sea of small to mediocre class bucks. This said, you will probably need to hunt in Wyoming three or four times to finally connect with that buck of your dreams, so spend your points wisely. 

The concentration of monster bucks in Wyoming isn’t nearly as high as it is in states such as Arizona, Texas or California. To find a true monster of a buck here, you will have to be in a good unit on a good year, covering plenty of country, glassing hundreds of bucks and know what you are looking at when it comes to field judging a big buck. When it comes to the perfect trade-off between opportunity and quality, on a good year, an antelope hunt in Wyoming is probably about as good as it gets. 

If you are in search of a very large buck antelope, this year might be too much of a risk with your preference points. If you have been banking more than ten preference points, in my opinion you may consider riding out this drought and hold out for better days. The good news is that antelope populations tend to bounce back fast and once we do get the right conditions, this situation could remedy itself in only a few short years.

Wyoming Antelope Analysis

Coming off a very mild winter in 2021, followed by an extremely dry spring, summer and fall, the Wyoming antelope herds headed into this winter in a bad way. Both horn growth and herd size were significantly diminished by the record-breaking drought conditions and increased predator numbers nearly statewide. At this point we do not know how long this trend will last but generally speaking antelope bounce back very fast, and the downward trends in Wyoming for antelope tend to last only three or four years in total. With this being our fourth year of the current trend, we are hopeful this will be the end of the downward cycle for the current decade. So far, our winter has been extremely mild with the months of March and April still to come. The reports from the winter range for our mule deer herds are record-breaking for fawn survival and fat reserve measures and I am more than hopeful this trend will hold steady for the antelope herds as well. If we can manage to get dealt a wet summer and spring things could be looking up again by next year.

The antelope blue chip areas for this year are slim and mostly concentrated around the historic big buck producing areas in the southern portion of the state. Some of the early rebounding areas are now in the Sublette County region in hunt areas in the 90s and 100s. The drought hit areas seem to be the worst in the northern and the central portions of the state. More on that below. 

Wyoming now has 124 total buck antelope hunts to choose from, some better than others. For the best researchers among us, it is still possible to draw a buck antelope tag in Wyoming as a second choice but those options are getting ever more rare. 

We simply do not have the room to print the entire master antelope chart for every single hunt area, but the brand-new digital research tool, Eastmans’ TagHub (taghub.eastmans.com) does contain the expanded master chart with all 124 antelope hunts along with plenty of additional herd and harvest information to pour through in your search for the right area for you personally. 

If you want to try and choose a good second choice antelope unit and maintain your preference points this year this might be a good place to start to find such an option. Also, make sure you subscribe to our FREE online newsletter for up-to-date winter range conditions and antelope area picks. Now, let’s get into the specifics with regard to some of Wyoming’s best antelope regions.

Carbon Region (Areas 53, 55, 56, 61, 62 and 108)
This group of units makes up the historic big buck core of Wyoming antelope hunts. These six units alone comprise the wheelhouse of the famed antelope mecca of Carbon County. More big bucks have been killed in these six antelope hunt areas than any other six units in the entire country over the past 10 years. The winter in this region has been very mild so far this year, however the southern end of this region did experience a rough winter in 2020 and the drought here last summer was substantial. For this reason, I have downgraded the units on the southern end of this region and kept the units on the north end as mostly blue chip hunts. Areas 53, 61 and 62 are probably the least risky of the bunch here. Area 62 is one of the most consistent records book producing areas in the state of Wyoming and maybe even the entire country. These hunts will generally take about 8 to 12 points to draw. The outlying Areas 46, 47 and 48 can also produce good results with fewer preference points (6 or 7 points) for a hunter that is willing to work hard or hire an outfitter.

Sweetwater Region (Areas 57, 58, 59, 60, 90, 91, 92, 93 and 96)
This region has seen a very mild winter so far. Due to the elevation of this region the drought here was somewhat mild last year and the antelope have slowly begun to rebound here over the past year or two. I think this region is probably one of the few possible standouts for a good antelope hunt again for the 2022 hunting season. There were some downgrades in these units this year because of the drought and tag reductions. The antelope here have continued to rebound slowly and steadily from the deadly winter of 2017-18. I do think there will be some bigger than average bucks out here again this year. The best of the bunch here this year will probably be Areas 60, 92 and 96 if I had to guess at this point. The overall buck quality here should still be good this year and if the spring and summer turn off nicely I think there could be some very solid antelope hunting in this region for this upcoming fall. These areas are in very high demand historically and max or near to max points will be needed to hunt here.

Central Fremont Region (Areas 64, 65, 66, 67, 74 and 75)
This region represents the main core area of the horrendous drought conditions we have seen over the past few years. Many of these areas have been downgraded for this year along with some pretty drastic tag quota reductions over the past few years. Again, mild winters and summer drought have placed this antelope region as one of concern for this fall’s hunting season. Historically speaking, this core cluster of six antelope areas has continued to produce some very solid results over the past ten years and counting. Fremont County is probably the least high profile of the big four Wyoming antelope counties. Fremont County has slipped to the #3 spot recently mostly due to the increase in giant antelope killed in the Sweetwater units over the past few years. This region still continues to produce however even after some fairly serious drought conditions seen in the past decade. Fremont county with its massive public land tracts consisting of vast high desert terrain sit in the weather shadow of the Wind River Mountain Range making it relatively insulated from Wyoming’s historically brutal winters. The tag quotas here have been decreased from historic highs making for an improved hunting experience for the antelope hunters here. At this point in time Area 64 is the only remaining blue chip unit in this region. The points required to hunt here are somewhat reasonable, only taking about 5-7 preference points to draw a tag.

Natrona Region (Areas 69, 71, 72, 73, and 75)
As the fourth best county in the entire country, the Natrona region represents some very good deals when it comes to the trade-off between big antelope and easy draw odds.  Areas 71 and 72 are the best deals taking less than 5 preference points to draw. This region has vast public land tracts and potential for big bucks on the right year. These units are very susceptible to drought conditions making a good spring and summer very critical to quality horn growth here. This region should produce some very mixed results this fall for those who draw here.

Northern Bighorn Region (Areas 80, 83, 114, and 115)

This region contains most of the outlier historic monster buck producers. On a good year these four antelope hunts can be magnificent and don’t hit the radar on some research lists. The Area 114 hunt is probably one of the best antelope hunts in the entire country in my opinion. These areas all have plenty of public land to hunt, very limited tag quotas, low hunting pressure, lengthy season dates and consistent big buck potential. Due to the low tag quotas these areas sometimes do not hit the radar like the big counties do for records book entries, but believe me, the antelope hunting here can feel like heaven on earth for those that want to feel like they are hunting alone for the potential at a monster buck. On a good year these four areas will enter more than five records book antelope bucks into the books, not bad considering the relatively small tag quotas here. On a normal year, a good 77” to 80” buck with the occasional 83” type buck here should be very doable. Nearly all of these units have produced bucks pushing the 90” mark in the past. Ten points or more will be required to hunt the best two areas of 80 and 114. Area 115 could be a potential sleeper alternative that would require only 5 or 6 preference points to draw a tag for. Keep in mind however, that hunt Area 83 has drastically diminished in quality over the past few years due to over-hunting and drought conditions.

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Table - Recently updated July 14, 2022

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Outlook & Overview
Why Hunt Moose in Wyoming?
Wyoming Moose Analysis

Outlook & Overview

The moose hunting in Wyoming seems to have continued its very slow and steady stabilization. With some core areas actually seeing herd increases, along with a continuous slightly increasing hunter success rate, things could be looking up for moose hunters in the Cowboy State. Even though the state has seen an extremely alarming nose dive in moose populations over the past 25-years, in many cases the actual quality of the bulls taken in Wyoming has remained very solid, even increasing in some areas.

Over the past three decades Wyoming has been forced to reduce the overall moose hunting quota by nearly two-thirds, and close eight moose areas altogether in a desperate effort to find a new balance as the moose herd drastically spiraled down. What once was nearly 1,200 moose tags available in the draw has now become an anemic offering of only 305 bull tags. Needless to say, this has had a drastic consequence on the Wyoming preference point system. A system that was once thought to never see the light of 12 preference points, is now climbing to 25 points and counting for many hunt areas.

Significant declines in quality moose habitat along with a disease outbreak have both been partially to blame for the decline in Wyoming’s moose herds. But any resident will tell you, this one included, that super-predators – wolves and grizzly bears, have been the most significant factor in the moose management disaster that has become our reality over the last nearly 30 years. With a continued two-year drought, the moose habitat in Wyoming has continued to suffer. Now with our wolf season continuing to reduce the wolf population at an accelerated rate thanks to a doubling of the wolf quota a few years ago, we are hopeful this will continue to lend a helping hand to moose calf recruitment in key critical moose areas around Yellowstone National Park.

For 2022 there will be an expanded count of now 23 good to excellent moose hunts identified in the state of Wyoming for the fall hunt. Regions such as the Bighorn Mountains and the Sierra Madre continue to produce some outstanding bulls as well as a steadily growing moose population.

Why Hunt Moose in Wyoming?

Even with the drastic moose declines the Cowboy State has seen over the past three decades there still remains some very good moose hunting in Wyoming if you can manage to draw a tag. The state of Wyoming continues to produce some very large Shiras’ bull moose.

With more than 400 records book Shiras’ moose recorded, more than any other state, Wyoming continues to be the undisputed king of big bull moose. If a truly massive Shiras’ bull moose is on your list then you should seriously consider the states of Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and Idaho in your application process.

Wyoming uses a hybrid preference point structure with both a random pool and preference point pool for applicants to draw from. A random draw moose tag is possible in those areas with enough moose tags in the quota to allow such a draw. This random draw possibility for those nonresidents with few preference points is possible in areas; 5, 24, 25, 26 and 38/41 only. If you have a decent bank of preference points built up, there are some very solid moose hunting opportunities available for the nonresident hunter with 18 or 19 preference points.

The resident preference point system seems to have stabilized, mostly due to the large number of tags available (about 250) each year, creating a situation where the breaking point for resident applicants to find their way into a good moose tag has settled in at about 15 points. But if you want to hunt the very best moose areas Wyoming has to offer, you are going to need 18 points or more.

Due to the cycle of tag reductions seen over the past 15 years the nonresident pool is experiencing some very significant point creep. In 2015 alone, nonresident moose applicants saw the breaking point for them to get into a good tag increase by four points. The new breaking point for nonresident moose hunters is now about 17 points and climbing by about a single point each year. Something to think about, just like the Wyoming elk draw, of the more than 10,000 nonresident moose applicants with points, only about 1,500 of them are actually applying for a tag. That means more than 85% of the applicants are only buying preference points and not even entering the draw.

If the residents of Wyoming get their way in reducing the nonresident quota for moose tags down to 10% rather than the current 20%, the point creep would effectively skyrocket. This could turn a 17-point moose area into a 36-point moose area. At this point we are not sure if this will happen or not, but if you are sitting on a boat load of moose points in Wyoming you might want to consider burning them in the next few years.

Like most states, Moose hunting in Wyoming can be very expensive for a nonresident applicant considering you have to front the entire cost of the tag ($1,997) just to apply. For this reason, I highly suggest nonresidents simply buy the preference points ($150) each year until you accumulate about 12 points or so. The random draw pool odds just don’t outweigh the costs in my opinion until 12 points are reached for nonresident applicants.

Something to keep in mind when applying for moose and sheep in Wyoming is to choose your area wisely when you do apply. Literally hundreds of nonresident applicants each year apply for areas that do not even have tags available for the random draw, literally giving them a zero percent chance at drawing their moose tag.

Wyoming Moose Analysis

The best moose hunting in Wyoming continues to occur in and around four core areas or regions: the Gros Ventre near Jackson Hole, the South Wind Rivers around Pinedale and Lander, the Big Horn Mountains just west of Sheridan and of course the famed Medicine Bow on the Colorado border near Laramie.

At this point in time, my sources, stats and people on the ground have all confirmed that the best moose hunting in the state continues to be on the southeastern border near Colorado. These would be Wyoming moose areas; 38 and 41. These moose were transplanted when I was a kid in the 1970s from the Moosehead Ranch near Moran, Wyoming in the heart of Teton Park. The transplant was completed just across the Wyoming border in northern Colorado. The moose have since slowly expanded to the north and back into their native state of Wyoming. This relatively new Wyoming moose herd has taken hold and the genetics of these moose is as good as it gets – world record class.

Another bright spot when it comes to Wyoming moose is the Bighorn Mountains, which comprise Areas 1, 34 and 42, or the “Bighorn Trifecta,” as I call it. These three areas have become a very good and consistent bet for a big Wyoming bull moose. Area 1 is probably the best moose hunt of the three here followed by Area 42 with can be a real solid bet for a very large bull but can be a tough hunt where horses may be necessary. Both areas have success rates nearly 100% while Area 1 boasts nearly half of the bulls taken having over 45” in spread. Area 42 has produced bulls well over 50” in the past but these are certainly more the exceptions than the rule. Both Areas 1 and 34 have an average spread of over 40” the past three years.

The Gros Ventre area, just to the east of Jackson Hole sits in the middle of the historic breadbasket of big bull moose country, Teton County. Although the moose have struggled with predators and habitat deterioration here, the big bulls seem to be fighting through the adversity. The big moose core of this region basically is made up of one single hunt that stands out from the rest. Areas 17 and 28 are a combined hunt with a near perfect success rate (93%) and some very big bulls including a monster sporting a rack of nearly 60.” The average bull here was just a tick shy of 43” and more than five years old. There is a fair amount of designated wilderness area in this unit so an outfitted hunt may be a good insurance policy for a nonresident hunter who draws this tag.

The final bright spot for Wyoming moose is the Piney region on the west slope of the Wind River Mountains South of Pinedale, Wyoming. This cluster of areas, 2, 3, 4, 24 and 25 still manage to produce some good moose, and lots of them. With plenty of 40” bulls and good success rates in the 90% and above range, this moose region is a great place to hunt for a good moose if you lack the maximum points required to hunt in the Bighorns or the Medicine Bow. Most of these areas are a mixture of lower sage country, aspen pockets and rough rugged high country, depending on the unit.

A very important thing to keep in mind when conducting your moose research in Wyoming is the fact that there are some very good moose hunts in the green chip moose listings. Areas like 5 and 26 can be very good moose hunts for solid Shiras’ bulls in the 36” to 45” class. The hunting here is a bit tougher, but the possibilities for a big bull still do exist with success rates that are very strong on average.

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Moose Table - Recently updated May 12, 2022

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Overview
Why Hunt Bighorn Sheep in Wyoming?
Wyoming Bighorn Sheep Analysis

Blue Chip Units
Area 2 (Trout Peak)
Area 5 (Franc’s Peak)
Area 12 (Porcupine, Bighorn Canyon)
Area 17, 26 (Ferris-Seminoe)
Area 18 (Douglas-Encampment)
Area 19 (Laramie Peak)
Area 20 (Kouba Canyon, Black Hills)
Area 24 (Big Piney)

Overview
The sheep hunting in 2022 should be about the same as it was in 2021 and 2020. With a bit of a mixed bag situation on a continued basis, many of the traditional sheep hunting bastions such as Areas 1, 3 and 5 continue to see sheep herd declines while other non-traditional newer herd units like Areas 12 and 19 continue to see sheep hunting opportunities increase as the herds take hold and expand after successful reintroduction efforts. With 17 total sheep hunts to choose from and 180 bighorn ram tags available, Wyoming continues to be a “go to” state for many sheep hunters and applicants. Due to the hard work from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department as well as the Wild Sheep Foundation, Wyoming’s sheep transplant projects have put more sheep onto the mountains in some less traditional sheep country in the more arid portions of the state. These new populations have taken hold and begun to expand nicely to the point of finally offering some additional sheep hunts with some very solid results.

For both sheep and moose applicants over the last few years the point creep has become an ever-growing reality. A hunt that took 14 points to draw only a few years ago now takes 20 points or more to draw. The average sheep tag in Wyoming will take just under 22 points to draw for a nonresident applicant. There are now a total of 127 nonresident applicants with over 21 preference points and only five max point holders, so the system is beginning to look toward a possible stabilization.

Those nonresident applicants with high point totals should pay very close attention to the new movement in Wyoming to reduce the nonresident tag set aside from 20% to 10% of the total tag quota. If this does in fact happen, the net effect could be a doubling of the total points required to draw making most sheep tags well out of the reach of most applicants.

Why Hunt Bighorn Sheep in Wyoming?

The state of Wyoming is and probably never will be a good place to kill a very large bighorn ram. However, Wyoming continues to be a very solid location to kill a nice ram in some very scenic and classic bighorn sheep country. While Montana is the place for the uber-trophy wise sheep hunter, Wyoming continues to be excellent for opportunity when it comes to sheep hunting, offering up more nonresident sheep tags to hunters than any other state by far.

The fact of the matter is, although Wyoming does not tend to produce boatloads of Boone and Crockett entries like the states of Montana and New Mexico, Wyoming is a very good place to apply and draw a sheep tag for a good ram within your lifetime. The average sheep tag in Wyoming is drawn with about 22 preference points.

The preference point system in Wyoming does allow a nonresident sheep applicant to draw a tag even with zero points in Areas 2, 3, 4 and 5 only. It is very important to analyze this chart in an effort to not become one of hundreds of applicants each year who apply for areas that don’t even have a random draw sheep tag available. Long and short, nonresident sheep applicants with fewer than 15 points should only be applying for these four areas.

The nonresident preference point pool begins to fall off significantly by about 21 points, leaving only about 130 nonresident applicants in the pool with more than 21 points. Resident applicants are not quite so lucky however; a falloff is not seen in the resident pool until the 25-point mark!

Based on the way the Wyoming preference point system works, I would highly suggest a nonresident applicant with less than 15 points simply buy points until at least the 12-preference point mark is obtained. A preference point only for sheep can be purchased in Wyoming “post-draw” up until the 2nd of November without entering the draw and therefore eliminating the hefty upfront tag fee associated with actually applying for a sheep tag. The cost for the point-only option is $150 for nonresident applicants and $7 for Wyoming resident applicants. This can be a great way to go for some applicants given the very limited and stiff odds of drawing one of the only four random sheep tags for nonresident applicants. If drawn, the sheep tag itself will cost an astounding $2,335 this year which will again have to be fronted in full.

Wyoming Bighorn Sheep Analysis

The core of Wyoming’s second largest sheep herd resides just west of Cody. Again, this year there are only two blue chip units (Area 2, and 5) in this area instead of the historic four or five from years past. Areas 1, 3, and 4 have continued to see quality and quantity steadily decrease over the past few years. Area 3 however, is seeing some signs of a bounce back and could be back on the list after the results from the 2021 season are compiled and released by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologists. Keep in mind all three of these hunts can still be good sheep hunts, they just don’t seem to be producing at their full potential like they did five or ten years ago. This slide is a culmination of both reduced quality and a slip in hunter success rates over the past few years. Reduced quotas along with continued Department oversight should continue to help the situation.

The rams in some of the more nontraditional areas such as Area 12, 17, 20 and 24 are beginning to produce better opportunities and bigger results each and every year. Without question, Area 12 near Bighorn Lake continues to be the best all-around sheep hunt in the entire state. This hunt has produced four B&C rams over the past five years alone, placing this area in the top ten big ram producing areas in the entire country! Over the past five years, the average ram in Wyoming has sported about a 33” horn while Area 12 has produced multiple records book and state record class rams including a ram sporting a massive 42” curl. Areas 9, 19 and 24 have produced the best rams on average at right around 35” in length while the heaviest rams seem to come out of Areas 17 and 20 with bases nearing the 16” mark.

If you are looking for a really big ram by Wyoming standards, Areas 3, 12, 17 and 19 are your best bets. All three of these areas have produced at least one ram over 40” in length in the past three years. That is something no other sheep area in Wyoming can boast. If you just want a good chance at a good ram, Areas 12, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 24 have all had 100% success on rams for the past three years and counting.

Blue Chip Units

For those of you with plenty of Wyoming sheep points or high hopes for the future, let’s take a little bit deeper look at the seven Wyoming “blue-chip” sheep areas which on average will cost you about 24 preference points to draw this year, up one point from last year, thank you point creep.

Area 2 (Trout Peak)

The Trout Peak sheep unit in the North Fork of the Shoshone drainage has continued to rebound from a few years of lackluster results. These “spotty” results could be caused by the quality of the resident hunters who have drawn the majority of these sheep tags in the past few years however. Either way, the ram quality and success here has been relatively stable over the past few years. The average ram in this area is seven and a half years old, with an average length in the 33” range and a top length just shy of 40”. The average ram here is about 160” while the largest ram was nearly 187”. The sheep habitat here is abundant and there are plenty of rams roaming these hills inside the wilderness so a guide is almost a must for an out of state hunter. Twenty or 21 points will be required to draw one of the recently reduced 20 sheep tags in this area again this year. This area also has sheep tags available in the random draw but they come hard with a less than a 1 in 300 chance of drawing.

Area 5 (Franc’s Peak)

After a few years off the “blue-chip” listing this area has seen some slow and steady improvement over the past few years which has placed it back on the list. This is mostly due to some tag quota reductions in the area, which have increased the quality and quantity of the rams here as well as an increase in hunter success. With rough and remote country, this area is very, very large. A majority of these sheep winter deep within the area so little is known about the exact quality of the rams here from one year to the next. Twenty-two preference points should garner a tag here and there are a few tags in the random draw for this area for those with less than 22 preference points. Hunter success hovers around 85% in this area and 40” rams have been taken here in the past, however the average ram here is in the 32” range but is nearly eight years of age. Just like Area 2 the average ram here is about 160” with a top ram taken being in the 185” range. This area produces a lot of sheep and is a very solid choice for a DIY guy or someone who just wants a very respectable representation of the species with above average success.

Area 12 (Porcupine, Bighorn Canyon)

This area continues to be a shining star for the Cowboy State when it comes to sheep management and sheep reintroduction success. With yet again six total tags available, Area 12 is probably one of the easiest and the best sheep hunts in the entire state for a big ram, but the draw odds are beyond tough, requiring 25 or more preference points to draw. This area just seems to get better and better. To put it into perspective, area 12 has produced four records book rams in the last five years alone. Further proof that the rams in here do score well and based on my information, I think the largest rams roaming this unit have yet to be taken. With no wilderness, no wolves and no grizzly bears, this hunt would be a great DIY bowhunt. The rams in here have averaged over 34” curls with one giant sporting a nearly 42” horn. Particularly impressive considering the average ram taken here is 7.5 years old. The average ram taken on this hunt is also nearly 170”. The success rate on rams in area 12 has always been 100%. If I were an out of state sheep applicant sitting on max points, I would probably be applying for this sheep hunt.

Area 17, 26 (Ferris-Seminoe)
Just like Area 12 this sheep hunt seems to be getting better and better each year. This sheep herd is young and still maturing and I think the future holds some very good things for this area. A true giant of a ram was taken here in 2020 with a bow which may be a sign of even better things to come. Sporting a perfect track record, this hunt boasts a 100% success rate for the last seven seasons and counting. A sheep hunter has never gone home empty-handed on this hunt. The rams in this area have been gradually getting larger with an average of nearly 36” in length and over six years of age. This is a significant improvement when compared to only two short years ago. The rams in this unit can sport bases over 17” and therefore score very well. The average ram here scores the highest of any in the entire state at nearly 175” B&C. If you have a lot of points to burn and want a nice bighorn ram in fairly mild country, then this could be the hunt for you. Near to max points of 27 will probably be a requirement to hunt this area.

Area 18, 21 (Douglas-Encampment)
A new area to the blue-chip hunt listing this year, the Douglas hunt has continued to improve and now outshines many of the other hunts on this list. With a very robust and expanding sheep herd, this hunt boasts a 100% success on rams with an average ram now pushing the 160” mark on average over the past three years. The largest ram killed in this area was 175” and sported a 38” longest horn. With only two tags available here and no nonresident sheep tags available yet, a resident applicant will need to have 26 preference points to draw here. With some good fortune and solid management this hunt could see steady tag increases over the next few years that may allow for a nonresident tag to be available for this hunt each and every year.

Area 19 (Laramie Peak)
As a new hunt to the blue-chip list in 2020, the Laramie Peak hunt has finally matured and is continuing to excel as a sheep hunt for the state of Wyoming. The rams here represent a solid age class at 7.5 years old. This includes two rams that were taken who were twelve years old. The hunter success on this hunt has continued to run 100%. A successful applicant here will need 25 preference points or more to be awarded a bighorn tag for this hunt. Rumor has it, there continue to be a few giants roaming this unit that have yet to be taken, so there could be some very solid potential upside for a draw here. The largest ram taken over the past 10 years here was nearly 190” which is the largest of any area in the entire state of Wyoming. With only 35% public land, the access here could represent a few challenges for this hunt. This would be a very good DIY hunt with no grizzly bears or Wilderness to worry about, and a DIY bowhunt here would be even better.

Area 20 (Kouba Canyon, Black Hills)
This area borders the Black Hills sheep unit in South Dakota, which can be a very, very good sheep hunt by anyone’s standards. Again this year, 24 or 25 preference points will surely be required to hunt this area. The sheep hunting here is fairly easy as the sheep habitat is very concentrated in a relatively small area. Hunters here hunted barely three days to kill their sheep. With an impressive 100% success rate, the rams here are very heavy with nearly 16” bases on average and can pack horns beyond the 35” mark in length. This sheep area has the second largest average ram in the state with rams here being in the 171” range. The access here can be a little bit of a concern but the country is relatively mild as far as sheep standards go. I’m confident there are some very large rams still roaming the Black Hills unit for the next person who draws a tag here.

Area 24 (Big Piney)
With only one sheep tag available this hunt is a bit of a wildcard. The Area 24 sheep hunt used to only see a sheep hunt about every third year on average but seems to be producing better results of late with an increased tag frequency. The rams here tend to pack light bases but good horn length. This hunt will no doubt require max points for a hunter to draw, but I would venture a guess that the lucky hunter here should be able to kill a 170” or larger ram. The average ram taken here is nearly eight years of age and should score in the upper-160s. There is not a lot of data on this sheep hunt to digest but I have seen the sheep in this area during a deer hunting excursion before and there are some big rams here. Every hunter in this unit over the past five years has killed a ram here. If you draw the tag, call the sheep biologist for the unit and I’m sure he would be more than happy to fill you in on the details of where to find the rams.

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Bighorn Sheep Table - Updated May 12, 2022

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Why Hunt Goats in Wyoming?
Wyoming Rocky Mountain Goat Analysis
Area 1
Area 2
Area 3 (Type 1)
Area 3 (Type 2)
Areas 4 & 5 (Type A)

The bulk of the Rocky Mountain goat population in Wyoming continues to be slightly over objective as the State’s efforts to curb the growth and expansion of the goat herd has begun to pay off. With goats now expanded into the inner reaches of Grand Teton National Park, where they are not welcome, the State continues to employ some fairly drastic methods to reduce or even eliminate these new herds in Areas 4 and 5. While these two relatively new areas do offer up some increased opportunity, the nearly over-the-counter nature along with access issues make success on these hunts very difficult and applicants should beware of the financial pitfalls of drawing a tag for these hunt options.

With only six total options available and no preference point system in place an applicant need not spend too much time bogged down in research here. The long and short of it, there are really only four high-quality goat hunt options in three legitimate goat hunt areas in Wyoming. These remain the “non-cull” hunts in Areas 1, 2 and 3.

First a little background history on the situation: during the 2019 hunting season, Wyoming implemented a very aggressive strategy to reduce and possibly even eliminate the goat populations in two new goat areas within the state. The goats in Areas 4 and 5 were hunted very aggressively with very high quotas and aggressive season dates in an effort to cull the goats from the critical bighorn sheep habitat in the Absaroka and Teton mountain ranges. These two areas were initially set up to be over-the-counter hunts, but once the Game and Fish Department ran into some legislative hurdles that could not be overcome the Department offered instead a very aggressive quota to ensure the goats would be significantly reduced by hunters. I would not recommend these hunts as a high-quality experience by any means, particularly for the nonresident hunter who would face the sticker shock of a nearly $2,200 tag all for at best a 20% chance at killing anything with goat DNA in its cells. These two hunts could be on the docket to be eliminated altogether in the near future if the federal government gets its way and decimates these goat herds with the use of helicopter gunners. This is a very controversial situation as you can imagine and time will tell.

These two areas aside, the goat hunts in Areas 1, 2 and 3 can be just the opposite; a very good experience with some great opportunities for respectable billies, if you take your time and hunt hard and most importantly know what you are looking at.

Although Wyoming is still not a mountain goat powerhouse like British Columbia or Alaska, in my opinion the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has done a very solid job at managing the very limited goat populations that the state does have. The goat habitat in Wyoming is somewhat limited and the overall size of the billies in Wyoming is not quite as good as some states.

However, the frequency of big billies killed in the Wyoming high country does seem to be accelerating as of recent years as the goat herds begin to mature, to the point that I would now put Wyoming nearly in the same category as Colorado and Idaho when it comes to overall trophy quality. There are only six states/provinces that have produced more B&C billies over the past ten years than Wyoming.

The cost to apply in Wyoming however is steep, while the odds of drawing a tag are even steeper, in the range of 4% and less. Nevertheless, Wyoming is still a very good place to hunt for a Lower 48 billy if you can manage to draw a tag.

As the goat harvest graph shows, over the past ten years the goat population and goat harvest has increased dramatically during the first fifteen years of the century (2001-2016). However, the graph now indicates that Wyoming’s goat population has leveled off and found a balance as the goat harvest in Wyoming seems to be steadily hanging in the range of 50-60 goats each year for the past three years now.

BOTTOM LINE | The Rocky Mountain goat herds in Wyoming are doing very well. If the current trend holds true, Wyoming could be hunting more than 60 mature billies each year from here on out which could do wonders for the draw odds.

Why Hunt Goats in Wyoming?
Wyoming continues to produce more and more large billies each and every year. The Cowboy State is now the 10th best state place to find a records book goat. Add to that, nearly 60% of the records book goats taken in the state have been taken in the last ten years. In the past, Wyoming goat hunters struggled to put a single goat into the records book about every decade. Now a records book goat hits the ground in Wyoming just about every year, a significant improvement by nearly any measure.

Just like most states, a goat tag in Wyoming is extremely hard to come by and very expensive to apply for. With no preference points system in place for goats, all applicants will have to front the entire sum of the tag ($157-R/$2,177-NR), and hope for lightning to strike and deliver one of the nearly 60 limited Wyoming goat tags available.

Wyoming Rocky Mountain Goat Analysis
The Rocky Mountain goat herd in Wyoming essentially consists of two separate and distinct genetic pools. The Northern Beartooth herd, which resides in hunt Areas 1 and 3, and the Western Snake River herd which calls Areas 2 and 4 home. As a general rule of thumb, the Snake River herd has a bit better and a slight feed advantage. As evidence to this fact, the top half of all the B&C records book goats taken in Wyoming have all come from Area 2. When it comes to big Wyoming goats, nearly all of the largest goats in the state have come out of Area 2. If you really want a shot at a big goat, with no wilderness to worry about, Area 2 should be your choice.

Area 3 is a bit of a wild card, with lots of goats in some very steep and remote country. This is probably the toughest of the three hunts, but Area 3 also offers the best draw odds, particularly on the later hunt during October. Let’s take a little closer look at each area individually based on the pros and cons.

Area 1

Snug against the Montana border and just north of Cody, this area is the classic, steep, rocky and rugged goat habitat that most goat hunters would expect out of a Rocky Mountain goat hunt. Area 1 is a very good choice for bowhunters and guys who want to hunt in some of the most picturesque country on the entire continent. With a tag quota of eight tags, this area offers draw odds of less than 1%. Area 1 is the easiest goat hunt of the three however, and the odds of killing a billy here are better than most, about 65% over the past three years and climbing.

Area 2
Area 2 has produced the largest goats in the state on average over the past ten years. Nearly half (50%) of the total goat entries in the Boone and Crockett records book, and six out of the top seven Wyoming goats have come out of Area 2. The Snake River range is not as rough as the other areas, but the country is deep and very roadless, causing a hunter to expend more energy just getting up to the goats than a hunter in Area 1 generally does. The hunter success in Area 2 is somewhat solid, with 85% of the hunters killing goats and of those 65% were billies. The draw odds here are pretty rough however, and tend to hang right around that 0.25% mark.

Area 3 (Type 1)
Area 3 is basically the north fork of the Shoshone River drainage and Crandall and Sunlight Creeks. The goats here are of good size and this area generally produces decent numbers of billies (roughly 50%). The goats here can be a little bit pocketed in some very deep country with some groups of goats not seeing much hunter pressure at all. A hunter with a ton of grit and good lungs could have the hunt of a lifetime here. A lot of the goats in this area tend to hang out in the wilderness, so a nonresident DIY hunter might want to steer clear of this selection. The hunting season on this hunt spans the entire unit and runs the entire months of September and October. An increased tag quota in this unit from 16 to 28 has helped the draw odds jump to about 3%.

Area 3 (Type 2)
This hunt is a little bit later in the season, after the 19th of September. The Type 1 hunters can also hunt here during October, but most of them will probably be filled out by the time the month of October rolls around. The billy success here is somewhat marginal at only 48% over the past three years. For the nonresident hunter, this hunt might suit you a bit better as the later season snow might drop some of the goats down out of the wilderness areas. The draw odds here are a tick more attractive at about 4%.

Areas 4 & 5 (Type A)
With extremely high quotas, these two hunts seem to be “cull” type hunts and are not recommended for trophy goat hunting without some very diligent research and solid information before applying. With very expensive upfront application costs and a massive wilderness area and a national park to contend with, nonresident applicants should be very cautious with these two options. Success here is very low at less than 20% on average for billies.

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Mtn Goat Table -  Updated May 12, 2022

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Outlook & Overview

As a balanced and stabilized population, Wyoming’s bison hunt continues to be solid.

After nearly a decade of high harvest and hard hunting pressure, Wyoming seems to finally have the Teton bison herd in check with a somewhat reasonable yet sustainable, on target population size.
With only three total hunts to choose from, one of which will likely have no tags available again this year, the options for Wyoming bison hunts are very simple. The hunt area will again be Area 2 and the choice will simply be any/bull (type 1) or cow (type 4).

Even though the options are very simple, Wyoming still seems to be a very solid spot for a big bull bison if you really desire one. While not as prolific as it was 5 or 10 years ago, Wyoming is still producing a few really big bulls each and every year but they are getting harder and harder to come by. The really big bulls are very old and very wise with very high escapement during the season. With the massive Grand Teton National Park bordering the hunt area, many of the older bulls seldom drift from the safety of the park borders. This situation makes for a very large safe haven to protect some bulls from being over-hunted and allowing them to grow to a full maturity age of 10 years and older.

Second only to the state of South Dakota, Wyoming has a total of 116 records book bison entries all-time, nearly half of which have come in the past 10 years alone. Today, Wyoming is one of the few but ever-growing list of places in the Lower 48 where a hunter can hunt fair chase bison. Other states include Montana, South Dakota, Utah and Arizona.

An applicant for Wyoming bison must front the entire cost of the tag which is a total cost of $419 for a bull and $265 for a cow tag for residents and a whopping $4,417 for a bull and $2,767 for a cow for nonresidents. In my humble opinion, given the other options available now for a bison hunt, the cost of entry for a nonresident for this hunt is way too high and probably not worth the cost given the draw odds and success track record.

The bison options in Wyoming will be very simple for the 2022 hunting season. With only one area (Area 2) to hunt there are only two hunting options, a cow/calf Type 4 tag and of course the highly sought-after Type 1 any/bull bison tag.

The Wyoming bison season is very lengthy, August 15 to January 31, nearly five months long, but the tag quota for the bull hunt remains very limited, with 125 any/bull and only 25 cow/calf tags up for grabs in 2022. The 2022 tag quotas are not available yet, but I do not expect much change versus last season. Nor do I expect there to be a bison hunt available in Area 3 which is the best hunt area by far yet again this year.

Because Wyoming has hunted the bulls in the Jackson herd so hard in the past five years, many of the oldest age class bulls have been taken out of the herd. The exception to this would be if the Teton Park buffalo leave the park with heavy snow and weather and move onto the adjacent Bridger Teton National forest land or the National Elk Refuge.

Historic hunter success on the bison hunt in Wyoming has steadily fallen over the past five years, with about half of the hunters now filling their bison tags over the past three years. The Game and Fish Department has not updated the hunter success data for the 2020 or 2022 season, so we do not have concrete results to go by for the past few years. If I had to guess, I would venture to say I think the success has dropped over the past few years particularly on the bull hunt.
The new draw deadline for both residents and nonresidents is March 31st, and both can apply after March 1st. An option to hunt the National Elk Refuge is available in a separate drawing for successful Wyoming bison tag applicants and is highly recommended.

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Bison Table - Updated May 12, 2022

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