Can a hunter use a general or region licence to hunt in hunt area 101?

No. Hunt area 101 is a limited-quota area and requires a specific licence drawn for this hunt area alone. A general or region licence is not valid here. Both residents and nonresidents must draw individually for this area.

Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw a licence for hunt area 101?

No. Wyoming residents have no deer preference-point system. The resident draw for this hunt area is random, with no points required or tracked. Preference points for deer are a nonresident concept only.

Which deer species can a hunter legally take in Type 1 (archery and regular) hunts on this area?

A hunter may take either antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer. However, white-tailed deer are extremely rare in this hunt area. Mule deer are the primary legal game, and they must have antlers.

What public land can a hunter expect to access in hunt area 101?

Public land makes up about 66% of the hunt area, with the southern portion primarily BLM and generally straightforward to access. The northern two-thirds is checkerboarded with private sections, but most landowners permit crossing to reach public land. Roads become nearly impassable when wet due to clay soil, which can limit access during wet periods.

When do the archery and regular seasons run in hunt area 101?

Archery runs September 1–30, and the regular season runs October 15–31. Both are part of the same Type 1 antlered-deer hunt but span different rut phases and weather conditions across the autumn.

Wyoming Hunt Area 101 (Black Butte) deer hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

66%

Elevation

6,200–8,800 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Deer region

Hunt area 101 is open sagebrush country, mostly flat and gently rolling, with scattered juniper along rims and ridges in the north. Draws cut through the terrain and rocky outcrops interrupt the mesa-like plateaus, but the ground rarely climbs steeply—slope averages 4.0 degrees and 92% of the area is gentle terrain. Sagebrush covers 93% of the land within the elevation band. The country is very dry, which shapes where deer concentrate and how they move. Roads crisscross the hunt area heavily, and while that network gives hunters good access to public ground, it also fragments the landscape. Most of those roads become nearly impassable when wet because of clay-rich soil, so timing around moisture matters on the ground.

Public land—BLM and State Trust Land—makes up about 66% of the area, roughly 720 square miles that a hunter can generally count on. The southern portion is mostly BLM and straightforward to access. The northern two-thirds follows a checkerboard pattern of alternating private and public sections, but most landowners allow hunters to cross their ground to reach public land, so access to BLM is generally available despite the patchwork. Private land holds the remaining 34%. The highly roaded nature of the hunt area means that public ownership is not a guarantee of solitude; many roads and trails are shared, and seasonal closures or water damage still apply.

Mule deer occupy sagebrush draws and juniper rims with mountain mahogany understory across the area, but at very low densities. The largest concentrations are found in the northern portion, particularly around Pine and Sand Buttes and Rifes Rim, and in the draws off Kinney Rim. White-tailed deer are extremely rare here. The archery season falls as velvet sheds and bucks transition to fall pattern in early September, when deer are scattered and still adjusting to cooler temperatures. The regular season runs through mid-to-late October, when bucks move through migration corridors and begin pre-rut staging, with increasingly cool weather and occasional snow pushing activity and shifting hunter access as roads deteriorate.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 101 (Black Butte) is limited quota. A licence for it must be drawn for this hunt area specifically, by resident and nonresident alike. A region licence does not reach it — a region licence is valid only in the general-licence areas of its region, so there is no fallback for this hunt.

Wyoming residents have no preference points for deer — the resident deer draw is random, and no resident point cutoff exists for any hunt area in the state. For nonresidents points matter a great deal: Wyoming awards 75% of each nonresident pool through the preference-point draw, top-down by points, and the remaining 25% at random. Nonresidents also choose between the Regular and Special pools — the same hunts at two price points, competing separately.

Seasons (2026)

Type 1 · Antlered deer
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular October 15 – October 31

The wording of each hunt is the Wyoming Game & Fish Department’s and is legally exact — a “doe or fawn” hunt is not a deer hunt in general, and a hunt limited to part of the area is not valid across it. Confirm every hunt in the current regulations before applying.

Hunting each season

Type 1 — Antlered deer (September–October)

Hunting in hunt area 101 during this season spans two distinct periods and rut phases. The archery window (September 1–30) coincides with velvet shed and the early fall transition, when temperatures begin dropping from highs near 69°F to cooler nights around 40°F, and snowfall remains minimal. Mule deer are scattered across sagebrush draws and juniper-rimmed country; the largest concentrations are in the northern portion around Pine and Sand Buttes, Rifes Rim, and the draws off Kinney Rim. Roads are generally passable early in September but may deteriorate as conditions change. The regular season (October 15–31) opens as bucks move through migration corridors and stage into early pre-rut, with temperatures dropping further to highs around 55°F and lows near 30°F; October brings roughly 1.2 inches of snowfall on average, which can make roads difficult or impassable and force hunters to foot access more. Both windows are limited to antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer, though white-tailed deer are extremely rare. About 66% of the hunt area is public land (BLM and State Trust Land), but access depends heavily on road conditions and private-land crossing agreements in the checkerboarded northern portion.

Land and access

BLM64%

Generally open to public hunting

private land34%

Private

State Trust Land2%

Generally open to public hunting

About 66% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM and State Trust Land, roughly 720 square miles. Public ownership is not the same as easy entry: roads, trailheads, seasonal closures and private inholdings all still apply.

State trust land counts toward the open figure above. Wyoming extends hunting on legally accessiblestate trust land to the public unless a parcel is specifically closed — the catch is the access itself, since crossing private ground to reach it still needs the landowner’s permission. Camping, fires and off-road vehicles are not allowed on it.

Where deer are mapped

Winter Range82%

used in winter

Yearlong Range75%

the only layer that means year-round use

Summer Range18%

used in summer

Crucial Winter Range7%

the part of Winter Range considered essential to the herd — inside Winter Range, not added to it

Each figure is the share of the hunt area that layer covers. It says where deer are mapped, not where inside the area they are, and not when they move.

Habitat and cover

Across the unit

Sagebrush93%

Grass and meadow4%

Other cover3%

Shares are of each elevation band, not of the whole hunt area — they describe what grows up there, not how much of the area sits at that elevation.

Weather through the season

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Snowfall
January	31°F	10°F	4.8 in
February	34°F	12°F	3.9 in
March	43°F	21°F	2.3 in
April	51°F	27°F	1.9 in
May	61°F	35°F	0 in
June	73°F	43°F	0 in
July	81°F	50°F	0 in
August	79°F	49°F	0 in
September	69°F	40°F	0.1 in
October	55°F	30°F	1.2 in
November	41°F	19°F	3.6 in
December	31°F	11°F	4.4 in

Snowfall is the monthly total, not depth lying on the ground.

Common questions

Can a hunter use a general or region licence to hunt in hunt area 101?: No. Hunt area 101 is a limited-quota area and requires a specific licence drawn for this hunt area alone. A general or region licence is not valid here. Both residents and nonresidents must draw individually for this area.
Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw a licence for hunt area 101?: No. Wyoming residents have no deer preference-point system. The resident draw for this hunt area is random, with no points required or tracked. Preference points for deer are a nonresident concept only.
Which deer species can a hunter legally take in Type 1 (archery and regular) hunts on this area?: A hunter may take either antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer. However, white-tailed deer are extremely rare in this hunt area. Mule deer are the primary legal game, and they must have antlers.
What public land can a hunter expect to access in hunt area 101?: Public land makes up about 66% of the hunt area, with the southern portion primarily BLM and generally straightforward to access. The northern two-thirds is checkerboarded with private sections, but most landowners permit crossing to reach public land. Roads become nearly impassable when wet due to clay soil, which can limit access during wet periods.
When do the archery and regular seasons run in hunt area 101?: Archery runs September 1–30, and the regular season runs October 15–31. Both are part of the same Type 1 antlered-deer hunt but span different rut phases and weather conditions across the autumn.

Sources

Wyoming Game & Fish — Hunting & Trapping — licence types, general and limited-quota hunts, and season structure
WGFD Hunt Planner — hunt-area boundaries, season dates and the unit descriptions
WGFD — Draw results and odds — how the resident random draw and the nonresident preference-point draw work
WGFD — Regulations — the legal limitations on each hunt, and the statewide licence rules
USGS National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2021) and 3DEP elevation — land cover and terrain by elevation band

Seasons, licence types and boundaries change. Confirm every detail with the Wyoming Game & Fish Department before applying or hunting.

All Wyoming deer hunt areas