Can a hunter apply for hunt area 109 with a general region licence, or must this area be drawn separately?

Hunt area 109 is limited-quota and must be drawn individually—a region licence does not cover it. Both residents and nonresidents must draw a specific licence for this hunt area in order to hunt here.

Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw hunt area 109?

Wyoming residents do not use preference points for any deer hunt; the resident draw for hunt area 109 is random. Nonresidents, by contrast, may build preference points and participate in a preference-point draw for most of the available licences.

Can a hunter legally harvest a mule deer on every season this hunt area offers?

Two of the three seasons—Type 3 and Type 8—are for white-tailed deer only, and mule deer are not legal on those hunts. Type 1, the any-deer season from September through November, permits either mule deer or white-tailed deer.

What are the actual dates and windows for each season in hunt area 109?

Type 1 (any deer) runs archery September 1–30 and regular October 1 – November 20. Type 3 (any white-tailed deer) runs archery September 1–30 and regular November 1 – December 31. Type 8 (doe or fawn white-tailed deer) runs archery September 1–30 and regular November 1 – December 31.

How much of hunt area 109 is public land a hunter can actually get onto without hitting private property?

About 55% of the area is dependably open public ground on National Forest, BLM and State Trust Land, totaling roughly 114 square miles. Public ownership still faces obstacles from roads, trailheads, seasonal closures and private inholdings, so access is not guaranteed everywhere public land is mapped.

Wyoming Hunt Area 109 (Bald Ridge) deer hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

55%

Elevation

4,200–9,900 ft

Terrain

Moderate

Deer region

Hunt area 109 is a mountainous country of forests and steep drainages, ranging from 4,200 feet in its low valleys to nearly 10,000 feet on the ridges, with typical ground around 6,200 feet. The terrain is moderate to walk, sloping at a mean of 10.8 degrees, though about 6% of it turns steep and demanding. Sagebrush dominates the lower elevations, where it makes up 84% of the cover and is joined by scattered grass, riparian bottoms and sparse conifers. As elevation rises, conifer forest becomes more prominent, reaching 45% of the cover at higher elevations while sagebrush retreats but remains substantial. About 55% of the area—roughly 114 square miles—is dependably open public ground on National Forest, BLM and State Trust Land, though roads, trailheads and seasonal closures all still constrain how and where a hunter can move. Private land covers 40% of the area and is effectively closed to hunting access.

Deer availability here swings on migration: animals move into the area from higher-elevation country to the west when winter weather builds, making the Henry Mill and Dead Indian Gulch areas along the boundary with hunt area 106 the most reliable places to find them. In milder winters, when deer do not push down from those higher refuges, the hunt area itself can turn slow. White-tailed deer are sparse and mostly inaccessible, concentrated on private land that a hunter cannot reach. The mule deer seasons—including the broad any-deer seasons—therefore form the real opportunity here. Access is the defining constraint: with no open private land and public ground scattered across steep forest, a hunter is working high-country drainages and saddles on foot, covering modest country each day against significant elevation.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 109 (Bald Ridge) 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 · Any deer
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular October 1 – November 20
Type 3 · Any white-tailed deer
Legal: white-tailed deer only
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular November 1 – December 31
Type 8 · Doe or fawn white-tailed deer
Legal: white-tailed deer only
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular November 1 – December 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.

Mandatory CWD sampling in 2026

A CWD sample is required from every deer harvested in hunt area 109 in 2026, on licence types 1, 3, 8. A sample can be left at a game check station or the Cody regional office of the Wyoming Game & Fish Department, or collected by the hunter and sent to the Wildlife Health Laboratory.

In the words of the Wyoming Game & Fish Department: “mandatory CWD sampling in effect in Hunt Areas 105, 106, and 109 for License Types: 1, 3, and 8” The areas under mandatory sampling change every year, so confirm the current list before hunting — 2026 mandatory CWD sampling areas.

Hunting each season

Type 1 — Any deer (September–November)

The any-deer season runs archery-only in early September, when bulls are shedding velvet and buck movement is still scattered through the country, then continues on regular licence through November as migration corridors fill and the rut builds. Early September archery hunts warm weather in the high 60s and very light snow, favoring a hunter who gets high early to glass and slip through open sagebrush and timber. The October regular season is cooler and can turn wet, with average monthly snow climbing to 1.4 inches and temperatures dropping steadily from the low 50s toward the low 30s, pushing deer to move more visibly but also testing an archer's wind and a rifle shooter's patience in thickening cloud. By November the rut is in full swing and weather turns winter—highs drop to the low 40s, lows plummet toward 20 degrees, and an average of 3.2 inches of snow can accumulate—and deer concentrate and move restlessly in response. Public land scattered across steep drainages and saddles is the hunter's main access; private land offers little to nothing and must be avoided. Either mule deer or white-tailed deer may be taken on this hunt.

Type 3 — Any white-tailed deer · whitetail only (September–December)

White-tailed deer hunting runs archery-only in September before shifting to regular rifle in November through December, chasing a species that occupies very little accessible ground. September archery hunts mild weather—highs in the upper 60s, snowfall negligible—across country where white-tailed deer are sparse and mostly confined to private land. The November-to-December regular season overlaps the primary rut and late-rut period, when bucks are most active, and cold deepens steadily: highs sink from the low 40s to the mid 30s, and snow climbs from an average 3.2 inches in November to 4.3 inches in December. A hunter works steep public forest and drainages, but white-tailed opportunity remains severely limited because the core of the population stays on closed private land. This is not a hunt that relies on migration like the any-deer season; it is a specialized pursuit requiring acceptance that legal animals will be scarce.

Type 8 — Doe or fawn white-tailed deer · whitetail only (September–December)

Doe and fawn white-tailed hunting mirrors the white-tailed calendar—archery in September, regular season in November and December—and faces the same hard reality: the huntable population is tiny and almost entirely on private ground that is not open to public access. September archery occurs in mild temperatures near 70 degrees with virtually no snow, across country where does and fawns are few and remote. The November-through-December regular season coincides with the rut and late-rut phases and grows progressively colder and snowier, with temperatures falling from the 40s to the low 30s and snowfall ranging from 3.2 to 4.3 inches monthly. Public land offers the only legal access, and a hunter must scout and plan knowing that this hunt area's white-tailed deer are not where a hunter can legally get to them.

Land and access

private land40%

Private

National Forest24%

Generally open to public hunting

BLM21%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land10%

Generally open to public hunting

unclassified ownership5%

Ownership unclassified

About 55% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — National Forest, BLM and State Trust Land, roughly 114 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.

the Wyoming Game & Fish Department publishes 47% public land for this hunt area. That counts public ownership; the figure above counts ground a hunter can depend on getting onto. They answer different questions, so both are shown rather than blended.

Where deer are mapped

Winter Range64%

used in winter

Yearlong Range48%

the only layer that means year-round use

Summer Range26%

used in summer

Crucial Winter Range26%

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

Lower elevations

Sagebrush84%

Other cover5%

Grass and meadow5%

Riparian4%

Conifer2%

Mid elevations

Sagebrush78%

Conifer16%

Grass and meadow3%

Aspen1%

Higher elevations

Sagebrush51%

Conifer45%

Grass and meadow3%

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	34°F	13°F	4.4 in
February	36°F	14°F	5.1 in
March	46°F	21°F	2.4 in
April	52°F	28°F	1.9 in
May	61°F	37°F	0 in
June	70°F	44°F	0 in
July	80°F	51°F	0 in
August	78°F	49°F	0 in
September	68°F	41°F	0.1 in
October	54°F	31°F	1.4 in
November	42°F	21°F	3.2 in
December	34°F	13°F	4.3 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter apply for hunt area 109 with a general region licence, or must this area be drawn separately?: Hunt area 109 is limited-quota and must be drawn individually—a region licence does not cover it. Both residents and nonresidents must draw a specific licence for this hunt area in order to hunt here.
Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw hunt area 109?: Wyoming residents do not use preference points for any deer hunt; the resident draw for hunt area 109 is random. Nonresidents, by contrast, may build preference points and participate in a preference-point draw for most of the available licences.
Can a hunter legally harvest a mule deer on every season this hunt area offers?: Two of the three seasons—Type 3 and Type 8—are for white-tailed deer only, and mule deer are not legal on those hunts. Type 1, the any-deer season from September through November, permits either mule deer or white-tailed deer.
What are the actual dates and windows for each season in hunt area 109?: Type 1 (any deer) runs archery September 1–30 and regular October 1 – November 20. Type 3 (any white-tailed deer) runs archery September 1–30 and regular November 1 – December 31. Type 8 (doe or fawn white-tailed deer) runs archery September 1–30 and regular November 1 – December 31.
How much of hunt area 109 is public land a hunter can actually get onto without hitting private property?: About 55% of the area is dependably open public ground on National Forest, BLM and State Trust Land, totaling roughly 114 square miles. Public ownership still faces obstacles from roads, trailheads, seasonal closures and private inholdings, so access is not guaranteed everywhere public land is mapped.

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