Can a hunter use a regional deer license to hunt area 119?

No. Hunt area 119 is a limited-quota area drawn individually for that specific ground. A region license is valid only in the general-license areas of its region, never in limited-quota areas. A hunter must draw a license for area 119 itself to hunt there.

Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw area 119?

No. Wyoming residents have no deer preference-point system at all. The resident draw for area 119 is random, with no points and no point cutoff. Preference points for deer are a nonresident concept only.

Which species can a hunter take on a Type 2 season here?

Type 2 permits antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer. The antler restriction applies to mule deer only; white-tailed deer of any sex or age are legal. Both species are valid throughout the hunt area.

What access does the Absaroka Front Hunter Management Area provide?

The Absaroka Front is private ground where the landowner has enrolled in an access agreement. A hunter must obtain a printed permission slip from the enrolled landowner before hunting there. Enrollment is renegotiated annually, so access is never guaranteed year to year.

When does the Type 1 archery season open?

Type 1 archery runs September 1 through September 30. The regular portion of Type 1 runs November 1 through November 15. Both windows are part of the same hunt, which permits antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer.

Wyoming Hunt Area 119 (Anchor) deer hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

62%

Elevation

4,900–12,500 ft

Terrain

Moderate

Deer region

Hunt area 119 spans 439 square miles of rolling sagebrush and grassland hills at lower elevations, with juniper and conifer forests taking over at higher ground. Elevation ranges from 4,900 to 12,500 feet, with typical terrain sitting around 7,000 feet. The area is moderate country overall—49% of it is gentle slope, 46% moderate, and 5% steep—and it is threaded throughout with riparian corridors along rivers and creeks. The lower elevations are dominated by sagebrush, while mid-elevation forest mixes conifer with remaining sagebrush, and higher terrain opens up more grass and meadow within its conifer cover.

About 62% of the area is public land a hunter can count on—BLM, National Forest, and State Trust Land parcels—but public ownership brings the usual complications: roads and trailheads remain subject to seasonal closures, private inholdings can block through-travel, and not all ground is equally accessible. The remaining 38% is private, and it is interspersed throughout rather than consolidated, which makes the area a patchwork to navigate. The Absaroka Front Hunter Management Area, enrolled on private ground, requires a printed permission slip from the enrolled landowner before hunting. Access rating from WGFD is rated good overall, though the southern portions can be considerably more difficult to hunt because of mixed ownership and terrain.

The hunt area is limited quota, drawn individually by both residents and nonresidents. Wyoming residents enter a random draw for this area with no preference points—deer draws for residents are random, with no point system at all. Nonresident applicants compete in a different structure: three-quarters of the nonresident licenses are awarded by preference points (top-down, to the applicants holding the most), and a quarter go to a random draw that every nonresident in the pool enters regardless of points. A region license does not cover this hunt area; only a specific limited-quota license for area 119 permits hunting here.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 119 (Anchor) 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 8 · Doe or fawn white-tailed deer
Legal: white-tailed deer only
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular October 15 – November 30
Type 1 · Antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer
Legal: mule deer and white-tailed deer, under different rules
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular November 1 – November 15
Type 2 · Antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer
Legal: mule deer and white-tailed deer, under different rules
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular October 15 – October 31
Type 3 · Any white-tailed deer
Legal: white-tailed deer only
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular October 1 – November 30

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

Type 8 archery and regular seasons target doe or fawn white-tailed deer only; mule deer are not legal. The archery window runs through September, when temperatures hover near 67 degrees and snow is minimal, and deer are still in early fall transition with antlers shedding velvet. The regular season spans mid-October through the end of November, crossing the shift into colder months as highs drop from 53 degrees in October to 41 degrees in November, and snowfall increases to around 2.8 inches in October and 4.2 inches in November. As the season progresses through the rut and into late fall, deer behavior shifts from scattered to more concentrated. Public land and the Absaroka Front Hunter Management Area see the most pressure, though ground throughout the area remains huntable.

Type 1 — Antlered mule deer or any… · mule deer & whitetail (September–November)

Type 1 permits antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer, with the antler restriction binding only to mule deer. Archery runs September 1 through 30, when early fall conditions bring mild temperatures near 67 degrees and minimal snow, with deer in velvet-shed transition across both species. The regular season spans November 1 through 15, coinciding with the primary rut when bucks are more active and visible; this window crosses into colder weather as November lows drop to 18 degrees and snowfall averages 4.2 inches. The rut phase during the regular season increases the likelihood of encountering bucks across both species. Most hunting pressure concentrates on public lands and the Absaroka Front, though private ground interspersed throughout the area also holds deer and may offer quieter hunting in some sectors.

Type 2 — Antlered mule deer or any… · mule deer & whitetail (September–October)

Type 2 permits antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer, with the antler rule applying to mule deer alone. Archery runs September 1 through 30, with mild early-fall conditions around 67 degrees and negligible snow, while deer are in the velvet-shed and early fall transition phase. The regular season spans October 15 through 31, when temperatures remain milder—averaging 53 degrees at the high end and dropping to 29 at night—and snowfall averages around 2.8 inches. During this window, both species are more widely dispersed as the season is warmer and before the rut consolidates animals, which can make them harder to locate. Public lands and the Absaroka Front HMA draw the bulk of hunter effort, though the patchwork of private and public land throughout the area means access planning is essential for success.

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

Type 3 permits any white-tailed deer—buck, doe, or fawn—with no antler restriction. Archery runs September 1 through 30 in mild, low-snow conditions as deer enter the early fall transition with velvet shedding. The regular season spans October 1 through November 30, a long window that carries hunting from mild early-October weather (highs near 53 degrees) into the full rut and late-fall consolidation as November arrives with much colder temperatures, shorter days, and heavier snow averaging 4.2 inches. The extended season gives a hunter options across changing weather and deer behavior, from scattered early-October animals through the rut's peak activity and into winter concentration. Most pressure falls on public land and the Absaroka Front, making the quieter or more rugged sectors of mixed-ownership ground worth investigating.

Land and access

BLM45%

Generally open to public hunting

private land38%

Private

National Forest9%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land8%

Generally open to public hunting

About 62% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM, National Forest and State Trust Land, roughly 271 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.

It also holds 1 Hunter Management Area. That is private ground enrolled for public access, not public land. A Hunter Management Area requires a printed permission slip from the Wyoming Game & Fish Department before hunting it. Enrollment is renegotiated every year, so check current status before counting on either.

Where deer are mapped

Winter Range81%

used in winter

Crucial Winter Range59%

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

Yearlong Range22%

the only layer that means year-round use

Summer Range19%

used in summer

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

Sagebrush93%

Grass and meadow4%

Other cover2%

Riparian1%

Mid elevations

Sagebrush84%

Conifer12%

Grass and meadow3%

Higher elevations

Sagebrush53%

Conifer30%

Grass and meadow15%

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	33°F	11°F	2.9 in
February	35°F	11°F	4.4 in
March	45°F	19°F	4 in
April	51°F	25°F	4.6 in
May	59°F	34°F	0.5 in
June	70°F	42°F	0 in
July	79°F	48°F	0 in
August	77°F	47°F	0 in
September	67°F	39°F	0.4 in
October	53°F	29°F	2.8 in
November	41°F	18°F	4.2 in
December	32°F	11°F	3.8 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter use a regional deer license to hunt area 119?: No. Hunt area 119 is a limited-quota area drawn individually for that specific ground. A region license is valid only in the general-license areas of its region, never in limited-quota areas. A hunter must draw a license for area 119 itself to hunt there.
Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw area 119?: No. Wyoming residents have no deer preference-point system at all. The resident draw for area 119 is random, with no points and no point cutoff. Preference points for deer are a nonresident concept only.
Which species can a hunter take on a Type 2 season here?: Type 2 permits antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer. The antler restriction applies to mule deer only; white-tailed deer of any sex or age are legal. Both species are valid throughout the hunt area.
What access does the Absaroka Front Hunter Management Area provide?: The Absaroka Front is private ground where the landowner has enrolled in an access agreement. A hunter must obtain a printed permission slip from the enrolled landowner before hunting there. Enrollment is renegotiated annually, so access is never guaranteed year to year.
When does the Type 1 archery season open?: Type 1 archery runs September 1 through September 30. The regular portion of Type 1 runs November 1 through November 15. Both windows are part of the same hunt, which permits antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer.

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