Can a hunter in Wyoming draw this hunt area on a general licence?

Wyoming residents buy a general deer licence over the counter with no draw required, valid across all general-licence hunt areas including area 153. Nonresidents must draw a Region H general licence, which is valid in all general-licence hunt areas of that region. The nonresident draw for region licences is not random: three quarters of the available licences go to the preference-point pool, awarded top-down by points, and a quarter go to a random draw that all nonresidents in the pool enter.

What deer can a hunter legally take in this hunt area?

The only season here permits antlered mule deer with four points or more on either antler, or any white-tailed deer. The four-point minimum applies to mule deer only; any white-tailed deer is legal, whether buck, doe or fawn.

Does a resident need preference points for this hunt area?

Wyoming residents do not have deer preference points and the resident draw is random, with no points required or tracked. Preference points in Wyoming are a nonresident concept only.

Can a hunter access this hunt area during hunting season?

Ninety-seven percent of hunt area 153 is National Forest System land, which is generally accessible, though roads, trailheads, seasonal closures and private inholdings within the forest all still apply. This is a backcountry hunt area with very few motorized roads and most hunting requiring foot or horseback travel. The major public access points are the Cliff Creek road, Clark Draw, the Upper Hoback River road and the Merna North Beaver road.

When does the season run in this hunt area?

Hunt area 153 has one season with an archery window from September 1–14 and a regular rifle window from September 15 – October 2. Early September offers warm conditions, while October grows cold and accumulates snow as the season closes.

Wyoming Hunt Area 153 (Monument Ridge) deer hunting

Licence

General licence area

Open public land

97%

Elevation

6,400–10,900 ft

Terrain

Steep

Deer region

Hunt area 153 lies in the high country of the Wyoming Range, with elevations running from 6,400 feet in the valley bottoms to just over 10,900 feet at the ridges. The terrain climbs steeply in places — overall slope averages 13.8 degrees — with gentle ground making up about a third of the area and moderate slopes taking more than half. The ground breaks into distinct zones by elevation. The high basins and ridges are rock and alpine, dropping into continuous conifer forest across the mid elevations. Lower slopes open into aspen and sagebrush, then give way to private agricultural grassland in the major river drainages. National Forest System land covers 97% of the hunt area, about 113 square miles; private land sits mostly along Highway 189/191 near Bondurant and up the Upper Hoback River corridor.

Mule deer concentrate in the high elevation basins and around avalanche chutes of the Wyoming Range, particularly above 8,500 feet through summer and early fall. Mid and lower elevation aspen draws, sagebrush slopes and riparian areas also hold them. This hunt area is a backcountry proposition, with very few motorized roads on public land and extensive tracts reachable only on foot or horseback. The headwaters of the Hoback River, Monument Ridge, Bare Hole and the Kilgore and Bondurant creek drainages all offer that kind of hunting. Access to National Forest lands comes through several established entry points: the Cliff Creek road, Clark Draw, the Upper Hoback River road and the Merna North Beaver road. Hunters new to the area should plan preseason scouting in July and August to understand the ground before the season opens. Mapping applications are essential tools for finding trailheads, determining access feasibility and reading the terrain.

Hunting here follows the same archery and rifle windows across early fall, as mule deer shift from high summer range into the timbered country that becomes their refuge under hunting pressure. Conditions cool and snow accumulates as October advances, transforming the late season hunt.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 153 (Monument Ridge) is a general-licence hunt area, and how a hunter gets a licence for it depends on where they live.

A Wyoming resident buys a general deer licence over the counter — unlimited statewide, on sale from mid-July. No draw, no application, no preference points.
A nonresident cannot buy one. They must draw a Region general licence — for this hunt area, deer region H, which is valid across the general-licence hunt areas of that region and nowhere else.

A hunter may hold only ONE general deer licence in a year, so a general licence is a single choice rather than something to stack.

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 Gen — general licence · Antlered mule deer four (4) points or more on either antler or any white-tailed deer
Legal: mule deer and white-tailed deer, under different rules
Archery September 1 – September 14Regular September 15 – October 2

Where a hunt above sets an antler requirement on mule deer and then allows any white-tailed deer, that point requirement is a mule deer rule only. And “any white-tailed deer” means any— buck, doe or fawn. WGFD writes “antlered” where it means a buck and “antlerless” or “doe or fawn” where it means a female, so an unqualified “any” sets no restriction on sex or age.

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 Gen — Antlered mule deer four (4) points… · mule deer & whitetail (September–October)

The September and early October hunt here follows mule deer from their high summer basins into timbered habitat as hunting pressure builds. The archery window from September 1–14 finds warm conditions with highs around 61°F and little snow, and deer still scattered across the high ridges and basins above 8,500 feet where they spend the summer. Hunters working the high country on foot or horseback can locate bucks during this period, though success demands reaching remote terrain. The regular rifle season from September 15 – October 2 spans the transition into fall migration and the nocturnal buck phase, with temperatures dropping from the mid 50s to the high 40s and October accumulating around 2.8 inches of snow. As weather cools and pressure increases, mule deer move into the timbered draws and slopes lower than their summer range, and success depends on hunting those forested habitats rather than the high basins. The hunt is open to antlered mule deer with four points or more on either antler throughout, and any white-tailed deer is also legal. This backcountry hunt area requires hunters to cover significant ground on foot or horseback and plan preseason scouting to understand the country and locate access into the public land.

Land and access

National Forest97%

Generally open to public hunting

private land3%

Private

About 97% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — National Forest, roughly 113 square miles. Public ownership is not the same as easy entry: roads, trailheads, seasonal closures and private inholdings all still apply.

Where deer are mapped

Summer Range100%

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

Sagebrush48%

Conifer38%

Riparian7%

Grass and meadow6%

Other cover2%

Mid elevations

Conifer50%

Sagebrush32%

Grass and meadow17%

Other cover1%

Higher elevations

Sagebrush49%

Conifer34%

Grass and meadow17%

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	27°F	7°F	29.4 in
February	31°F	8°F	23.3 in
March	39°F	15°F	17.7 in
April	45°F	22°F	9.1 in
May	54°F	30°F	1.2 in
June	63°F	36°F	0 in
July	72°F	43°F	0 in
August	71°F	41°F	0 in
September	61°F	35°F	0 in
October	48°F	26°F	2.8 in
November	35°F	15°F	18.3 in
December	26°F	7°F	29.4 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter in Wyoming draw this hunt area on a general licence?: Wyoming residents buy a general deer licence over the counter with no draw required, valid across all general-licence hunt areas including area 153. Nonresidents must draw a Region H general licence, which is valid in all general-licence hunt areas of that region. The nonresident draw for region licences is not random: three quarters of the available licences go to the preference-point pool, awarded top-down by points, and a quarter go to a random draw that all nonresidents in the pool enter.
What deer can a hunter legally take in this hunt area?: The only season here permits antlered mule deer with four points or more on either antler, or any white-tailed deer. The four-point minimum applies to mule deer only; any white-tailed deer is legal, whether buck, doe or fawn.
Does a resident need preference points for this hunt area?: Wyoming residents do not have deer preference points and the resident draw is random, with no points required or tracked. Preference points in Wyoming are a nonresident concept only.
Can a hunter access this hunt area during hunting season?: Ninety-seven percent of hunt area 153 is National Forest System land, which is generally accessible, though roads, trailheads, seasonal closures and private inholdings within the forest all still apply. This is a backcountry hunt area with very few motorized roads and most hunting requiring foot or horseback travel. The major public access points are the Cliff Creek road, Clark Draw, the Upper Hoback River road and the Merna North Beaver road.
When does the season run in this hunt area?: Hunt area 153 has one season with an archery window from September 1–14 and a regular rifle window from September 15 – October 2. Early September offers warm conditions, while October grows cold and accumulates snow as the season closes.

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