What licence does a hunter need for hunt area 165?

Hunters must draw a hunt area–specific licence; this is a limited-quota area and a region licence does not cover it. Residents enter a random draw. Nonresidents compete for three quarters of the permits through a preference-point draw, ranked by points, and another quarter goes to a random draw open to all nonresidents.

Where can a hunter actually access public land on this hunt area?

About 256 square miles of BLM and State Trust Land are dependably open. The Park County Walk-In Area 6 provides posted access to sagebrush ground. The Greybull River Hunter Management Area offers access to river-bottom habitat if the hunter obtains a printed permission slip beforehand. Roads in the hunt area become nearly impassable when wet.

Which deer species can a hunter take here and when?

Type 1 hunts permit antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer from September 1–30 (archery) and October 15–31 (regular season). Type 3 permits any white-tailed deer from September 1–30 (archery) and October 15–December 15 (regular). Type 8 permits doe or fawn white-tailed deer from September 1–30 (archery) and October 15–December 31 (regular). Mule deer are not legal on Type 3 or Type 8 hunts.

Do Wyoming residents need preference points for deer in hunt area 165?

No. Wyoming residents have no deer preference-point system at all. The resident draw is random, with no points, no point cutoff, and no advantage to applicants with prior draws. This applies to all hunt areas and all deer hunts in Wyoming.

What rut phase are the deer in during each season?

September archery falls during velvet shed and early fall transition. October regular season spans early fall migration and nocturnal buck movement into early pre-rut staging. Type 3 and Type 8 regular seasons extend through the primary rut in mid-November and into late rut and winter consolidation through December. Mule deer and white-tailed deer rut at different times; the white-tailed rut peaks later than mule deer's.

Wyoming Hunt Area 165 (Yu Bench) deer hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

77%

Elevation

4,700–6,700 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Deer region

Hunt area 165 rolls across gentle sagebrush hills broken by draws and river bottoms, ranging from 4,700 to 6,700 feet. The country is nearly all sagebrush—87% of its cover—with scattered cottonwood riparian areas, patches of grass and meadow, and some farmland. Slope averages 4.4 degrees; 87% of the ground is gentle and the rest moderate, making this country walkable for a hunter on foot. About 256 square miles of BLM and State Trust Land are dependably open to hunting, forming the public backbone of the area. Roads become nearly impassable when wet, so access is weather-dependent and demands local knowledge.

This hunt area is limited quota, drawn for the area itself by both residents and nonresidents alike—a region licence does not reach it. Residents enter a random draw with no preference points. Nonresidents compete in a preference-point draw where three quarters of the permits go to the highest-point applicants and a quarter to a random pool. The Park County Walk-In Area 6 offers foot access to sagebrush ground during its open season, and the Greybull River Hunter Management Area provides entry to riparian and lower-elevation habitat where white-tailed deer concentrate, though a printed permission slip is required before hunting there. Access to river-bottom country—the richest white-tailed deer habitat—remains limited because much of it is private land.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 165 (Yu Bench) 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 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 15 – December 15
Type 8 · Doe or fawn white-tailed deer
Legal: white-tailed deer only
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular October 15 – 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.

Hunting each season

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

Archery hunting for antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer runs September 1–30, when velvet is shedding and early fall transition patterns are beginning. Highs near 72°F and lows around 42°F mean cool mornings and warm days; precipitation is light, averaging 0.1 inches for the month. Mule deer are scattered across sagebrush draws and hill complexes with some concentration along the Greybull River and on adjacent farmland. White-tailed deer favor river and creek bottoms, much of which is private; public-land access to them is constrained. Regular-season hunting October 15–31 coincides with early fall migration and pre-rut staging as bucks move and become increasingly nocturnal. Temperatures drop steadily from 58°F highs in early October to near 35°F by month's end, and snowfall averaging 0.6 inches may appear. Mule deer shift into migration corridors and staging areas; white-tailed deer remain concentrated on river bottoms and farmland. This licence is drawn for hunt area 165 specifically and is not available through a general or region licence.

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

Type 3 permits any white-tailed deer from September 1–30 (archery) through December 15 (regular), opening during velvet shed when white-tails are scattered on river bottoms and farmland, mostly private ground. September weather favors early hunting—highs near 72°F, lows around 42°F, minimal snow. October archery and regular-season hunting (October 15–31) overlap early fall migration and pre-rut movement as white-tails consolidate on available public-land access. From November into December the primary rut and late-rut phases drive buck movement and activity; temperatures plummet through the season, with December highs averaging 35°F and lows dropping to 12°F, while snowfall reaches 2 inches in December. River-bottom access remains limited because the richest white-tailed habitat is predominantly private land; the walk-in area and Greybull River Hunter Management Area provide the main public routes to whitetail habitat. This licence must be drawn for hunt area 165; a general licence does not apply.

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

Type 8 hunts doe or fawn white-tailed deer September 1–30 (archery) and October 15–December 31 (regular), opening during early fall transition and extending through the entire rut and into winter consolidation. September archery targets does and fawns in riparian and farmland habitat during mild conditions—highs near 72°F, lows around 42°F. Regular-season hunting spans October through December as temperatures fall from 58°F in early October to 35°F in December; snowfall climbs from 0.6 inches in October to 2 inches in December. Does and fawns remain concentrated on river bottoms and farmland where they find cover and forage, but most of this habitat is privately owned. Public access through the walk-in area and Greybull River Hunter Management Area provides limited entry to whitetail country; much of the sagebrush public land holds fewer doe-and-fawn opportunities. This licence is drawn for hunt area 165 specifically and is not available on a general or region licence.

Land and access

BLM70%

Generally open to public hunting

unclassified ownership36%

Ownership unclassified

State Trust Land7%

Generally open to public hunting

About 77% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM and State Trust Land, roughly 256 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 70% 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.

This hunt area has 1 enrolled walk-in area. It also holds 1 Hunter Management Area. Both are 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. A Walk-In Area needs no permission slip — a hunter may walk in during the open period, subject to its posted rules. Enrollment is renegotiated every year, so check current status before counting on either.

Where deer are mapped

Yearlong Range86%

the only layer that means year-round use

Winter Range14%

used in winter

Crucial Winter Range14%

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

Sagebrush87%

Other cover6%

Grass and meadow4%

Riparian2%

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	36°F	12°F	1.9 in
February	38°F	14°F	2.5 in
March	49°F	23°F	1.1 in
April	56°F	30°F	0.6 in
May	65°F	39°F	0 in
June	76°F	47°F	0 in
July	85°F	53°F	0 in
August	83°F	51°F	0 in
September	72°F	42°F	0.1 in
October	58°F	31°F	0.6 in
November	45°F	20°F	2.2 in
December	35°F	12°F	2 in

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

Common questions

What licence does a hunter need for hunt area 165?: Hunters must draw a hunt area–specific licence; this is a limited-quota area and a region licence does not cover it. Residents enter a random draw. Nonresidents compete for three quarters of the permits through a preference-point draw, ranked by points, and another quarter goes to a random draw open to all nonresidents.
Where can a hunter actually access public land on this hunt area?: About 256 square miles of BLM and State Trust Land are dependably open. The Park County Walk-In Area 6 provides posted access to sagebrush ground. The Greybull River Hunter Management Area offers access to river-bottom habitat if the hunter obtains a printed permission slip beforehand. Roads in the hunt area become nearly impassable when wet.
Which deer species can a hunter take here and when?: Type 1 hunts permit antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer from September 1–30 (archery) and October 15–31 (regular season). Type 3 permits any white-tailed deer from September 1–30 (archery) and October 15–December 15 (regular). Type 8 permits doe or fawn white-tailed deer from September 1–30 (archery) and October 15–December 31 (regular). Mule deer are not legal on Type 3 or Type 8 hunts.
Do Wyoming residents need preference points for deer in hunt area 165?: No. Wyoming residents have no deer preference-point system at all. The resident draw is random, with no points, no point cutoff, and no advantage to applicants with prior draws. This applies to all hunt areas and all deer hunts in Wyoming.
What rut phase are the deer in during each season?: September archery falls during velvet shed and early fall transition. October regular season spans early fall migration and nocturnal buck movement into early pre-rut staging. Type 3 and Type 8 regular seasons extend through the primary rut in mid-November and into late rut and winter consolidation through December. Mule deer and white-tailed deer rut at different times; the white-tailed rut peaks later than mule deer's.

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