Can a hunter draw this hunt area on a general or region license?

No. Hunt area 22 is a limited-quota area, drawn individually by permit for residents and nonresidents alike. A region license is valid only in general-licence areas and does not cover ground in any limited-quota hunt area.

Do Wyoming resident hunters need preference points to draw deer in this area?

Wyoming residents do not use preference points for deer at all. The resident deer draw is random, with no point system and no point cutoff for any hunt area in the state.

What deer species can a hunter legally take on the Type 1 hunt here?

The Type 1 hunt permits antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer. The antler requirement applies to mule deer only; any white-tailed deer—buck, doe or fawn—is legal throughout the season.

Can a hunter walk onto the two walk-in areas without permission?

Yes. Converse County Walk In Area 1 and Converse County Walk In Area 15 are walk-in areas that require no permission or application. A hunter may enter during their posted open seasons subject to their posted rules.

When do the different deer seasons run in this hunt area?

The Type 1 hunt for antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer runs archery September 1–30 and regular season October 1–14. The Type 3 and Type 8 white-tailed-deer-only hunts both run archery September 1–30 and regular season October 1–November 30.

Wyoming Hunt Area 22 (Douglas) deer hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

20%

Elevation

4,600–6,300 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Deer region

Hunt area 22 is a sprawling prairie and foothill country across the mixed-grass, sagebrush high plains. At 2,541 square miles, it sits between 4,600 and 6,300 feet of elevation, with most ground running around 5,300 feet. The terrain is gentle—slope averages 3.3 degrees—and the landscape is 53% grass and meadow with 45% sagebrush, cut by draws and riparian flats that collect deer. Mule deer occupy the mixed prairie, sagebrush breaks, sand hills and pine-studded ridges across much of the area; white-tailed deer are concentrated in the southern portion. The country is extensive and footable, but most productive deer habitat sits on private land, and the public ground that exists is scattered in small parcels. Public access rates as poor overall.

Getting onto the ground requires advance work. About 20% of the area—roughly 512 square miles—is public ownership: Bureau of Land Management, State Trust Land and National Forest. In principle that sounds substantial, but roads, seasonal closures and private inholdings all fragment it, and only ground adjacent to public roads is reliably reachable. Two small walk-in areas exist: Converse County Walk In Area 1 and Converse County Walk In Area 15, both offering open access during their posted seasons without requiring permission. Beyond these, mule deer hunting is almost entirely private-land work. The outfitting presence here is significant, and landowner access is competitive and difficult to secure. Hunters considering this area should expect to spend time on permission-seeking before drawing a licence. White-tailed deer opportunities are almost exclusively southern, private-land ground for the same reason.

Public land hunters benefit from detailed mapping before the season. County landownership maps—the Converse County Mapserver and Natrona County Geosmart are available online—help distinguish public from private parcels and road access. A GPS unit or smartphone mapping application with landownership overlays is essential to avoid trespass; some roads that appear public are in fact private. Over-crowding on public land can occur, particularly early in the season. Success on mule deer is generally good, but that success happens largely off this area's limited public ground.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 22 (Douglas) 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 1 – October 14
Type 3 · Any white-tailed deer
Legal: white-tailed deer only
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular October 1 – November 30
Type 8 · Doe or fawn 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 1 — Antlered mule deer or any… · mule deer & whitetail (September–October)

Archery and regular hunting for antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer starts with velvet-shedding mule bucks in September and extends into October as bucks shift to nocturnal movement and begin filtering toward lower ground. September archery hunting faces warm afternoons—highs near 74°F—and cold early mornings around 43°F, with minimal snow. October weather cools steadily, with highs dropping to 58°F and lows to 31°F, and snowfall accumulates around 1.1 inches across the month, improving scent work and extending active hours into daylight. Public land holds smaller parcels scattered across prairie and breaks, and early-season crowding concentrates pressure there; white-tailed deer are not reliably available on public ground except in the southern portion where private access dominates. Mule deer hunting occurs mainly on private land, requiring permission secured before applying.

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

White-tailed-only hunting runs across three and a half months, opening September 1 with archery and continuing through November 30 on regular season, spanning the transition from September's warm velvet-shed period through October's nocturnal buck phase and into November's pre-rut and primary rut. September stays warm with highs around 74°F and minimal snow, but October cools to highs of 58°F with 1.1 inches of monthly snowfall, and November drops further with highs near 45°F and 2.1 inches of snow raising hunter comfort and deer activity through the rut. White-tailed deer are concentrated in the southern portion of the hunt area and are found almost entirely on private land; public access to white-tailed country is minimal. A hunter without private permission faces a severely limited hunt regardless of public acreage elsewhere.

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

White-tailed doe and fawn hunting spans the same September-through-November window as the Type 3 hunt, with September archery following the velvet-shed transition and October-through-November regular hunting crossing the nocturnal buck phase, pre-rut staging, primary rut and early winter period. September remains warm near 74°F highs with no snow, October cools to 58°F highs with 1.1 inches of snowfall, and November drops to 45°F highs with 2.1 inches of monthly snow accumulation, sustaining deer movement as temperatures fall. Doe and fawn opportunity is found primarily on private land in the southern portion of the area, and obtaining permission before applying is critical for a viable hunt.

Land and access

private land79%

Private

BLM11%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land8%

Generally open to public hunting

National Forest2%

Generally open to public hunting

About 20% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM, State Trust Land and National Forest, roughly 512 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.

This hunt area has 2 enrolled walk-in areas. That is private ground enrolled for public access, not public land. 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

Winter Range22%

used in winter

Yearlong Range22%

the only layer that means year-round use

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

Grass and meadow53%

Sagebrush45%

Other cover2%

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	35°F	13°F	3.4 in
February	37°F	14°F	4.6 in
March	47°F	22°F	3.3 in
April	55°F	29°F	2.1 in
May	64°F	38°F	0 in
June	76°F	47°F	0 in
July	86°F	54°F	0 in
August	84°F	52°F	0 in
September	74°F	43°F	0 in
October	58°F	31°F	1.1 in
November	45°F	21°F	2.1 in
December	35°F	14°F	4.2 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter draw this hunt area on a general or region license?: No. Hunt area 22 is a limited-quota area, drawn individually by permit for residents and nonresidents alike. A region license is valid only in general-licence areas and does not cover ground in any limited-quota hunt area.
Do Wyoming resident hunters need preference points to draw deer in this area?: Wyoming residents do not use preference points for deer at all. The resident deer draw is random, with no point system and no point cutoff for any hunt area in the state.
What deer species can a hunter legally take on the Type 1 hunt here?: The Type 1 hunt permits antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer. The antler requirement applies to mule deer only; any white-tailed deer—buck, doe or fawn—is legal throughout the season.
Can a hunter walk onto the two walk-in areas without permission?: Yes. Converse County Walk In Area 1 and Converse County Walk In Area 15 are walk-in areas that require no permission or application. A hunter may enter during their posted open seasons subject to their posted rules.
When do the different deer seasons run in this hunt area?: The Type 1 hunt for antlered mule deer or any white-tailed deer runs archery September 1–30 and regular season October 1–14. The Type 3 and Type 8 white-tailed-deer-only hunts both run archery September 1–30 and regular season October 1–November 30.

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