Wyoming deer Region M
Region M holds 4 general-licence deer hunt areas covering about 1,676 square miles, with ground from 4,000 to 9,600 feet. Area by area the terrain grades gentle across every hunt area in it. WGFD names them Upper Nowood, Bates Creek, Buffalo Creek and Nowater.
Dependable public ground runs from about 38% to 88% of a hunt area across the region. Access is worth weighing as heavily as country here: the hunt areas differ from one another more than the region's average suggests. Public ownership is not the same as easy entry: roads, trailheads, seasonal closures and private inholdings all still apply.
What a Region M licence is — and is not
A Region M general licence is what a nonresident draws to hunt Wyoming’s general-licence deer areas in this part of the state. It is valid across the 4 hunt areas listed below, each subject to its own season dates and limitations.
It is not valid in the limited-quota hunt areas that sit inside the same country. Those must be drawn for that area specifically, and no region licence reaches them — so a region licence is a fallback only when the hunt a reader wants is in a general area.
A Wyoming resident does not use a region licence at all: residents buy a general deer licence over the counter, unlimited statewide, on sale from mid-July. Residents also have no deer preference points — where a resident must draw, that draw is random. Points are a nonresident concept here, and for nonresidents three quarters of each pool is awarded by preference points and the remaining quarter at random.
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.
The 4 general hunt areas in Region M
| Hunt area | Herd | Size | Open public land | Terrain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 · Upper Nowood | — | 188 sq mi | 38% | Gentle |
| 39 · Bates Creek | — | 255 sq mi | 65% | Gentle |
| 40 · Buffalo Creek | — | 722 sq mi | 55% | Gentle |
| 164 · Nowater | — | 511 sq mi | 88% | Gentle |
“Open public land” is the share of each hunt area a hunter can generally count on — BLM, National Forest, State Trust Land and State Wildlife Areas. Public ownership is not the same as easy entry: roads, trailheads, seasonal closures and private inholdings all still apply.
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
Region boundaries, licence types and seasons change. Confirm every detail with the Wyoming Game & Fish Department before applying or hunting.