Can a hunter draw a general elk license for hunt area 106 as a nonresident?

A nonresident must draw a Region S general elk licence to hunt here on general terms; it is not available over the counter. The nonresident draw for that licence is not purely random: three quarters of the licences are awarded to those with the most preference points, and a quarter go to a random draw in which all applicants enter. Wyoming residents buy a general elk licence over the counter in mid-July with no draw involved.

Can a hunter use a Walk-In Area in this hunt area without permission?

Yes, a hunter may walk into an enrolled Walk-In Area during its posted open period without permission or advance application. Five walk-in areas are currently available here, though enrollment is renegotiated annually and cannot be guaranteed.

What permission is needed to hunt a Hunter Management Area here?

A hunter must obtain a printed permission slip from Wyoming Game and Fish before hunting an HMA. The two HMAs here are Coyote Creek and Knight Ridge West, and their enrollment is renegotiated annually.

Does a Wyoming resident need preference points for an elk draw?

No. Wyoming residents buy a general elk licence over the counter with no draw and no preference points involved. The resident elk draw in Wyoming, where it exists for limited-quota areas, is purely random and has no point system.

When do Type 4 antlerless-elk hunts run here?

Type 4 antlerless-elk hunts span two windows: archery from September 1 to September 30, and regular rifle seasons from October 15 through December 31. A separate Type 4 hunt valid on private land or west of the Black's Fork River or north of Highway 410 runs January 1 to January 31.

Wyoming Hunt Area 106 (Unita) elk hunting

Licence

General licence area

Open public land

25%

Elevation

6,500–9,800 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Elk region

Hunt area 106 is mostly sagebrush flats and low, broken hills across the lower elevations, with forested country and scattered juniper in the central and southern reaches. The terrain is predominantly gentle; steep ground makes up only 1% of the area. Sagebrush dominates the cover at 63%, with scattered conifer forest, aspen, riparian strips along the Bear River and Muddy Creek, and patches of mixed shrub. Elk occupy the mountain shrub, forest and aspen foothills habitats associated with the north slope of the Uinta Mountains, where they concentrate in the southern portion of the area. Lower sagebrush flats are not typical elk habitat here except during winter migrations. Most roads become difficult when snow, mud or water are present, which limits access to much of the private land that makes up three-quarters of the hunt area.

Public ground—roughly 25% of the area, about 179 square miles—consists of Bureau of Land Management, state trust land and National Forest holdings. However, public ownership alone does not guarantee access: private inholdings, seasonal closures, trailheads and road conditions all affect what a hunter can actually reach. The southeast corner contains National Forest land that is accessible. Walk-in areas currently enrolled number five; Hunter Management Areas (Coyote Creek and Knight Ridge West) require a printed permission slip before hunting. Both walk-in and HMA enrollment are renegotiated annually and cannot be guaranteed in coming seasons. Much of the area is operated as outfitted private land, and crossing private ground requires landowner permission. Access here is rated poor overall.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 106 (Unita) 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 elk 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, elk region S, which is valid across the general-licence hunt areas of that region and nowhere else.

Wyoming residents have no preference points for elk — the resident elk 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 · Any elk
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular October 15 – October 31
Type Gen — general licence · Antlerless elk
Regular November 1 – November 30
Type 1 · Any elk valid west of the Black's Fork River or north of Wyoming Highway 410; also valid in Area 105 west of the Bear River
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular November 15 – January 31
Type 4 · Antlerless elk
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular October 15 – December 31
Type 4 · Antlerless elk valid on private land or west of the Black's Fork River or north of Wyoming Highway 410
Regular January 1 – January 31
Type 7 · Cow or calf valid on private land or west of the Black's Fork River or north of Wyoming Highway 410
Regular August 15 – January 31

The wording of each hunt is the Wyoming Game & Fish Department’s and is legally exact — a “cow or calf” hunt is not a elk 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 — Any elk (September–October)

Archery hunters pursue any elk from September 1 to September 30 on a general licence, hunting during rut onset and the primary rut when bulls are vocally active and seeking cows across higher foothills and forested areas. Temperatures range from highs around 68 degrees Fahrenheit to lows near 37 degrees; snow is minimal. The general-licence hunt area is open to anyone with a resident general licence or a nonresident Region S general draw licence, and access depends on crossing private land or reaching public ground that may be scattered and difficult to approach.

Type Gen — Antlerless elk (November)

General-licence hunters can take antlerless elk from November 1 to November 30, after the rut has wound down and elk are transitioning to winter ranges in lower areas. November brings colder weather—highs averaging 42 degrees and lows 18 degrees—with snowfall totaling about 8.5 inches for the month. Antlerless seasons allow hunters to target cows and calves on the same public-access and walk-in basis as the general-licence hunts, though much of the area's elk may be on private land as they shift downslope.

Type 1 — Any elk valid west of the Black's… (September–January)

Type 1 any-elk hunters have two distinct windows: archery from September 1 to September 30 during rut onset and primary rut, and a long regular season from November 15 through January 31 spanning the late rut, post-rut recovery, migration transition and winter-range phases. This hunt is valid only west of the Black's Fork River or north of Wyoming Highway 410, restricting hunters to a portion of the area. Temperatures warm slightly into September then cool through winter, with November and December averaging 8 to 9 inches of snow each. Rut archery concentrates elk in foothills; the rifle season from November onward finds elk in transition and on winter grounds in lower areas.

Type 4 — Antlerless elk (September–December)

Antlerless-elk archery runs September 1 to September 30 during rut onset and the primary rut, when cows and calves are active in mountain shrub, forest and aspen foothills in the southern part of the area. September temperatures reach 68 degrees during the day and drop to 37 at night. The subsequent regular rifle season runs October 15 through December 31, covering the late rut, post-rut recovery, migration and winter-range phases as elk shift from higher foothills toward lower and winter habitats. Conditions cool progressively through this span, with October averaging 2.3 inches of snow and November and December each bringing 8 to 9 inches.

Type 4 — Antlerless elk valid on private… (January)

The January Type 4 antlerless hunt, valid January 1 to January 31 on private land or west of the Black's Fork River or north of Highway 410, targets elk that have settled on winter range. High temperatures average 33 degrees, lows drop to 10 degrees, and snowfall totals nearly 10 inches for the month. This late hunt reaches elk in low-elevation sagebrush and valley areas where they concentrate through the cold season, but much of that habitat lies on private land and hunter access remains limited.

Type 7 — Cow or calf valid on private land… (August–January)

The Type 7 cow-or-calf season is valid August 15 to January 31 on private land or west of the Black's Fork River or north of Highway 410, spanning late summer through the rut and into winter. This extended hunt begins when velvet is shedding and the rut is building, continues through primary rut and post-rut, and ends with elk on winter range in January. Conditions warm from 77 degrees in August to near freezing by December and January, with minimal snow in August and September but 8 to 10 inches monthly from November onward. Access to the hunt depends heavily on private-land availability and those geographic restrictions.

Land and access

private land75%

Private

BLM15%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land5%

Generally open to public hunting

National Forest5%

Generally open to public hunting

About 25% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM, State Trust Land and National Forest, roughly 179 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 5 enrolled walk-in areas. It also holds 2 Hunter Management Areas. 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 elk are mapped

Winter Range62%

used in winter

Yearlong Range33%

the only layer that means year-round use

Parturition Areas13%

spring birthing ground, months before any hunting season

Summer Range12%

used in summer

Crucial Winter Range9%

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 elk are mapped, not where inside the area they are, and not when they move.

Habitat and cover

Across the unit

Sagebrush63%

Other cover12%

Conifer11%

Riparian8%

Aspen4%

Grass and meadow1%

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	10°F	9.8 in
February	35°F	11°F	8.1 in
March	43°F	18°F	7.2 in
April	51°F	24°F	5.6 in
May	60°F	32°F	0.2 in
June	70°F	39°F	0 in
July	78°F	46°F	0 in
August	77°F	45°F	0 in
September	68°F	37°F	0.2 in
October	55°F	28°F	2.3 in
November	42°F	18°F	8.5 in
December	33°F	10°F	8.7 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter draw a general elk license for hunt area 106 as a nonresident?: A nonresident must draw a Region S general elk licence to hunt here on general terms; it is not available over the counter. The nonresident draw for that licence is not purely random: three quarters of the licences are awarded to those with the most preference points, and a quarter go to a random draw in which all applicants enter. Wyoming residents buy a general elk licence over the counter in mid-July with no draw involved.
Can a hunter use a Walk-In Area in this hunt area without permission?: Yes, a hunter may walk into an enrolled Walk-In Area during its posted open period without permission or advance application. Five walk-in areas are currently available here, though enrollment is renegotiated annually and cannot be guaranteed.
What permission is needed to hunt a Hunter Management Area here?: A hunter must obtain a printed permission slip from Wyoming Game and Fish before hunting an HMA. The two HMAs here are Coyote Creek and Knight Ridge West, and their enrollment is renegotiated annually.
Does a Wyoming resident need preference points for an elk draw?: No. Wyoming residents buy a general elk licence over the counter with no draw and no preference points involved. The resident elk draw in Wyoming, where it exists for limited-quota areas, is purely random and has no point system.
When do Type 4 antlerless-elk hunts run here?: Type 4 antlerless-elk hunts span two windows: archery from September 1 to September 30, and regular rifle seasons from October 15 through December 31. A separate Type 4 hunt valid on private land or west of the Black's Fork River or north of Highway 410 runs January 1 to January 31.

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 elk hunt areas