Does a Wyoming resident need elk preference points to draw hunt area 113?

No. Wyoming residents have no elk preference points; the resident elk draw is random for all hunt areas. Nonresidents, by contrast, use preference points—three quarters of nonresident licences go to the preference-point draw ranked by points held, and a quarter go to a random draw available to all nonresident applicants.

How much of hunt area 113 is public land a hunter can count on?

Approximately 76 percent of the area, or about 653 square miles, is public ground including National Forest, BLM, and State Trust Land where hunters can generally plan to go. Roads, trailheads, seasonal closures, and private inholdings still apply; public ownership does not guarantee straightforward access everywhere.

Can a hunter walk into the walk-in areas in hunt area 113 without permission?

Yes. Converse County Walk-In Areas 7 and 14 require no permission slip or application; a hunter may enter during the posted open period and follow the area's rules. The Cheyenne River Hunter Management Area does require a printed permission slip before hunting.

What are the archery and rifle seasons for any-elk hunting in hunt area 113?

Type 1—Any elk hunting runs archery September 1–30 and regular rifle November 5–30. Type 3—Spike or antlerless elk runs archery September 1–30 and regular rifle November 5–December 31. Type 8—Cow or calf valid on private land only runs regular rifle August 15–January 31.

Wyoming Hunt Area 113 (Rochelle Hills) elk hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

76%

Elevation

4,200–5,300 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 113 is rolling sagebrush prairie broken by rocky ridges and hills, with the higher ground timbered in ponderosa pine. Elevation ranges from 4,200 to 5,300 feet, and the terrain is gentle—90 percent of the area slopes less steeply than 5 degrees. Grass and meadow cover 51 percent of the ground, sagebrush 42 percent, and other vegetation 7 percent. Elk use all these habitats. About 653 square miles of the area is public ground a hunter can count on, including National Forest and BLM land; the Thunder Basin National Grasslands within the area contain substantial elk habitat. The remaining 24 percent is private land.

Getting to the elk requires navigation beyond the public-land map. Roads, trailheads, and seasonal closures all shape what a hunter can actually reach, and private holdings break up the public ground. Walk-in areas and a Hunter Management Area offer additional options where enrollment permits. The region's good access for public-land hunting still demands on-the-ground scouting to find the open routes and the elk using them.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 113 (Rochelle Hills) 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 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 1 · Any elk
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular November 5 – November 30
Type 3 · Spike or antlerless elk
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular November 5 – December 31
Type 8 · Cow or calf valid on private land
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 1 — Any elk (September–November)

Archery for any elk begins as bulls shift into rut and remain active through the primary rut in early autumn, with September temperatures from highs around 77 degrees to overnight lows near 44 degrees and no measurable monthly snowfall. Rifle season overlaps the migration transition as bulls recover from the rut and begin moving to winter range, with November highs around 47 degrees, lows near 21 degrees, and an average of 1.6 inches of snow. Public-land access remains open throughout both windows. Any elk includes bulls of all ages and antlered females.

Type 3 — Spike or antlerless elk (September–December)

Spike or antlerless elk runs the same archery window as the any-elk hunt, with bulls ramping into rut in September's warm temperatures and low precipitation. The regular-rifle season extends into early winter, spanning the migration transition and early winter range phase from November into December as temperatures drop from highs around 47 degrees to highs near 37 degrees; snowfall increases to 2.1 inches in December. Public-land access continues through both seasons. The legal animal is spike bulls or any cow or calf.

Type 8 — Cow or calf valid on private land (August–January)

This private-land hunt runs from mid-August through January, spanning the pre-rut through winter phases as temperatures drop from summer highs around 87 degrees in August to winter lows near 13 degrees in January, with snowfall climbing from zero inches in August to 1.7 inches in January. The extended season allows hunting across multiple rut phases and the full migration onto winter range, but the hunt is valid only on private ground—a hunter holding this license cannot legally take elk on public lands within the area. The legal animal is cow or calf only.

Land and access

National Forest47%

Generally open to public hunting

private land24%

Private

BLM23%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land6%

Generally open to public hunting

About 76% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — National Forest, BLM and State Trust Land, roughly 653 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 65% 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 2 enrolled walk-in areas. 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 elk are mapped

Yearlong Range16%

the only layer that means year-round use

Winter Range5%

used in winter

Parturition Areas2%

spring birthing ground, months before any hunting season

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

Grass and meadow51%

Sagebrush42%

Other cover7%

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	37°F	13°F	1.7 in
February	39°F	14°F	2.4 in
March	50°F	23°F	1.6 in
April	58°F	30°F	1.3 in
May	67°F	40°F	0 in
June	79°F	49°F	0 in
July	89°F	56°F	0 in
August	87°F	54°F	0 in
September	77°F	44°F	0 in
October	61°F	32°F	0.8 in
November	47°F	21°F	1.6 in
December	37°F	13°F	2.1 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter draw hunt area 113 on a region licence?: No. Hunt area 113 is a limited-quota draw area and requires a specific licence drawn for this area alone. A region licence is valid only in the general-licence areas of its region, never in limited-quota areas. A resident and nonresident alike must draw specifically for hunt area 113 to hunt here legally.
Does a Wyoming resident need elk preference points to draw hunt area 113?: No. Wyoming residents have no elk preference points; the resident elk draw is random for all hunt areas. Nonresidents, by contrast, use preference points—three quarters of nonresident licences go to the preference-point draw ranked by points held, and a quarter go to a random draw available to all nonresident applicants.
How much of hunt area 113 is public land a hunter can count on?: Approximately 76 percent of the area, or about 653 square miles, is public ground including National Forest, BLM, and State Trust Land where hunters can generally plan to go. Roads, trailheads, seasonal closures, and private inholdings still apply; public ownership does not guarantee straightforward access everywhere.
Can a hunter walk into the walk-in areas in hunt area 113 without permission?: Yes. Converse County Walk-In Areas 7 and 14 require no permission slip or application; a hunter may enter during the posted open period and follow the area's rules. The Cheyenne River Hunter Management Area does require a printed permission slip before hunting.
What are the archery and rifle seasons for any-elk hunting in hunt area 113?: Type 1—Any elk hunting runs archery September 1–30 and regular rifle November 5–30. Type 3—Spike or antlerless elk runs archery September 1–30 and regular rifle November 5–December 31. Type 8—Cow or calf valid on private land only runs regular rifle August 15–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