What license does a hunter need to hunt this area?

Hunt area 47 is limited-quota for residents and nonresidents alike, drawn specifically for this area. A region general license does not cover it; a hunter must draw a license for this hunt area in particular. Residents enter a random draw with no preference points; nonresidents compete in a draw pool where three quarters of licenses go to those with the most preference points and a quarter go to a random draw that all nonresidents enter.

Can a hunter walk onto the walk-in areas without applying?

Hot Springs County Walk In Areas 8 and 19 are open to walk-in hunting during their posted seasons, and no application or permission slip is required. These are private lands enrolled in the walk-in program, and access is governed by posted rules and renegotiated annually, so a hunter should always check conditions before heading out.

Does Kirby Creek Hunter Management Area require a permission slip?

Yes, Kirby Creek is an HMA and requires a printed permission slip from Wyoming Game and Fish before hunting. The slip must be obtained in advance; it is not issued at the gate or online. Enrollment is renegotiated annually, so availability is not guaranteed from year to year.

When do the archery and rifle seasons run?

Archery for Type 1 (any elk) and Type 6 (cow or calf) runs September 1 through September 30. Regular (rifle) seasons for Type 1 any elk run October 9 through October 31, Type 1 antlerless elk runs November 1 through November 30, and Type 6 cow or calf runs October 9 through November 30.

Where does most of the elk on this area actually live?

Most of the elk in hunt area 47 spend their time on private land, especially higher ground where access is limited or closed. During mild weather, elk stay on private holdings; only in cold, snowy conditions do herds regularly shift down to public land where a hunter without private access has a chance to find them.

Wyoming Hunt Area 47 (Copper Mountain) elk hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

63%

Elevation

4,300–8,300 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 47 is rolling sagebrush and grassland hills with ridges interspersed by draws and canyons, ranging from 4,300 feet in the lower country to 8,300 feet at the high end, with typical ground around 5,500 feet. The terrain is gentle, grading mostly level to moderately rolling. Sagebrush dominates across all elevations—73 to 80 percent of the lower and middle country, 75 percent at higher elevations—with grass and meadow making up most of the rest, and scattered conifers appearing in the upper bands. This is a country where a hunter covers ground on foot through open and semi-open terrain, with few natural barriers to movement but few dramatic vistas either.

Access is the defining constraint here. Roughly 63 percent of the area—about 440 square miles—is public land (BLM and State Trust Land) where a hunter can count on entry, but the remaining 37 percent is private, and much of it holds elk. The private holdings concentrate where elk congregate, especially on higher ground. Hot Springs County Walk In Area 8 and Hot Springs County Walk In Area 19 are open during their posted seasons and need no application or permission. Kirby Creek Hunter Management Area requires a printed permission slip from Wyoming Game and Fish before hunting, though enrollment is subject to annual renegotiation. Without access to private land or a significant cold-weather event pushing elk down to lower public ground, a hunter here faces long odds of finding elk in country where the herds often stay put on ground that is closed.

Seasons differ in what they offer as the fall progresses. Early archery is wide open and fast, the rut is building, and temperatures are mild. Regular seasons from October onward cool into winter, bring snow to the high country, and see elk moving through middle elevations toward their winter grounds. Late season is cold and snow begins to accumulate.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 47 (Copper Mountain) 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 October 9 – October 31
Type 1 · Antlerless elk
Regular November 1 – November 30
Type 6 · Cow or calf
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular October 9 – November 30

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–October)

Early fall archery from September 1 through 30 finds elk moving into the rut, clustering in herds and beginning to respond to calls. Weather is warm—highs near 74 degrees—and snow is rare, so archery hunters have long days with stable conditions. Access is limited by private land as usual, and without private access or an early cold snap, a hunter on public ground faces long odds of crossing elk unless they find them on the walk-in areas. The any-elk license lets a hunter take either sex.

Type 1 — Antlerless elk (November)

Regular rifle hunting for antlerless elk runs through November, when the rut has passed and elk are moving toward their winter grounds. Temperatures cool steadily, dropping from the 50s in early November to the 40s and below by month's end, and snowfall increases to an average of 1.6 inches per month. Colder weather pushes some herds from private holdings onto lower public land where access improves, though the walk-in areas and HMA still offer the most reliable entry. This license is limited to cow and calf elk only, not bulls.

Type 6 — Cow or calf (September–November)

Type 6 cow-or-calf hunting spans both archery (September 1–30) and regular rifle (October 9–November 30), and covers the full transition from the rut peak into winter range shift. Archery takes place during warm early fall and the primary rut, when herds are active and responsive. Rifle seasons begin as the rut winds down in October (highs near 58 degrees, with about 1.2 inches of average monthly snow) and run through November as temperatures drop and snowfall climbs. The long rifle window lets a hunter adjust to conditions; early in the window elk may still be responding to pressure, but cold weather in October and November often pushes them onto lower public ground where a hunter's access improves. This license is limited to cow and calf elk only.

Land and access

BLM55%

Generally open to public hunting

private land37%

Private

State Trust Land8%

Generally open to public hunting

About 63% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM and State Trust Land, roughly 440 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 50% 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 Range41%

the only layer that means year-round use

Winter Range9%

used in winter

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

Lower elevations

Sagebrush73%

Grass and meadow18%

Other cover7%

Riparian2%

Mid elevations

Sagebrush80%

Grass and meadow14%

Other cover5%

Conifer1%

Higher elevations

Sagebrush75%

Grass and meadow18%

Conifer6%

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	32°F	9°F	2.1 in
February	37°F	12°F	3.2 in
March	49°F	23°F	1.6 in
April	56°F	31°F	0.8 in
May	66°F	40°F	0 in
June	78°F	49°F	0 in
July	87°F	56°F	0 in
August	85°F	54°F	0 in
September	74°F	44°F	0 in
October	58°F	32°F	1.2 in
November	43°F	20°F	1.6 in
December	32°F	10°F	3.1 in

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

Common questions

What license does a hunter need to hunt this area?: Hunt area 47 is limited-quota for residents and nonresidents alike, drawn specifically for this area. A region general license does not cover it; a hunter must draw a license for this hunt area in particular. Residents enter a random draw with no preference points; nonresidents compete in a draw pool where three quarters of licenses go to those with the most preference points and a quarter go to a random draw that all nonresidents enter.
Can a hunter walk onto the walk-in areas without applying?: Hot Springs County Walk In Areas 8 and 19 are open to walk-in hunting during their posted seasons, and no application or permission slip is required. These are private lands enrolled in the walk-in program, and access is governed by posted rules and renegotiated annually, so a hunter should always check conditions before heading out.
Does Kirby Creek Hunter Management Area require a permission slip?: Yes, Kirby Creek is an HMA and requires a printed permission slip from Wyoming Game and Fish before hunting. The slip must be obtained in advance; it is not issued at the gate or online. Enrollment is renegotiated annually, so availability is not guaranteed from year to year.
When do the archery and rifle seasons run?: Archery for Type 1 (any elk) and Type 6 (cow or calf) runs September 1 through September 30. Regular (rifle) seasons for Type 1 any elk run October 9 through October 31, Type 1 antlerless elk runs November 1 through November 30, and Type 6 cow or calf runs October 9 through November 30.
Where does most of the elk on this area actually live?: Most of the elk in hunt area 47 spend their time on private land, especially higher ground where access is limited or closed. During mild weather, elk stay on private holdings; only in cold, snowy conditions do herds regularly shift down to public land where a hunter without private access has a chance to find them.

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