Wyoming Hunt Area 72 (Berry Creek) elk hunting
Hunt area 72 sits at 6,800 to 11,200 feet across 60 square miles of terrain that grades from moderate to steep, with a mean slope of 20 degrees. The country is bisected by numerous drainages that feed high cirque basins; at lower elevations, spruce and fir mix with sagebrush and grass meadows, while higher up the conifers thin and give way to sagebrush and alpine grass. The area is entirely within Grand Teton National Park, and hunting has been closed here since 1969. This closure means the hunt area has no active season and is not available to hunters.
Access is severely limited because the area lies entirely within the National Park. While 99 percent of the ground is publicly owned by the National Park Service, only the small portion of National Forest land—roughly 1 percent—is generally open to hunting, and even that ground is subject to the closures and restrictions that apply across the entire hunt area. The practical reality is that no hunting opportunity exists here.
2026 season
This hunt area is CLOSED to elk hunting for 2026 by the Wyoming Game & Fish Department. There is no season and no licence to draw for it. Closures are reviewed annually, so check the Chapter 7 elk regulation before planning around this area either way.
Hunting each season
Type — Closed (1)
Hunt area 72 has no open seasons. The entire area is located within Grand Teton National Park and has been closed to hunting since 1969. No elk hunting is permitted here under any circumstances.
Land and access
About <1% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — National Forest, roughly 0 square miles. Public ownership is not the same as easy entry: roads, trailheads, seasonal closures and private inholdings all still apply.
the Wyoming Game & Fish Department publishes 100% 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 includes designated wilderness. Wyoming law requires a nonresident to be accompanied by a licensed guide or a resident guide in designated wilderness.
Where elk are mapped
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
Mid elevations
Higher elevations
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 | 26°F | 7°F | 63.1 in |
| February | 29°F | 8°F | 44.4 in |
| March | 36°F | 15°F | 37.6 in |
| April | 42°F | 22°F | 21.1 in |
| May | 51°F | 30°F | 3.5 in |
| June | 58°F | 37°F | 0.3 in |
| July | 68°F | 44°F | 0 in |
| August | 67°F | 42°F | 0 in |
| September | 57°F | 35°F | 0.1 in |
| October | 44°F | 26°F | 8.7 in |
| November | 32°F | 15°F | 42.2 in |
| December | 24°F | 7°F | 65.6 in |
Snowfall is the monthly total, not depth lying on the ground.
Common questions
- Can a hunter draw a licence for hunt area 72?
- Hunt area 72 is a limited-quota area that requires a drawn licence specific to this area—there is no region-licence alternative. However, the hunt area has been closed to hunting since 1969 and currently has no open season, so no licences are being issued for it.
- Do Wyoming residents need preference points for elk in this area?
- Wyoming residents do not use elk preference points at all; the resident elk draw is purely random. Nonresidents, however, do use preference points in the nonresident elk draw, where three-quarters of available licences go to those with the highest points and a quarter to a random draw.
- What ground can a hunter actually access in hunt area 72?
- Roughly 1 percent of the area is National Forest land that is generally open to hunting, but the hunt area as a whole has been closed to hunting since 1969 and remains closed. The remaining 99 percent is National Park Service land, which is not open to hunting.
- Where is hunt area 72 located?
- Hunt area 72 is located entirely within Grand Teton National Park. The terrain is steep and mountainous, ranging from 6,800 feet at lower elevations to 11,200 feet at higher elevations, and is carved by numerous drainages leading to high cirque basins.
- Why is there no open hunting season in hunt area 72?
- The hunt area lies entirely within Grand Teton National Park, which does not allow hunting. The area has been closed to hunting since 1969 and no open seasons are currently offered there.
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.