Can a hunter obtain a license for hunt area 99 with a region license?

No. Hunt area 99 is a limited-quota hunt area and must be drawn individually for that area specifically. A region license is valid only in general-license areas of that region, never in limited-quota areas. A hunter drawn for hunt area 99 will receive a license valid for that area alone.

Do Wyoming residents need preference points for elk in hunt area 99?

No. Wyoming residents do not have preference points for elk at all; the resident elk draw is random. Nonresidents, however, do use preference points: three quarters of nonresident licenses go to the preference-point draw (top-down by points) and a quarter go to a random draw open to all nonresidents in the pool.

Can a nonresident hunt the designated wilderness in hunt area 99 without a guide?

No. Wyoming law requires a nonresident to be accompanied by a licensed guide or a resident guide within designated wilderness. A nonresident planning to hunt this area must arrange for a guide if any portion of their hunt will be in wilderness.

What percentage of hunt area 99 is public land?

About 89 percent of the area is public land—BLM, National Forest and State Trust Land—totaling roughly 611 square miles. Private land makes up 8 percent, interspersed especially along riparian corridors and near Farson. Public ownership does not guarantee easy access; roads, trailheads, seasonal closures and private inholdings all still apply.

When do the archery and rifle seasons run in hunt area 99?

Archery season for any elk runs September 1–30, and rifle season for any elk runs October 1–31. An antlerless rifle season runs November 1–20. A Type 4 license allows archery for antlerless elk September 1–30 and rifle for antlerless elk October 1–November 20. Dates are exact and vary by license type.

Wyoming Hunt Area 99 (Big Sandy) elk hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

89%

Elevation

6,600–13,200 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 99 spans 688 square miles from sagebrush foothills and river bottoms at 6,600 feet up to the alpine rock of the Wind River Range above 13,200 feet, with typical ground around 7,200 feet. The terrain is gentle overall, graded at a mean slope of 5.3 degrees. The country transitions from rolling sagebrush at lower elevations through aspen and conifer forests on the mid and upper slopes, with alpine habitat in the high peaks. The northern mountainous portion holds the most elevation change, where thick conifer stands dominate the public forest lands. The Big Sandy, Little Sandy and Sweetwater rivers drain the majority of the area, with private agricultural land concentrated in the valleys near major drainages and the town of Farson in the southwestern corner.

About 89 percent of the area is public land a hunter can generally count on—BLM, National Forest and State Trust Land totaling roughly 611 square miles—but private holdings intersperse throughout, especially along riparian corridors. Public ownership does not guarantee easy entry; roads, trailheads, seasonal closures and private inholdings all still apply. The unpaved but improved Lander and Farson Cutoff Roads provide major access, with multiple spur roads branching from them. On the Forest, Big Sandy Openings, Squaw Creeks, Blucher Creek and Sweetwater River roads are the principal access routes. Hunt area 99 contains designated wilderness; Wyoming law requires a nonresident to be accompanied by a licensed guide or a resident guide within that wilderness.

Late-season snow—typically arriving in late October and November—pushes elk down from the higher country to more accessible elevations near the Forest Service and BLM boundary and the Prospect Mountains. Earlier in the season, elk are distributed throughout the conifer and aspen stands on the National Forest lands and across the public BLM and State ground at lower elevations.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 99 (Big Sandy) 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 1 – October 31
Type 1 · Antlerless elk
Regular November 1 – November 20
Type 4 · Antlerless elk
Archery September 1 – September 30Regular October 1 – November 20

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)

Archery season in September runs through the rut onset and into the primary rut, when bulls are actively calling and moving to find cows; elk are spread throughout the conifer and aspen country of the National Forest and across the public BLM and State lands, where thick cover makes glassing difficult and closing distances on calling bulls a challenge. Temperatures start mild, with highs around 69 degrees and lows near 38 degrees, and snowfall is minimal at about 0.3 inches for the month. Rifle season in October extends through the late rut and early post-rut recovery, as bulls become less vocal and more cautious; access improves across the same public lands as temperatures cool—highs dropping to around 54 degrees and lows to 27 degrees—and early snow begins to accumulate, averaging 2.3 inches for the month. This is any-elk hunting, allowing either sex.

Type 1 — Antlerless elk (November)

November rifle hunting for antlerless elk runs through the migration transition phase, as herds begin to shift with the advancing season. Late-season snow pushes elk down to more accessible elevations near the Forest Service and BLM boundary and the Prospect Mountains, concentrating animals in those lower-elevation country where access improves. Conditions deteriorate significantly through the month—highs average 40 degrees and lows 16 degrees—and snowfall increases substantially, averaging 8.8 inches, which can restrict access on high routes but further compresses elk into the lower public lands. This hunt is for antlerless elk only, on a Type 1 license.

Type 4 — Antlerless elk (September–November)

Type 4 archery in September through early October follows the rut onset and primary rut, with bulls active and audible; elk are distributed in the conifer and aspen stands on public forest and lower-elevation BLM and State lands, and early-season access is generally good across those roads and trailheads, though thick cover requires close stalking. Temperatures run mild in September (highs ~69F, lows ~38F) and cool through early October (highs dropping toward 54F, lows toward 27F), with minimal snowfall in September (~0.3 in) and snow beginning in October (~2.3 in). Type 4 rifle then extends from early October into November, spanning the late rut, post-rut recovery and migration transition; late-season snow accelerates the shift of elk downslope to the lower boundaries and Prospect Mountains, and the advancing season—with November highs near 40 degrees and lows near 16 degrees, and snowfall averaging 8.8 inches—concentrates animals in more accessible terrain even as road and trailhead conditions degrade. This hunt is for antlerless elk only throughout.

Land and access

BLM69%

Generally open to public hunting

National Forest14%

Generally open to public hunting

private land8%

Private

State Trust Land6%

Generally open to public hunting

unclassified ownership3%

Ownership unclassified

About 89% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM, National Forest and State Trust Land, roughly 611 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 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

Winter Range45%

used in winter

Crucial Winter Range45%

the part of Winter Range considered essential to the herd — inside Winter Range, not added to it

Summer Range19%

used in summer

Parturition Areas15%

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

Lower elevations

Sagebrush91%

Other cover7%

Riparian2%

Mid elevations

Sagebrush97%

Grass and meadow2%

Riparian1%

Higher elevations

Sagebrush50%

Conifer30%

Grass and meadow10%

Riparian4%

Aspen4%

Other cover1%

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	30°F	7°F	8.5 in
February	32°F	8°F	9.3 in
March	42°F	17°F	7.4 in
April	51°F	24°F	4.6 in
May	61°F	34°F	0.4 in
June	72°F	41°F	0 in
July	81°F	48°F	0 in
August	79°F	47°F	0 in
September	69°F	38°F	0.3 in
October	54°F	27°F	2.3 in
November	40°F	16°F	8.8 in
December	30°F	7°F	11.4 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter obtain a license for hunt area 99 with a region license?: No. Hunt area 99 is a limited-quota hunt area and must be drawn individually for that area specifically. A region license is valid only in general-license areas of that region, never in limited-quota areas. A hunter drawn for hunt area 99 will receive a license valid for that area alone.
Do Wyoming residents need preference points for elk in hunt area 99?: No. Wyoming residents do not have preference points for elk at all; the resident elk draw is random. Nonresidents, however, do use preference points: three quarters of nonresident licenses go to the preference-point draw (top-down by points) and a quarter go to a random draw open to all nonresidents in the pool.
Can a nonresident hunt the designated wilderness in hunt area 99 without a guide?: No. Wyoming law requires a nonresident to be accompanied by a licensed guide or a resident guide within designated wilderness. A nonresident planning to hunt this area must arrange for a guide if any portion of their hunt will be in wilderness.
What percentage of hunt area 99 is public land?: About 89 percent of the area is public land—BLM, National Forest and State Trust Land—totaling roughly 611 square miles. Private land makes up 8 percent, interspersed especially along riparian corridors and near Farson. Public ownership does not guarantee easy access; roads, trailheads, seasonal closures and private inholdings all still apply.
When do the archery and rifle seasons run in hunt area 99?: Archery season for any elk runs September 1–30, and rifle season for any elk runs October 1–31. An antlerless rifle season runs November 1–20. A Type 4 license allows archery for antlerless elk September 1–30 and rifle for antlerless elk October 1–November 20. Dates are exact and vary by license type.

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