Can a hunter draw a general or region pronghorn licence for hunt area 10?

No. Every pronghorn hunt area in Wyoming is limited quota and must be drawn for that specific area. There is no general pronghorn licence sold over the counter and no region licence issued for pronghorn anywhere in the state. If a hunter does not draw for hunt area 10, there is no alternative licence to fall back on.

Do Wyoming residents need preference points for a pronghorn draw in this hunt area?

No. Residents draw for pronghorn randomly, with no preference points system. Nonresidents, by contrast, compete in a draw where three quarters of the available licences go to those with the most preference points and a quarter enter a random draw; nonresident preference points are therefore significant. Residents simply enter the resident random draw.

How much of hunt area 10 is public ground a hunter can count on?

About 20 square miles of State Trust Land and BLM parcels are dependably open, scattered throughout the area and often adjacent to county roads. That represents roughly 11% of the 179-square-mile hunt area. The remaining 89% is private land.

What is the best way to access pronghorn habitat in this hunt area?

A hunter should secure permission to hunt private land before applying for a licence, as most pronghorn habitat lies on private ranches. Access typically requires payment of a trespass fee and must be arranged in advance. Public lands hold some pronghorn but offer limited opportunity compared to the private ground.

When do the pronghorn seasons run in hunt area 10?

Two seasons are offered: a Type 1 Any Antelope hunt running from August 15 through October 14, with an archery window from August 15–September 30 and a rifle window October 1–14; and a Type 6 Doe or Fawn hunt from August 15 through October 31, with archery August 15–September 30 and rifle October 1–31. The archery windows overlap both seasons throughout early fall.

Wyoming Hunt Area 10 (Lake De Smet) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

11%

Elevation

3,800–5,100 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 10 is a 179-square-mile landscape of sagebrush, grassland and scattered agricultural patches stretching from 3,800 to 5,100 feet. Terrain averages gentle to rolling, with 77% of the ground sloping gently and the remaining share moderate; the country is navigable on foot, though pronghorn range across much of the area except for rougher sections in the north-central part. Sagebrush dominates the cover, accounting for two-thirds of the vegetation, while grassland and meadow make up most of the remainder. The hunt area sits on the edge of private country, and access is the defining constraint here.

Nearly all of hunt area 10 is private land. Only about 20 square miles of State Trust Land and BLM ground are dependably open to hunters, scattered in small parcels often adjacent to county roads. Those public acres hold some pronghorn, but the bulk of the accessible habitat lies on private ranches, and entry there requires permission before the season opens. Most private access is arranged by paying a trespass fee; there are no Hunter Management Areas or Walk-In Areas enrolled here. A hunter planning to pursue pronghorn in this area must secure access to private land in advance—applying for the licence without that permission in hand is unlikely to result in a productive season.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 10 (Lake De Smet) is limited quota. A licence for it must be drawn for this hunt area specifically, by resident and nonresident alike. Wyoming issues no general pronghorn licence and no region pronghorn licence, so there is no over-the-counter option and no regional fallback: every pronghorn hunt area in the state is drawn on its own.

Wyoming residents have no preference points for pronghorn — the resident pronghorn 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 antelope
Archery August 15 – September 30Regular October 1 – October 14
Type 6 · Doe or fawn
Archery August 15 – September 30Regular October 1 – October 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 pronghorn 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 antelope (August–October)

The Type 1 Any Antelope hunt opens to archery on August 15 during the pre-rut as bucks begin establishing territory, and extends through the primary rut in September when males are most active; archery runs through September 30, a period when temperatures drop from the low 80s into the 70s and moisture remains sparse. The rifle season follows October 1–14, spanning the tail end of the rut into the post-rut recovery phase as pronghorn begin to band up for fall; October brings colder days in the upper 50s and nights near freezing, with an average of 1.1 inches of snow possible mid-month. Access on public lands is limited to scattered State Trust Land and BLM parcels, so most hunters will depend on private-land permission arranged before the season. This hunt is valid for any antelope and allows hunters to pursue either sex or young animals with no restriction.

Type 6 — Doe or fawn (August–October)

Hunting does or fawns under Type 6 archery closely mirrors the buck seasons from August 15–September 30, with the same pre-rut and primary-rut activity and warm-to-cool weather progression as temperatures fall from the 80s to the low 70s. The rifle window extends much longer, running October 1–31 and carrying the hunt through the late rut, post-rut recovery, and into the fall grouping phase as pronghorn shift social structure ahead of winter; conditions cool steadily from the upper 50s in early October to the upper 40s by month's end, with occasional snow. Public access remains restricted to small State Trust Land and BLM parcels; securing private permission well before the season is essential. This hunt is limited to does and fawns only—bucks are not legal.

Land and access

private land89%

Private

State Trust Land10%

Generally open to public hunting

About 11% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — State Trust Land and BLM, roughly 20 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 2% 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.

Where pronghorn are mapped

Yearlong Range98%

the only layer that means year-round use

Each figure is the share of the hunt area that layer covers. It says where pronghorn are mapped, not where inside the area they are, and not when they move.

Habitat and cover

Across the unit

Sagebrush65%

Grass and meadow21%

Other cover11%

Riparian4%

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	36°F	12°F	5.1 in
February	38°F	13°F	4.6 in
March	48°F	22°F	2.9 in
April	54°F	29°F	1.9 in
May	64°F	38°F	0 in
June	74°F	47°F	0 in
July	84°F	54°F	0 in
August	83°F	52°F	0 in
September	73°F	43°F	0 in
October	58°F	31°F	1.1 in
November	45°F	21°F	2.6 in
December	36°F	13°F	5.2 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter draw a general or region pronghorn licence for hunt area 10?: No. Every pronghorn hunt area in Wyoming is limited quota and must be drawn for that specific area. There is no general pronghorn licence sold over the counter and no region licence issued for pronghorn anywhere in the state. If a hunter does not draw for hunt area 10, there is no alternative licence to fall back on.
Do Wyoming residents need preference points for a pronghorn draw in this hunt area?: No. Residents draw for pronghorn randomly, with no preference points system. Nonresidents, by contrast, compete in a draw where three quarters of the available licences go to those with the most preference points and a quarter enter a random draw; nonresident preference points are therefore significant. Residents simply enter the resident random draw.
How much of hunt area 10 is public ground a hunter can count on?: About 20 square miles of State Trust Land and BLM parcels are dependably open, scattered throughout the area and often adjacent to county roads. That represents roughly 11% of the 179-square-mile hunt area. The remaining 89% is private land.
What is the best way to access pronghorn habitat in this hunt area?: A hunter should secure permission to hunt private land before applying for a licence, as most pronghorn habitat lies on private ranches. Access typically requires payment of a trespass fee and must be arranged in advance. Public lands hold some pronghorn but offer limited opportunity compared to the private ground.
When do the pronghorn seasons run in hunt area 10?: Two seasons are offered: a Type 1 Any Antelope hunt running from August 15 through October 14, with an archery window from August 15–September 30 and a rifle window October 1–14; and a Type 6 Doe or Fawn hunt from August 15 through October 31, with archery August 15–September 30 and rifle October 1–31. The archery windows overlap both seasons throughout early fall.

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 pronghorn hunt areas