Can a hunter draw a pronghorn licence for hunt area 25 as a Wyoming resident?

Yes, residents enter a random draw for this limited-quota hunt area along with nonresidents. Wyoming residents do not accumulate preference points for pronghorn; the resident draw is random regardless of draw history. The area is not sold over the counter and has no regional fallback if the draw does not come through.

How many preference points does a nonresident need to draw hunt area 25?

The facts on point requirements are not published before the draw. Nonresident applicants are divided into two pools: three quarters of the available licences go to the preference-point draw, awarded top-down by points, and the remaining quarter go to a random draw. A nonresident without points or with few points still has a chance through the random pool, but points significantly improve odds.

What portion of hunt area 25 is public land that a hunter can actually access?

About 30% of the area is BLM or State Trust Land—roughly 215 square miles. However, much of that public ground is landlocked by private holdings or has little to no road access. The most accessible public land lies in the south-central portion of the area or along roads east of Interstate 25, and even there, some parcels require walking several miles from a trailhead.

Which seasons run when in hunt area 25?

The hunt area offers one season for any antelope: archery from August 15 through September 30, and regular rifle from October 1 through October 14. Archery overlaps the pre-rut period and the primary rut. Regular season takes place as the rut winds down.

What happens to road conditions in hunt area 25 when it rains?

Many roads in the hunt area become nearly impassable when wet and muddy, especially the unmaintained two-track sections. Hunters should plan access carefully and be prepared for difficulty if weather moves in during scouting or during the hunt itself.

Wyoming Hunt Area 25 (Ormsby) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

30%

Elevation

4,800–6,300 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 25 spreads across rolling hills and sagebrush grasslands at elevations between 4,800 and 6,300 feet. The terrain is gentle: slope averages 4.1 degrees, with 92% of the ground graded gentle and 8% moderate. Grass, meadow, and sagebrush are nearly equal partners across the landscape, each dominating roughly half the cover, with the remainder scattered other vegetation. The country is straightforward for glassing, but getting onto productive ground requires planning: about 30% of the area—roughly 215 square miles—is BLM or State Trust Land that a hunter can generally rely on, but private holdings make up 68% and break that public ground into scattered parcels.

Access to public land here is the hunt's real constraint. Several large public parcels exist, yet many are landlocked by private land or have no road access. Where roads do reach them, many become difficult or impassable when wet. Natrona County Road 705 extends to the county line at an unmaintained two-track for its final 3.5 miles through open sage. The roads immediately east of Interstate 25 and in the south-central part of the hunt area offer better access, but even there, hunters willing to walk several miles from a trailhead will reach ground that others bypass. Given relatively poor public access, hunter pressure concentrates on the few spots that are easy to reach, and pronghorn adjust by shifting more to private land as the season progresses. Hunters considering this area should plan to hike away from the obvious entry points or hunt later in the season when pressure disperses the herds across their full range.

Winter range covers 86% of the hunt area, and yearlong range 80%, meaning pronghorn remain distributed across most of it through the year. Summer range occupies just 13% and crucial winter range 7%; the herds are not squeezed by season into a small core, but they are not evenly spread either.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 25 (Ormsby) 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

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 August-to-October season runs from pre-rut through the waning stages of the rut and spans a dramatic swing in weather. Archery from August 15 through September 30 opens in warm conditions—highs around 82°F in August cooling to 72°F by September—while bucks are establishing territory in early season and moving actively through the primary rut in mid-September before fatigue sets in by month's end. Regular rifle from October 1 through October 14 hunts the tail of the rut as temperatures drop sharply, with highs falling to 57°F and snowfall arriving at around 1.5 inches monthly. Pronghorn remain distributed across the area through both windows, but pressure on the limited accessible public land can push herds toward private ground, especially in the opening weeks; hunters who push into less obvious country or wait until later in the season will encounter pronghorn that have seen less hunting. The license covers any antelope—bucks, does, and fawns—without distinction.

Land and access

private land68%

Private

BLM21%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land9%

Generally open to public hunting

unclassified ownership2%

Ownership unclassified

About 30% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM and State Trust Land, roughly 215 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.

Where pronghorn are mapped

Winter Range86%

used in winter

Yearlong Range80%

the only layer that means year-round use

Summer Range13%

used in summer

Crucial Winter Range7%

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 pronghorn are mapped, not where inside the area they are, and not when they move.

Habitat and cover

Across the unit

Grass and meadow51%

Sagebrush47%

Other cover2%

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	34°F	13°F	5.3 in
February	36°F	14°F	6.4 in
March	46°F	22°F	4.3 in
April	53°F	28°F	3.2 in
May	63°F	38°F	0 in
June	75°F	46°F	0 in
July	84°F	54°F	0 in
August	82°F	52°F	0 in
September	72°F	43°F	0 in
October	57°F	31°F	1.5 in
November	43°F	22°F	3.4 in
December	34°F	14°F	6.6 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter draw a pronghorn licence for hunt area 25 as a Wyoming resident?: Yes, residents enter a random draw for this limited-quota hunt area along with nonresidents. Wyoming residents do not accumulate preference points for pronghorn; the resident draw is random regardless of draw history. The area is not sold over the counter and has no regional fallback if the draw does not come through.
How many preference points does a nonresident need to draw hunt area 25?: The facts on point requirements are not published before the draw. Nonresident applicants are divided into two pools: three quarters of the available licences go to the preference-point draw, awarded top-down by points, and the remaining quarter go to a random draw. A nonresident without points or with few points still has a chance through the random pool, but points significantly improve odds.
What portion of hunt area 25 is public land that a hunter can actually access?: About 30% of the area is BLM or State Trust Land—roughly 215 square miles. However, much of that public ground is landlocked by private holdings or has little to no road access. The most accessible public land lies in the south-central portion of the area or along roads east of Interstate 25, and even there, some parcels require walking several miles from a trailhead.
Which seasons run when in hunt area 25?: The hunt area offers one season for any antelope: archery from August 15 through September 30, and regular rifle from October 1 through October 14. Archery overlaps the pre-rut period and the primary rut. Regular season takes place as the rut winds down.
What happens to road conditions in hunt area 25 when it rains?: Many roads in the hunt area become nearly impassable when wet and muddy, especially the unmaintained two-track sections. Hunters should plan access carefully and be prepared for difficulty if weather moves in during scouting or during the hunt itself.

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