Can a hunter access pronghorn ground without private permission in hunt area 31?

Yes, roughly one-third of the area is public land open to hunting. State Trust Land south of Glenrock and west of Deer Creek, plus BLM and National Forest parcels, are accessible via the Hat Six Road and Smith Creek Road corridors and scattered trailheads. However, boundaries between public and private land are not consistently marked on the ground, so a hunter must navigate carefully with a GPS showing land ownership and watch for posted property.

What is the Hat Six Hunter Management Area and how does a hunter use it?

The Hat Six HMA is private land enrolled by agreement with Wyoming Game and Fish to allow public antelope hunting. A hunter must first obtain a printed permission slip before entering, and then follow the specific ranch rules posted for that area. Enrollment is renegotiated each year, so the HMA may not always be available; a hunter should verify current access through the Wyoming Game and Fish website before planning a hunt.

Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw hunt area 31?

No. Wyoming residents enter a random draw for pronghorn with no preference points at all. Nonresidents, by contrast, are separated into two pools: three-quarters of the licenses go by preference-point ranking, and a quarter go to a random draw regardless of points.

When do the archery and rifle seasons run on this hunt area?

Archery runs August 15 through September 24, and the regular season runs September 25 through October 31. Both windows are part of the same Any Antelope hunt, so a successful archer may hunt the rifle season as well if a license is drawn for this specific area.

What should a hunter know about camping in hunt area 31?

State Trust Land within the hunt area does not permit overnight camping. Private land dominates and requires permission. A hunter should plan to lodge in Casper or arrange camping privately before arriving, as public overnight options in the hunt area itself are essentially unavailable.

Wyoming Hunt Area 31 (Hat Six) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

33%

Elevation

5,000–8,800 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 31 is open country where sagebrush, grass, and small scattered vegetation dominate the landscape. The area spans 317 square miles between 5,000 and 8,800 feet, with typical ground around 5,700 feet. Most of the hunt area is gentle; 81% of it slopes under the point where walking becomes steep work. Lower elevations are split roughly equally between grass and sagebrush with some riparian cover along draws. At mid elevations, sagebrush takes over, and higher ground brings conifers and aspen in alongside the sage. Pronghorn occupy the open habitats throughout, though they avoid the rough, timbered, mountainous sections and concentrate in the high meadows only during summer.

Two-thirds of the hunt area is private land, and that creates access challenges. About 33% is public ground—State Trust Land, BLM, and National Forest—roughly 105 square miles a hunter can count on. State parcels south of Glenrock and west of Deer Creek hold some public access, as do the Hat Six Road and Smith Creek Road corridors. Two-track roads offer driving access in places, but hunters often must stop before private holdings begin and continue on foot. Land boundaries are not consistently marked on the ground; a GPS with ownership layers is essential to avoid trespass. The Hat Six Hunter Management Area provides additional access to private antelope ground by permission and printed slip.

Casper sits directly adjacent to hunt area 31, making gas, food, and lodging immediately accessible. The trade-off is that little overnight camping exists in the hunt area itself—State Trust Land forbids it, and private holdings dominate. A hunter bases out of town or arranges private permission for a camp.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 31 (Hat Six) 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 24Regular September 25 – 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)

Hunting hunt area 31 from August through October spans the rise and peak of the pronghorn rut and the transition back to fall grouping. The archery window (August 15–September 24) opens during pre-rut territory formation when bucks are beginning to establish holdings, then carries into the primary rut itself; early-season weather is warm, with highs around 85°F in August cooling to the mid-70s by late September and September snowfall negligible. The rifle portion (September 25–October 31) hunts straight through the primary rut, the late-rut recovery phase, and into fall grouping as animals prepare for winter; temperatures drop sharply, with October highs near 59°F and occasional snow—around 1.2 inches monthly—becoming a factor late in the season. Access depends on public-land navigation and private permission. The hunt is for any antelope, including bucks, does, and fawns, and it applies throughout the hunt area without geographic restriction.

Land and access

private land66%

Private

State Trust Land27%

Generally open to public hunting

BLM5%

Generally open to public hunting

unclassified ownership1%

Ownership unclassified

National Forest1%

Generally open to public hunting

About 33% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — State Trust Land, BLM and National Forest, roughly 105 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.

It also holds 1 Hunter Management Area. That is 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. Enrollment is renegotiated every year, so check current status before counting on either.

Where pronghorn are mapped

Yearlong Range52%

the only layer that means year-round use

Winter Range47%

used in winter

Summer Range21%

used in summer

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

Lower elevations

Grass and meadow39%

Sagebrush31%

Other cover23%

Riparian6%

Mid elevations

Sagebrush69%

Grass and meadow22%

Other cover5%

Riparian3%

Conifer2%

Higher elevations

Sagebrush49%

Conifer31%

Grass and meadow16%

Aspen3%

Riparian2%

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	15°F	4.2 in
February	38°F	15°F	6.4 in
March	48°F	23°F	3.1 in
April	55°F	29°F	2.3 in
May	66°F	39°F	0 in
June	78°F	47°F	0 in
July	87°F	54°F	0 in
August	85°F	53°F	0 in
September	74°F	44°F	0 in
October	59°F	32°F	1.2 in
November	46°F	23°F	2.9 in
December	35°F	15°F	5.8 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter access pronghorn ground without private permission in hunt area 31?: Yes, roughly one-third of the area is public land open to hunting. State Trust Land south of Glenrock and west of Deer Creek, plus BLM and National Forest parcels, are accessible via the Hat Six Road and Smith Creek Road corridors and scattered trailheads. However, boundaries between public and private land are not consistently marked on the ground, so a hunter must navigate carefully with a GPS showing land ownership and watch for posted property.
What is the Hat Six Hunter Management Area and how does a hunter use it?: The Hat Six HMA is private land enrolled by agreement with Wyoming Game and Fish to allow public antelope hunting. A hunter must first obtain a printed permission slip before entering, and then follow the specific ranch rules posted for that area. Enrollment is renegotiated each year, so the HMA may not always be available; a hunter should verify current access through the Wyoming Game and Fish website before planning a hunt.
Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw hunt area 31?: No. Wyoming residents enter a random draw for pronghorn with no preference points at all. Nonresidents, by contrast, are separated into two pools: three-quarters of the licenses go by preference-point ranking, and a quarter go to a random draw regardless of points.
When do the archery and rifle seasons run on this hunt area?: Archery runs August 15 through September 24, and the regular season runs September 25 through October 31. Both windows are part of the same Any Antelope hunt, so a successful archer may hunt the rifle season as well if a license is drawn for this specific area.
What should a hunter know about camping in hunt area 31?: State Trust Land within the hunt area does not permit overnight camping. Private land dominates and requires permission. A hunter should plan to lodge in Casper or arrange camping privately before arriving, as public overnight options in the hunt area itself are essentially unavailable.

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