Can a hunter apply for a general or regional pronghorn licence for this hunt area?

Hunt area 38 is a limited-quota draw area, and Wyoming issues no general pronghorn licence over the counter and no region pronghorn licence for any antelope hunt. Every pronghorn hunt area in Wyoming is drawn individually for that specific area. If the draw does not come through, no alternative licence exists.

Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw this pronghorn hunt area?

Wyoming residents have no pronghorn preference points at all, and the resident draw for this area is random. Nonresidents do use preference points, with three quarters of nonresident licences going to the top-ranked applicants by points and a quarter to a random draw within the nonresident pool.

What months does the regular hunting season run for Type 1 licences here?

Type 1 (Any antelope) archery runs August 15 through October 4, and the regular season runs October 5 through October 31.

How much of this hunt area is publicly accessible ground?

About 18 percent of the area—roughly 432 square miles—is ground a hunter can generally count on, including BLM, State Trust Land, National Forest, and State Wildlife Areas. Access is limited and often requires advance scouting of roads and trailheads, and hunters should plan to secure private land access beforehand.

Can a hunter walk into the Hunter Management Areas without permission?

No. Hunter Management Areas—FE Warren, Morton Pass, North Crow, and Pilot Hill—are private ground where a printed permission slip from the Department is required before hunting. Walk-in areas (Platte County Walk In Areas 48, 44, and 62, and Albany County Walk In Area 11) require no permission and may be entered during posted open periods.

Wyoming Hunt Area 38 (Iron Mountain) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

18%

Elevation

4,500–9,000 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 38 spans rolling high prairie to rugged mountain country, rising from 4,500 feet in its lower reaches to 9,000 feet at the top. The western portion is high-elevation sagebrush basin that opens to more broken terrain moving east, where the Laramie Mountains bring in ponderosa pine woodland, mahogany shrublands, and canyon bottoms alongside shortgrass prairie. The eastern flank transitions to lower-elevation shortgrass and agricultural ground. Slope is gentle overall, making most of the country passable on foot, though the mix of timbered ridges and open parks means hunters work a varied landscape. At lower elevations, grass and meadow dominate the understory with scattered sagebrush and riparian strips; mid-elevation ground runs similar, with more sagebrush in the mix; higher elevations shift toward sagebrush with open parks of grass breaking it up.

Access is the real constraint here. Eighteen percent of the area—roughly 432 square miles—is ground a hunter can generally count on: BLM, State Trust Land, National Forest, and State Wildlife Areas. Private land makes up the rest. Walk-in areas include Platte County Walk In Areas 48, 44, and 62, plus Albany County Walk In Area 11, where hunters may enter during posted open periods without permission. Hunter Management Areas on private ground—FE Warren, Morton Pass, North Crow, and Pilot Hill—require a printed permission slip from the Department before hunting and must be scouted beforehand; enrollment is renegotiated annually. The Department rates public access as poor, and roads, trailheads, and seasonal closures mean even mapped public land is not always reachable. Hunters planning this area are strongly advised to secure private land access before applying for the draw.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 38 (Iron Mountain) 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 – October 4Regular October 5 – October 31
Type 2 · Any antelope south of Wyoming Highway 34
Archery August 15 – October 4Regular October 5 – November 30
Type 6 · Doe or fawn
Archery August 15 – October 4Regular November 1 – December 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)

Type 1 hunting (any antelope) runs archery August 15 through October 4 and regular hunting October 5 through October 31, covering the run-up to the peak rut and into its recovery phase. During archery season pronghorn are beginning to establish territories and move into pre-rut behavior, and temperatures range from warm early-month highs near 80 degrees down to freezing nights by early October. Rifle season coincides with the tail end of the rut and early fall grouping, when pronghorn consolidate into larger bands and temperatures drop sharply into the 40s and 50s. Pronghorn are well distributed across the area in October, though extreme winds of 40 to 80 miles per hour are common throughout fall and winter and demand that hunters plan accordingly. Public lands see concentrated pressure on accessible areas, and hunters should expect crowding on reachable Walk-in Areas and Hunter Management Areas.

Type 2 — Any antelope south of Wyoming… (August–November)

Type 2 hunting (any antelope south of Wyoming Highway 34) runs archery August 15 through October 4 and regular hunting October 5 through November 30, restricting the hunt to the southern portion of the area below the highway. Archery season covers pre-rut territory formation and the primary rut as pronghorn are pushed by early-fall temperature swings from warm August days to crisp mornings by October. The rifle season extends into late fall, spanning the rut recovery and fall grouping phases when animals band together, and continuing as snow accumulates—November averages 4 inches and December nearly 6 inches. Pronghorn shift east and consolidate as the season progresses, and extreme winds persist through the period. The extended November-into-December window offers hunters space to spread out beyond the compressed October rifle window, though weather becomes a more significant factor as the season deepens.

Type 6 — Doe or fawn (August–December)

Type 6 hunting (doe or fawn only) runs archery August 15 through October 4 and regular hunting November 1 through December 31, offering a split between early-fall archery when territories are forming and the rut is building, and a late-season rifle hunt deep into winter. Early-season archery sees temperatures cooling from August's 80-degree highs toward the 50s, while rifle season runs from November onward as snow totals climb through the latter months—November brings 4 inches, December 5.8 inches—and high-temperature highs drop from the 40s into the mid-30s. This season concentrates female harvest in the later months when pronghorn are transitioning to winter grouping and moving east. Doe-and-fawn-only restrictions throughout mean hunters must identify their quarry carefully at all ranges, particularly as the season deepens into shorter daylight and more unpredictable weather. Hunters are encouraged to hunt late in the season to better spread pressure away from the concentrated October rifle window.

Land and access

private land81%

Private

BLM7%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land7%

Generally open to public hunting

National Forest3%

Generally open to public hunting

About 18% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM, State Trust Land, National Forest and State Wildlife Areas, roughly 432 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 11% 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 has 4 enrolled walk-in areas. It also holds 4 Hunter Management Areas. Both are 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. A Walk-In Area needs no permission slip — a hunter may walk in during the open period, subject to its posted rules. Enrollment is renegotiated every year, so check current status before counting on either.

Where pronghorn are mapped

Winter Range70%

used in winter

Yearlong Range58%

the only layer that means year-round use

Summer Range22%

used in summer

Crucial Winter Range17%

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

Lower elevations

Grass and meadow76%

Other cover10%

Sagebrush9%

Riparian4%

Conifer1%

Mid elevations

Grass and meadow77%

Sagebrush16%

Riparian3%

Other cover2%

Conifer2%

Higher elevations

Sagebrush52%

Grass and meadow38%

Conifer7%

Other cover2%

Riparian1%

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	15°F	3.5 in
February	36°F	15°F	5.2 in
March	46°F	22°F	3.1 in
April	52°F	28°F	2.9 in
May	62°F	37°F	0 in
June	74°F	46°F	0 in
July	82°F	52°F	0 in
August	80°F	51°F	0 in
September	71°F	42°F	0 in
October	57°F	31°F	2.3 in
November	43°F	22°F	4 in
December	34°F	15°F	5.8 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter apply for a general or regional pronghorn licence for this hunt area?: Hunt area 38 is a limited-quota draw area, and Wyoming issues no general pronghorn licence over the counter and no region pronghorn licence for any antelope hunt. Every pronghorn hunt area in Wyoming is drawn individually for that specific area. If the draw does not come through, no alternative licence exists.
Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw this pronghorn hunt area?: Wyoming residents have no pronghorn preference points at all, and the resident draw for this area is random. Nonresidents do use preference points, with three quarters of nonresident licences going to the top-ranked applicants by points and a quarter to a random draw within the nonresident pool.
What months does the regular hunting season run for Type 1 licences here?: Type 1 (Any antelope) archery runs August 15 through October 4, and the regular season runs October 5 through October 31.
How much of this hunt area is publicly accessible ground?: About 18 percent of the area—roughly 432 square miles—is ground a hunter can generally count on, including BLM, State Trust Land, National Forest, and State Wildlife Areas. Access is limited and often requires advance scouting of roads and trailheads, and hunters should plan to secure private land access beforehand.
Can a hunter walk into the Hunter Management Areas without permission?: No. Hunter Management Areas—FE Warren, Morton Pass, North Crow, and Pilot Hill—are private ground where a printed permission slip from the Department is required before hunting. Walk-in areas (Platte County Walk In Areas 48, 44, and 62, and Albany County Walk In Area 11) require no permission and may be entered during posted open periods.

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