Can a hunter draw hunt area 4 as a resident or nonresident?

Hunt area 4 is a limited-quota draw area, entered by drawing a license specific to this area for either residents or nonresidents. Wyoming sells no general pronghorn license over the counter and issues no regional pronghorn license; drawing for this hunt area is the only way in. Residents enter a random draw, while nonresidents compete in a preference-point system where three-quarters of licenses go to the highest-point applicants and a quarter go to a random draw of all nonresident applicants.

Do nonresidents need preference points to draw hunt area 4?

Nonresidents with preference points have a substantial advantage, as three-quarters of nonresident licenses are awarded to the highest-point applicants in a top-down order. Those without points can enter the random quarter-draw, but point holders have significantly better odds. Residents draw randomly with no points at all.

What public land does hunt area 4 contain?

About 39 square miles of the 233-square-mile area is public—BLM, State Trust Land sections, and a portion of Thunder Basin National Grassland. Access to these parcels is not guaranteed; roads, trailheads, seasonal closures, and private inholdings may limit actual entry. Much of the National Grassland within this area is timbered with few pronghorn, and most publicly accessible ground holds little game.

Can a hunter use Crook County Walk-In Area 8 without applying?

Yes, Crook County Walk-In Area 8 requires no permission slip or application; a hunter may walk in during the posted open season subject to its rules. Enrollment is renegotiated annually, so check current status before the season.

When should a hunter plan to hunt hunt area 4?

The archery season runs August 15 through September 30, while the regular season extends October 1 through November 20. Early-to-mid-season archery hunting is favored here because pronghorn begin shedding their horn sheaths in late October or early November, making later hunting less appealing for most.

Wyoming Hunt Area 4 (Arch Creek) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

17%

Elevation

4,100–5,500 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 4 spreads across sagebrush-dominated hills, mixed-grass prairie, and cultivated fields between 4,100 and 5,500 feet elevation. The country is mostly gentle, averaging 3.6 degrees of slope, with 92% of the ground rolling easy enough to cover on foot without scrambling. Grassland and meadow make up about seven-tenths of the cover, with sagebrush occupying another seventh. The tree-covered portions toward the Black Hills are predominantly ponderosa pine and hold little pronghorn value. Most of the pronghorn here live on private land, and securing permission before applying is essential—trespass fees are standard practice, and many properties are outfitted or otherwise closed to casual hunting.

Public access is sharply limited. About 17% of the area is publicly owned ground a hunter can generally rely on—mainly BLM parcels, State Trust Land sections, and a portion of Thunder Basin National Grassland—totaling roughly 39 square miles. However, public ownership alone does not guarantee entry; roads, trailheads, seasonal closures, and private inholdings all constrain actual access. Much of the National Grassland in this area is timbered and holds few pronghorn. Crook County Walk-In Area 8 provides one option during its open season, requiring no permission and no application—only adherence to posted rules. For most hunters, the practical reality is that private-land access, with its associated costs and difficulty, dominates the hunt here.

Pronghorn in this area show some migration tendency. A mapped range layer covers 45% of the hunt area year-round, while winter and summer ranges account for 26% and 21% respectively. Horn shedding begins in late October or early November, which informs the timing choice many hunters make: the early-to-mid-season archery window offers a window before that shift, while the regular season runs into the period when animals are dropping their horns.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 4 (Arch Creek) 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 – 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 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–November)

Hunting here across the August-through-November span means contending with a long season that carries very different conditions at each end. The archery window runs through August and September, when animals are in pre-rut movement, sorting territory, and then entering and moving through the primary rut itself; august offers warm days around 85 degrees and cool nights around 54, while September cools noticeably to highs around 74 and lows around 44, with negligible snow in either month. Regular-season hunting from October into November sees the rut winding down and herds beginning their fall grouping, but the weather shifts dramatically—October brings highs around 59 and lows near freezing with about an inch of snow possible monthly, and November cools to highs around 45 and lows around 21 with more substantial snow, averaging 2.8 inches monthly. Access throughout the season is heavily weighted toward private land, where most pronghorn occur and where permission and fees are the norm; public ground is sparse and often timbered or fragmented. This is any-antelope hunting, valid across the whole hunt area, and early-to-mid-season hunting is encouraged because animals shed their horn sheaths beginning in late October, making later hunting less attractive to most pursuits.

Land and access

private land83%

Private

BLM7%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land7%

Generally open to public hunting

National Forest4%

Generally open to public hunting

About 17% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM, State Trust Land and National Forest, roughly 39 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 has 1 enrolled walk-in area. That is private ground enrolled for public access, not public land. 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

Yearlong Range45%

the only layer that means year-round use

Winter Range26%

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

Across the unit

Grass and meadow69%

Sagebrush14%

Conifer9%

Other cover7%

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	35°F	12°F	4.7 in
February	37°F	13°F	4.5 in
March	47°F	22°F	2.7 in
April	56°F	30°F	2.5 in
May	65°F	39°F	0 in
June	77°F	49°F	0 in
July	86°F	56°F	0 in
August	85°F	54°F	0 in
September	74°F	44°F	0 in
October	59°F	32°F	0.9 in
November	45°F	21°F	2.8 in
December	35°F	13°F	4.4 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter draw hunt area 4 as a resident or nonresident?: Hunt area 4 is a limited-quota draw area, entered by drawing a license specific to this area for either residents or nonresidents. Wyoming sells no general pronghorn license over the counter and issues no regional pronghorn license; drawing for this hunt area is the only way in. Residents enter a random draw, while nonresidents compete in a preference-point system where three-quarters of licenses go to the highest-point applicants and a quarter go to a random draw of all nonresident applicants.
Do nonresidents need preference points to draw hunt area 4?: Nonresidents with preference points have a substantial advantage, as three-quarters of nonresident licenses are awarded to the highest-point applicants in a top-down order. Those without points can enter the random quarter-draw, but point holders have significantly better odds. Residents draw randomly with no points at all.
What public land does hunt area 4 contain?: About 39 square miles of the 233-square-mile area is public—BLM, State Trust Land sections, and a portion of Thunder Basin National Grassland. Access to these parcels is not guaranteed; roads, trailheads, seasonal closures, and private inholdings may limit actual entry. Much of the National Grassland within this area is timbered with few pronghorn, and most publicly accessible ground holds little game.
Can a hunter use Crook County Walk-In Area 8 without applying?: Yes, Crook County Walk-In Area 8 requires no permission slip or application; a hunter may walk in during the posted open season subject to its rules. Enrollment is renegotiated annually, so check current status before the season.
When should a hunter plan to hunt hunt area 4?: The archery season runs August 15 through September 30, while the regular season extends October 1 through November 20. Early-to-mid-season archery hunting is favored here because pronghorn begin shedding their horn sheaths in late October or early November, making later hunting less appealing for most.

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