Can a hunter use a general Wyoming pronghorn licence or a region licence to hunt area 42?

No. Every pronghorn hunt area in Wyoming, including hunt area 42, is limited quota and must be drawn for that specific area. Wyoming does not sell a general pronghorn licence over the counter and does not issue a regional pronghorn licence. If the draw does not come through, there is no alternative licence available.

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

No. Residents draw randomly for pronghorn in Wyoming and do not use preference points at all. Nonresidents, by contrast, compete in a draw where three quarters of the licences go to applicants ranked by points and a quarter go to a random draw; nonresident preference points are therefore valuable. Residents enter a separate, purely random pool.

How much of hunt area 42 can a hunter actually access without private land permission?

Roughly 35% of the hunt area—about 393 square miles—is dependably open public ground, but it is scattered in a checkerboard pattern with private land. Public parcels that do not border a public road are not reachable without crossing private property. Five walk-in areas and one Hunter Management Area (which requires a permission slip) offer enrolled access, but hunters are strongly advised to arrange private land access before applying.

Which roads provide the main entry to public land in hunt area 42?

The principal access routes are Tunnel Road (Albany County Road 727), the Fetterman Road (Albany County Road 61), and the Marshall Road (Albany County Road 610). The hunt planner map shows which public parcels and enrolled areas touch these roads and are reachable from them.

When do the pronghorn seasons run in hunt area 42?

Both the Type 1 (any antelope) and Type 6 (doe or fawn) seasons run August through October. Archery seasons run August 15 through September 24, and regular seasons run September 25 through October 31 for both licence types.

Wyoming Hunt Area 42 (Laramie Plains) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

35%

Elevation

5,400–9,200 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 42 occupies 1,112 square miles of the Laramie Plains, ranging from 5,400 to 9,200 feet in elevation with typical ground around 7,100 feet. The country is predominantly low sagebrush and shortgrass prairie, relatively flat and uniform—88% of it is gentle terrain with a mean slope of 4.3 degrees—which makes for difficult hunting. Much of the area lacks the relief and cover that concentrate pronghorn; the Laramie Mountains rim the hunt area's northern portion, but they hold very little pronghorn habitat. Across the open prairie where most animals are found, the lack of terrain variation means a hunter must cover ground to find and approach game, and wind is a serious factor: 40 to 80 mph gusts are common in fall and winter months.

Access to public land is limited and fragmented. Roughly 35% of hunt area 42 is dependably open ground—BLM, State Trust Land, National Forest, and State Wildlife Areas combined total about 393 square miles—but public ownership appears in a checkerboard pattern where every other section is private. Public parcels that do not adjoin a public road are unreachable without crossing private ground and landowner permission. Five walk-in areas are enrolled in the area, and the Como Bluffs Hunter Management Area requires a printed permission slip before hunting. Main access roads are Tunnel Road (Albany County Road 727), the Fetterman Road (Albany County Road 61), and the Marshall Road (Albany County Road 610). Hunters should expect limited choices and are strongly advised to secure private land access before applying for a license. Off-season, hunter crowding can become a concern, especially on weekends; hunting later in the season and avoiding peak days help distribute pressure.

The two published pronghorn seasons both run August through October, though archery and regular seasons open at different times and cover different date ranges within that window.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 42 (Laramie Plains) 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
Type 6 · Doe or fawn
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 any antelope on the Type 1 season spans two distinct phases. The archery opener from August 15 through September 24 falls during pre-rut and primary rut, when bucks are establishing territory and does begin moving in response to male activity; early archery can find pronghorn spread across their range, though success requires closing distance in open country. Temperatures start warm, with August highs near 77 degrees and minimal snow, cooling to September highs around 68 degrees with occasional light snow by month's end; wind remains a constant challenge. The regular season from September 25 through October 31 carries on through the primary rut's peak, the late rut and post-rut recovery, and into fall grouping, when herds coalesce as breeding winds down. October brings rapid cooling, with highs dropping to 54 degrees, and snowfall increases markedly to around 3 inches for the month. Access remains limited to public land in the checkerboard, enrolled walk-in areas, and private ground with permission; hunter density typically rises through the regular season, though later hunting and weekday effort help distribute pressure.

Type 6 — Doe or fawn (August–October)

A hunter holding a Type 6 licence may take only does or fawns, a restriction that shapes how and where to hunt. The archery season from August 15 through September 24 begins in pre-rut and carries into primary rut; during these phases, females and young animals are often separated from breeding males or moving in loose aggregations across the prairie, making them accessible to a patient archer covering open ground. Early season weather is warm—August highs near 77 degrees with virtually no snow—cooling through September to highs around 68 degrees and occasional light precipitation. The regular season from September 25 through October 31 runs through the height of the rut into late rut and fall grouping, when females may be harder to locate as they respond to male activity, but does and fawns remain legal quarry throughout. October deteriorates quickly, with temperatures dropping to highs near 54 degrees and monthly snowfall around 3 inches; at that point access is again constrained by the checkerboard layout of public land, enrolled walk-in areas, and private ground requiring prior permission. Later-season hunting on weekdays helps a hunter avoid peak weekend pressure.

Land and access

private land65%

Private

BLM17%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land9%

Generally open to public hunting

National Forest5%

Generally open to public hunting

State Wildlife Areas4%

Generally open to public hunting

About 35% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM, State Trust Land, National Forest and State Wildlife Areas, roughly 393 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 29% 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 5 enrolled walk-in areas. It also holds 1 Hunter Management Area. 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

Yearlong Range81%

the only layer that means year-round use

Winter Range11%

used in winter

Crucial Winter Range6%

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

Sagebrush54%

Grass and meadow35%

Conifer7%

Riparian2%

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	31°F	12°F	5.3 in
February	33°F	13°F	7.5 in
March	43°F	20°F	6.8 in
April	50°F	26°F	6.3 in
May	59°F	35°F	0.4 in
June	71°F	43°F	0 in
July	79°F	50°F	0 in
August	77°F	49°F	0 in
September	68°F	40°F	0.4 in
October	54°F	30°F	3.1 in
November	40°F	20°F	5.5 in
December	31°F	13°F	7.8 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter use a general Wyoming pronghorn licence or a region licence to hunt area 42?: No. Every pronghorn hunt area in Wyoming, including hunt area 42, is limited quota and must be drawn for that specific area. Wyoming does not sell a general pronghorn licence over the counter and does not issue a regional pronghorn licence. If the draw does not come through, there is no alternative licence available.
Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw a pronghorn licence for this hunt area?: No. Residents draw randomly for pronghorn in Wyoming and do not use preference points at all. Nonresidents, by contrast, compete in a draw where three quarters of the licences go to applicants ranked by points and a quarter go to a random draw; nonresident preference points are therefore valuable. Residents enter a separate, purely random pool.
How much of hunt area 42 can a hunter actually access without private land permission?: Roughly 35% of the hunt area—about 393 square miles—is dependably open public ground, but it is scattered in a checkerboard pattern with private land. Public parcels that do not border a public road are not reachable without crossing private property. Five walk-in areas and one Hunter Management Area (which requires a permission slip) offer enrolled access, but hunters are strongly advised to arrange private land access before applying.
Which roads provide the main entry to public land in hunt area 42?: The principal access routes are Tunnel Road (Albany County Road 727), the Fetterman Road (Albany County Road 61), and the Marshall Road (Albany County Road 610). The hunt planner map shows which public parcels and enrolled areas touch these roads and are reachable from them.
When do the pronghorn seasons run in hunt area 42?: Both the Type 1 (any antelope) and Type 6 (doe or fawn) seasons run August through October. Archery seasons run August 15 through September 24, and regular seasons run September 25 through October 31 for both licence types.

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