Can a hunter in Wyoming buy a general pronghorn license for hunt area 43?

No. Hunt area 43 is limited quota, drawn for that specific area by both residents and nonresidents. Wyoming issues no over-the-counter general pronghorn license and no regional pronghorn license. If the draw does not come through, there is no alternative license.

Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw hunt area 43?

Wyoming residents do not earn or hold preference points for pronghorn. The resident draw for hunt area 43 is random. Nonresidents, by contrast, face a different system: three quarters of nonresident licenses are awarded by preference points to top applicants, and a quarter go to a random draw.

How much public land can a hunter actually access in hunt area 43?

About 20% of the hunt area is dependably open public land—roughly 87 square miles of BLM and State Trust Land. However, roads, trailheads, seasonal closures, and private inholdings complicate access even to those parcels. Hunters are strongly advised to arrange private-land access before applying for a license.

Which seasons are open on hunt area 43, and when do they run?

Two seasons are published: Type 1 allows any antelope, and Type 6 allows doe or fawn only. Both run archery August 15 through September 14, then rifle September 15 through October 31.

Can a hunter access the Hunter Management Areas on hunt area 43 without permission?

No. The Laramie River and Diamond Lake Hunter Management Areas are private ground. A hunter must obtain a printed permission slip from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department before hunting either area. Enrollment in the program is renegotiated annually.

Wyoming Hunt Area 43 (Cooper Lake) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

20%

Elevation

6,800–7,900 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 43 spreads across open shortgrass prairie at 6,800 to 7,900 feet, with the Little Laramie River in its southern reaches providing the only serious riparian break and extensive irrigated hay meadows. The ground is remarkably flat—terrain averages 1.5 degrees and is almost entirely gentle, which might suggest straightforward hunting but works the opposite way. The monotonous cover and lack of natural funnels make it hard to pattern pronghorn movement, and spotting from distance becomes the main approach across ground that offers little to break a sight line.

Private land makes up 80% of the hunt area. About 20% is public ground a hunter can generally count on—roughly 87 square miles of BLM and State Trust Land—but access to those parcels is constrained by roads, trailheads, seasonal closures, and private inholdings that separate public from public. The Laramie River and Diamond Lake Hunter Management Areas are private ground requiring a printed permission slip from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department before hunting. Given the limited reliable public access and the way pronghorn distribute across both public and private, hunters who secure private-land permission before applying for a license significantly improve their odds. Fall winds of 40 to 80 miles per hour are routine across the hunt area and profoundly shape how the season hunts—both the ease of glassing and the animals' behavior.

Both seasons run August through October with archery through mid-September and rifle thereafter, and the rut phases from late August into November matter greatly to how the hunt plays out across those two windows.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 43 (Cooper Lake) 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 14Regular September 15 – October 31
Type 6 · Doe or fawn
Archery August 15 – September 14Regular September 15 – 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 here spans late August through October, crossing the pre-rut push into September and the primary rut itself before cooling into the post-rut recovery and fall grouping phases. August archery hunts warm ground—highs around 79 degrees—but September rifle arrives as temperatures drop to highs near 70 degrees, with October cooling further to the mid-50s; October also brings the first real snow, averaging 2.5 inches for the month. Pronghorn begin establishing territories in mid-August and move into peak rut by early September, making them more visible and more aggressive to decoys and calls as the archery window progresses into rifle. Access remains limited to roughly 20% reliable public land and scattered private parcels; the Laramie River and Diamond Lake Hunter Management Areas offer additional ground if a hunter secures printed permission. Wind dominates the hunt across all three months, with fall and winter gusts frequently reaching 40 to 80 miles per hour.

Type 6 — Doe or fawn (August–October)

Doe and fawn hunting runs the same August-through-October window and mirrors the rut phases of any-antelope hunting, with pre-rut territory formation and primary rut in the archery period, then late rut and post-rut recovery through the rifle season's close. Temperature and snow progress identically—warm August archery into cool October rifle with 2.5 inches of average October snow—and the extreme fall winds persist throughout. A doe or fawn license restricts the harvest to females and young animals only; bucks cannot be taken. Access is equally constrained, with public land comprising roughly 20% of the area and the Laramie River and Diamond Lake Hunter Management Areas requiring advance written permission. Hunters commonly concentrate on weekends and early-season dates, so choosing to hunt weekdays and later in October can reduce crowding on the small amount of accessible public ground.

Land and access

private land80%

Private

BLM11%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land9%

Generally open to public hunting

About 20% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM and State Trust Land, roughly 87 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 12% 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.

It also holds 2 Hunter Management Areas. 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 Range83%

the only layer that means year-round use

Winter Range34%

used in winter

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

Across the unit

Sagebrush46%

Grass and meadow40%

Riparian8%

Other cover6%

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	33°F	13°F	4.8 in
February	36°F	14°F	6.5 in
March	45°F	20°F	5.2 in
April	52°F	26°F	3.6 in
May	62°F	35°F	0.1 in
June	73°F	43°F	0 in
July	81°F	49°F	0 in
August	79°F	47°F	0 in
September	70°F	39°F	0.1 in
October	56°F	29°F	2.5 in
November	43°F	20°F	4.5 in
December	33°F	13°F	6.6 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter in Wyoming buy a general pronghorn license for hunt area 43?: No. Hunt area 43 is limited quota, drawn for that specific area by both residents and nonresidents. Wyoming issues no over-the-counter general pronghorn license and no regional pronghorn license. If the draw does not come through, there is no alternative license.
Do Wyoming residents need preference points to draw hunt area 43?: Wyoming residents do not earn or hold preference points for pronghorn. The resident draw for hunt area 43 is random. Nonresidents, by contrast, face a different system: three quarters of nonresident licenses are awarded by preference points to top applicants, and a quarter go to a random draw.
How much public land can a hunter actually access in hunt area 43?: About 20% of the hunt area is dependably open public land—roughly 87 square miles of BLM and State Trust Land. However, roads, trailheads, seasonal closures, and private inholdings complicate access even to those parcels. Hunters are strongly advised to arrange private-land access before applying for a license.
Which seasons are open on hunt area 43, and when do they run?: Two seasons are published: Type 1 allows any antelope, and Type 6 allows doe or fawn only. Both run archery August 15 through September 14, then rifle September 15 through October 31.
Can a hunter access the Hunter Management Areas on hunt area 43 without permission?: No. The Laramie River and Diamond Lake Hunter Management Areas are private ground. A hunter must obtain a printed permission slip from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department before hunting either area. Enrollment in the program is renegotiated annually.

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