Can a hunter draw pronghorn in hunt area 44 without preference points?

Yes. The resident draw for hunt area 44 is random and no Wyoming resident needs or earns preference points for pronghorn. Nonresidents must draw in a preference-point system where three quarters of the licences go by points and a quarter are awarded randomly, so points do matter significantly for nonresident applicants.

Are the Hunter Management Areas open without permission?

No. Monolith Ranch and Spiegelberg require a printed permission slip from Wyoming Game and Fish before hunting. These are private lands enrolled in the program, and enrollment is renegotiated annually.

When do the pronghorn seasons run in hunt area 44?

Both the Any Antelope and Doe or Fawn hunts run archery August 15 through September 14, then regular season September 15 through October 31. These are the only two hunt types available in this area.

Is private-land access necessary to hunt here successfully?

Private land covers about 72% of hunt area 44, and hunters looking to hunt on it must acquire permission before applying for a license. Access to public lands is limited, and WGFD's own rating for this area is poor, making advance private-land arrangements important to most hunters.

Wyoming Hunt Area 44 (South Laramie) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

27%

Elevation

7,100–9,700 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 44 is rolling shortgrass prairie with little terrain relief, anchored by the Big Laramie River in the north. The river corridor and scattered irrigated hay meadows support riparian cover, but the broader country is open sagebrush and grassland that hunts flat and exposed. At a mean slope of 3.6 degrees, over 91% of the area is gentle ground. Elevation runs 7,100 to 9,700 feet, with typical terrain around 7,500 feet. Pronghorn are well distributed across the hunt area, but the combination of consistent, monotonous cover and sparse terrain features makes hunting difficult — a hunter must read country that all looks much the same to find animals that move through it.

Getting onto public land here is limited and unreliable. About 27% of the hunt area is ground a hunter can generally depend on, mostly bureau and state land in the western portion near Red and Ring mountains; the rest is either private or inaccessible public land blocked by roads, inholdings and seasonal closure. Monolith Ranch and Spiegelberg are enrolled as Hunter Management Areas and require a printed permission slip before hunt. Private land dominates the remainder, and access requires advance permission. Wind in the fall and winter runs extreme—40 to 80 miles per hour are common—which shapes both how pronghorn move and how a hunter can hunt them. Crowding can be a concern, especially on weekends and in the early season when access is concentrated on a few public parcels; later-season hunts spread pressure better.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 44 (South Laramie) 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)

Archery hunting for any antelope runs August 15 through September 14, catching the tail of summer range and the build-up to breeding activity. Early-archery weather is warm—highs around 79°F—and wind is generally lighter than later in the season, though conditions are still exposed. Pronghorn are transitioning from summer groups into pre-rut territory formation and early primary rut, concentrating slightly on open ground and becoming more responsive to calling and movement. Regular-season hunting (September 15 – October 31) spans the heart of the primary rut and its aftermath as animals shift toward fall grouping and winter patterns. September carries cool nights (lows around 38°F) and minimal snow, but October cools significantly—highs drop to 57°F and lows to 28°F—with monthly snowfall averaging 2.5 inches. A hunter in October faces the potential for weather swings and wind. This any-antelope hunt has no animal restriction and is valid throughout hunt area 44.

Type 6 — Doe or fawn (August–October)

The doe or fawn hunt runs the same dates as the any-antelope hunt—archery August 15 through September 14, regular September 15 through October 31—and follows the same seasonal progression and rut timeline. Early-season temperatures are warm (highs ~79°F in August), while the regular season cools through September and especially October, when temperatures drop and snow becomes likely. The hunt allows either sex among the female population and is valid throughout hunt area 44. This restriction means a hunter targeting does and fawns can hunt alongside any-antelope hunters; both seasons overlap and cover the same ground.

Land and access

private land72%

Private

BLM10%

Generally open to public hunting

National Forest8%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land8%

Generally open to public hunting

unclassified ownership1%

Ownership unclassified

About 27% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM, National Forest, State Trust Land and State Wildlife Areas, roughly 113 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 21% 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

Winter Range75%

used in winter

Yearlong Range73%

the only layer that means year-round use

Summer Range12%

used in summer

Crucial Winter Range2%

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

Sagebrush48%

Grass and meadow31%

Riparian11%

Conifer7%

Other cover4%

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	13°F	3.6 in
February	37°F	13°F	4.6 in
March	45°F	20°F	4.3 in
April	52°F	25°F	2.6 in
May	62°F	33°F	0.1 in
June	74°F	41°F	0 in
July	81°F	47°F	0 in
August	79°F	45°F	0 in
September	71°F	38°F	0.1 in
October	57°F	28°F	2.5 in
November	44°F	20°F	3.2 in
December	35°F	12°F	4.9 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter draw pronghorn in hunt area 44 without preference points?: Yes. The resident draw for hunt area 44 is random and no Wyoming resident needs or earns preference points for pronghorn. Nonresidents must draw in a preference-point system where three quarters of the licences go by points and a quarter are awarded randomly, so points do matter significantly for nonresident applicants.
What public land is available to hunt in this area?: About 27% of hunt area 44 is ground a hunter can generally count on, mostly in the western portion near Red and Ring mountains, made up of Bureau of Land Management, National Forest, State Trust Land and State Wildlife Areas. Seasonal closures and private inholdings still apply, and access is not straightforward—most of the public land in the hunt area is not accessible to the public.
Are the Hunter Management Areas open without permission?: No. Monolith Ranch and Spiegelberg require a printed permission slip from Wyoming Game and Fish before hunting. These are private lands enrolled in the program, and enrollment is renegotiated annually.
When do the pronghorn seasons run in hunt area 44?: Both the Any Antelope and Doe or Fawn hunts run archery August 15 through September 14, then regular season September 15 through October 31. These are the only two hunt types available in this area.
Is private-land access necessary to hunt here successfully?: Private land covers about 72% of hunt area 44, and hunters looking to hunt on it must acquire permission before applying for a license. Access to public lands is limited, and WGFD's own rating for this area is poor, making advance private-land arrangements important to most hunters.

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