Can a hunter draw a Wyoming pronghorn license for this hunt area without preference points?

Hunt area 56 is limited quota and requires a draw. Wyoming residents draw randomly for pronghorn with no preference points—every resident draw pool is random regardless of prior applications. Nonresidents compete in a preference-point draw that awards three quarters of licenses top-down by points, with a quarter going to a random draw, so nonresident points matter significantly.

How much of hunt area 56 is public land that a hunter can actually access?

Although 47 percent of the area is public land, most of it is landlocked by private parcels in the checkerboard ownership pattern. Huntable public ground is limited to a few blocks reachable from the western boundary roads and a short county road in the northeast corner. A GPS unit is necessary to identify legal public land and plan a route to reach it.

When does the pronghorn rut occur in hunt area 56?

The rut builds from mid-August through September, peaks in the last week of September and into early October, then winds down toward the end of the month. The archery season overlaps the early and primary rut phases, while the regular season spans the peak and late rut and into the fall transition period.

What is the terrain and elevation like in hunt area 56?

The area ranges from 6,500 to 8,100 feet with typical ground around 6,900 feet, graded Gentle overall. Rocky rims and mesas rise above sagebrush prairie and alkaline flats; riparian meadows are scarce, found mainly along the North Platte River and a few major creeks. Most of the country is accessible on foot.

What is the weather like during the pronghorn hunt in hunt area 56?

August is warm (highs near 80F) with virtually no snow. September cools gradually from the 70s to the 50s, with light snow around 0.1 inch for the month. October is cold (highs near 55F, lows near 31F) with snow averaging 1.8 inches, and roads can become impassable when wet.

Wyoming Hunt Area 56 (Iron Springs) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

47%

Elevation

6,500–8,100 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 56 spans high, open country from 6,500 to 8,100 feet, graded Gentle with a mean slope of 3.4 degrees. Sagebrush and saltbush cover nearly all of it, broken by rocky rims and mesas that rise above alkaline flats and scattered prairie. Riparian meadows are rare, confined mainly to the North Platte River and a few major creek bottoms. Where water and lusher growth exist, pronghorn concentrate; in dry periods, they shift toward the lower alkaline habitats where moisture persists longer. Most of the country is foot country, and access is the real limiter.

Nearly half the area is public land—roughly 126 square miles of BLM and State Trust Land—but it sits in a checkerboard of alternating ownership where nearly every square mile is flanked by private ground. Public tracts that do not border a public road are effectively locked behind private land; one major ranch controls most of the deeded acreage and does not permit hunting. As a result, huntable public ground is confined to a few scattered blocks reachable from the western boundary roads and from a short county road in the northeast. Smaller private parcels may grant access by permission, but a hunter must identify which ones and ask. GPS is essential for navigating the ownership pattern and finding legal ground. Access here is difficult, and success reflects it.

Weather shifts sharply across the hunt. August brings warm days and cool nights with virtually no snow. September stays mild early on, then cools toward the end of the month, with only light snow. October drops into the 50s and 30s, bringing snowfall that can reach 1.8 inches by month's end. Roads through the area become nearly impassable when wet and muddy, and weather swings from dry and windy to freezing and snowy can come quickly even in early September.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 56 (Iron Springs) 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 18Regular September 19 – 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)

Pronghorn hunting here runs from mid-August through October, opening with archery from August 15 through September 18 and continuing with regular hunting from September 19 through October 31. The archery window spans the pre-rut period into the primary rut, when bucks are establishing and defending territory; pronghorn are active and visible but not yet highly concentrated. Early September remains warm with mild weather and virtually no snow, though wind is common. The regular season covers the peak rut and its tail, when breeding activity draws herds into tight groups and rut-driven behavior makes animals both more visible and more predictable—this is the strongest hunting window. Weather deteriorates sharply through this phase, cooling from the 60s into the 30s by late October and bringing real snow; the first week of October can bring sudden hard freezes and heavy wet snow that shuts roads. Legal game is any antelope. Finding huntable public ground here requires GPS navigation through the checkerboard ownership; most accessible public land lies along the western boundary roads and in the northeast. Success is typically low because access is so constrained, and many hunters settle for the first legal animal they can reach.

Land and access

private land53%

Private

BLM43%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land4%

Generally open to public hunting

About 47% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM and State Trust Land, roughly 126 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.

Where pronghorn are mapped

Winter Range77%

used in winter

Yearlong Range77%

the only layer that means year-round use

Summer Range23%

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

Sagebrush97%

Other cover3%

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	32°F	14°F	6.5 in
February	34°F	15°F	6.2 in
March	44°F	22°F	5.1 in
April	52°F	28°F	3.6 in
May	62°F	36°F	0.1 in
June	74°F	44°F	0 in
July	82°F	51°F	0 in
August	80°F	50°F	0 in
September	70°F	42°F	0.1 in
October	55°F	31°F	1.8 in
November	41°F	22°F	5.2 in
December	31°F	14°F	7.4 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter draw a Wyoming pronghorn license for this hunt area without preference points?: Hunt area 56 is limited quota and requires a draw. Wyoming residents draw randomly for pronghorn with no preference points—every resident draw pool is random regardless of prior applications. Nonresidents compete in a preference-point draw that awards three quarters of licenses top-down by points, with a quarter going to a random draw, so nonresident points matter significantly.
How much of hunt area 56 is public land that a hunter can actually access?: Although 47 percent of the area is public land, most of it is landlocked by private parcels in the checkerboard ownership pattern. Huntable public ground is limited to a few blocks reachable from the western boundary roads and a short county road in the northeast corner. A GPS unit is necessary to identify legal public land and plan a route to reach it.
When does the pronghorn rut occur in hunt area 56?: The rut builds from mid-August through September, peaks in the last week of September and into early October, then winds down toward the end of the month. The archery season overlaps the early and primary rut phases, while the regular season spans the peak and late rut and into the fall transition period.
What is the terrain and elevation like in hunt area 56?: The area ranges from 6,500 to 8,100 feet with typical ground around 6,900 feet, graded Gentle overall. Rocky rims and mesas rise above sagebrush prairie and alkaline flats; riparian meadows are scarce, found mainly along the North Platte River and a few major creeks. Most of the country is accessible on foot.
What is the weather like during the pronghorn hunt in hunt area 56?: August is warm (highs near 80F) with virtually no snow. September cools gradually from the 70s to the 50s, with light snow around 0.1 inch for the month. October is cold (highs near 55F, lows near 31F) with snow averaging 1.8 inches, and roads can become impassable when wet.

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