Can a hunter drawn for hunt area 66 count on public-land access across the whole area?

About 314 square miles of the area is public land where access is generally available, representing roughly 78% of hunt area 66. The remaining 22% is private, concentrated along water corridors, and access to those private lands is limited without permission from landowners.

Does a Wyoming resident need preference points to draw hunt area 66 for pronghorn?

No. The Wyoming resident pronghorn draw is random, with no preference points involved. A resident enters the draw for hunt area 66 the same way any applicant does—by applying for the specific hunt area they choose.

What preference points do nonresidents need for hunt area 66 pronghorn?

Nonresidents compete in a draw where three quarters of the licenses go to applicants ranked by preference points, with the remaining quarter awarded randomly. The number of preference points needed varies by draw year and depends on competition for this specific hunt area.

When does the pronghorn rut peak in hunt area 66?

The rut typically reaches its peak in the last week of September and into early October. Pronghorn are most responsive to calling and competitive tactics during this window, which falls within the regular (rifle) season.

What conditions should a hunter expect to encounter in hunt area 66?

The country is remote and exposed, with sagebrush plains and alkaline flats dominating the western portions. Weather can swing from warm and windy (70s–80s°F) to freezing with significant snowfall, even during September; fall storms in the higher elevations can trigger pronghorn migration out of the area.

Wyoming Hunt Area 66 (Lander) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

78%

Elevation

5,100–7,200 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 66 is rolling sagebrush prairie broken by alkaline flats in low country and rises to higher ground toward the eastern end. Most of the area sits between 5,100 and 7,200 feet, with ground averaging around 5,600 feet and sloping gently—92% of it is gentle terrain. Sagebrush covers 89% of the land, with greasewood and saltbush occupying low spots where drainage is poor. The country is broken by creeks and river corridors where irrigated hay and riparian growth mark private land. Much of hunt area 66 is remote and far from services or cell coverage; carrying extra fuel, water, food and spare tires is advisable. Roads in the alkaline and creek-bottom portions become muddy and nearly impassable when wet, though roads in sandier country often remain passable through light precipitation.

About 314 square miles of the area is public land on BLM and State Trust Land where a hunter can generally count on access, though roads, trailheads and seasonal closures still apply. Private land makes up the remaining 22% and is concentrated along watercourses and creek drainages, where access is limited. The eastern end of the hunt area, particularly at higher elevations, supports more water and forage and concentrates pronghorn densities. This concentration means some of the best country may require dealing with the private holdings that ring the creeks and river valleys where the pronghorn are drawn.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 66 (Lander) 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)

Hunting pronghorn in hunt area 66 from mid-August through October spans both early territory formation and the peak of the rut. The archery season opens August 15 in the Pre-Rut / Territory Formation phase, when pronghorn are establishing ranges and responding to calls, though bucks are not yet fully aggressive; temperatures run warm, with highs near 85°F and no snow. The transition to the regular season on September 19 carries hunters into the Primary Rut, when bucks are highly competitive and vocal, followed by the Late Rut and into Fall Grouping as animals begin to transition toward winter. Weather deteriorates through the regular season—September highs average 74°F with no precipitation, but October cools to 59°F and brings roughly 0.9 inches of monthly snowfall. Early fall storms in the higher elevations at the area's eastern end can trigger migration of pronghorn out of the hunt area, concentrating remaining animals or shifting where a hunter needs to be. The hunt is open to any antelope—bucks, does and fawns—across the entire area, and access to public land is generally available, though the best concentrations of pronghorn lie in the eastern higher country where private land is interspersed with public ground.

Land and access

BLM69%

Generally open to public hunting

private land22%

Private

State Trust Land9%

Generally open to public hunting

About 78% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM and State Trust Land, roughly 314 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 Range41%

used in winter

Yearlong Range23%

the only layer that means year-round use

Crucial Winter Range19%

the part of Winter Range considered essential to the herd — inside Winter Range, not added to it

Summer Range11%

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

Sagebrush89%

Other cover6%

Grass and meadow3%

Riparian2%

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	10°F	4 in
February	36°F	13°F	4.6 in
March	48°F	22°F	2.1 in
April	56°F	30°F	1 in
May	66°F	39°F	0 in
June	78°F	47°F	0 in
July	87°F	54°F	0 in
August	85°F	52°F	0 in
September	74°F	43°F	0 in
October	59°F	31°F	0.9 in
November	44°F	20°F	2.6 in
December	32°F	10°F	4.8 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter drawn for hunt area 66 count on public-land access across the whole area?: About 314 square miles of the area is public land where access is generally available, representing roughly 78% of hunt area 66. The remaining 22% is private, concentrated along water corridors, and access to those private lands is limited without permission from landowners.
Does a Wyoming resident need preference points to draw hunt area 66 for pronghorn?: No. The Wyoming resident pronghorn draw is random, with no preference points involved. A resident enters the draw for hunt area 66 the same way any applicant does—by applying for the specific hunt area they choose.
What preference points do nonresidents need for hunt area 66 pronghorn?: Nonresidents compete in a draw where three quarters of the licenses go to applicants ranked by preference points, with the remaining quarter awarded randomly. The number of preference points needed varies by draw year and depends on competition for this specific hunt area.
When does the pronghorn rut peak in hunt area 66?: The rut typically reaches its peak in the last week of September and into early October. Pronghorn are most responsive to calling and competitive tactics during this window, which falls within the regular (rifle) season.
What conditions should a hunter expect to encounter in hunt area 66?: The country is remote and exposed, with sagebrush plains and alkaline flats dominating the western portions. Weather can swing from warm and windy (70s–80s°F) to freezing with significant snowfall, even during September; fall storms in the higher elevations can trigger pronghorn migration out of the area.

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