Can a hunter in Wyoming buy a general pronghorn licence over the counter for hunt area 71?

No. Every pronghorn hunt area in Wyoming, including hunt area 71, is limited-quota and drawn specifically. There is no general pronghorn licence sold over the counter in Wyoming and no region licence for pronghorn. A hunter must draw the licence for this specific area or cannot legally hunt pronghorn here.

Do Wyoming residents need to build preference points for a pronghorn hunt in this area?

No. Wyoming residents have no preference-point system for pronghorn at all—the resident draw for every hunt area, including hunt area 71, is purely random. Residents do not build, bank or burn points for pronghorn hunts. Preference points are a nonresident concept only.

What public land can a hunter actually get onto in hunt area 71?

About 33% of the area—roughly 58 square miles—is public ground a hunter can generally rely on accessing, mostly BLM and state trust land. Most of it lies on the western and southern portions of Strohecker Road. Access is rated poor by the state, roads can become difficult in wet or snowy weather, and Natrona County Walk-In Area 5 offers posted access during its open season. Much of the remaining public land is either inaccessible by road or not suitable pronghorn habitat.

Which seasons run in hunt area 71, and when?

Hunt area 71 has one pronghorn season for any antelope, running from August 15 through October 31. Archery hunting is valid from August 15 through September 14, and regular (rifle and shotgun) hunting is valid from September 15 through October 31. Both windows are part of the same hunt, so a successful hunter in the archery period cannot then hunt again in the regular season.

Can a hunter access most of hunt area 71 from Strohecker Road?

Strohecker Road forms the hunt area boundary, and hunters must remember their licence is only valid on the east and north sides of it. The road is also where the best public-land access points lie, on its western and southern portions. Hunters need to research and verify exactly where they can legally hunt before heading out.

Wyoming Hunt Area 71 (East Poison Spider) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

33%

Elevation

5,400–6,700 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 71 is rolling sagebrush country at 5,400 to 6,700 feet, with typical ground around 5,700 feet. The terrain is extremely gentle—slope averages 3.5 degrees, and 93% of it falls into the gentle category. Sagebrush covers 91% of the area, with grass and meadow filling most of the remainder and scattered conifers making up a small share. This is open habitat where pronghorn spend yearlong and concentrate through winter, but it sits only 30 miles west of Casper and the pronghorn drift readily between public and private ground. Access is constrained: 64% of the hunt area is private land, leaving only about 58 square miles of public ground a hunter can generally count on. The few county roads that cross the area become marginal in wet or snowy weather, and trailheads into the public parcels are scattered and sometimes hard to reach. Crowding on the accessible pieces can spike on opening weekends and weekdays early in the season, and the best public ground lies on the western and southern sides of Strohecker Road—which is also the hunt area boundary, meaning a hunter must stay east and north of it to be legal. Natrona County Walk-In Area 5 offers posted access during its open window, and primitive camping is available on BLM land, though not on state trust land. The proximity to Casper means services are close and readily available.

A nonresident drawing a licence to hunt area 71 has three-quarters of the nonresident pool competing in a preference-point draw, with the remaining quarter entering a random draw that everyone in that pool can enter. Residents do not compete in a points draw for pronghorn—the resident draw is purely random, with no preference points at all. Hunt area 71 tends to draw fewer applicants than areas with better road and public-land access, which can make the draw odds comparatively easier, and those interested in nonresident preference points will find the cutoff lower here than in hunt areas closer to trails and easier ground. Because drawing odds are the only other hunt-area metric Wyoming Game and Fish publishes, a hunter should check the current application figures directly with the department.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 71 (East Poison Spider) 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

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 opens in mid-August with the archery season and continues through October with rifle and shotgun, giving a long split season across shifting rut phases and cooling weather. From mid-August through mid-September, pronghorn are entering the pre-rut phase and moving into primary rut, when bucks are territorial and visible but increasingly mobile and vocal. August stays warm—highs near 85 degrees—but September cools into the high 70s to low 70s, and early morning and evening hunts may require layers. The regular rifle and shotgun seasons from mid-September through the end of October span the primary rut and extend through late rut and into fall grouping, when pronghorn are transitioning back toward winter herds and bucks are dropping territories. October cools significantly, with highs dropping to around 60 degrees and lows near freezing, and early-month snows totaling less than an inch. Access across the season remains limited to the scattered public parcels and Natrona County Walk-In Area 5, both subject to posted rules and seasonal closures, and crowding can be reduced by hunting midweek or later in the season rather than on opening weekends or early days. The hunt is for any antelope—either sex and any age—and a successful hunter is done for the season.

Land and access

private land64%

Private

BLM25%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land8%

Generally open to public hunting

unclassified ownership3%

Ownership unclassified

About 33% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM and State Trust Land, roughly 58 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.

This hunt area has 1 enrolled walk-in area. That is private ground enrolled for public access, not public land. 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

Winter Range90%

used in winter

Yearlong Range57%

the only layer that means year-round use

Crucial Winter Range44%

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

Sagebrush91%

Grass and meadow7%

Conifer1%

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	14°F	4 in
February	37°F	15°F	5 in
March	48°F	23°F	3.2 in
April	55°F	29°F	2 in
May	65°F	38°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	32°F	0.9 in
November	45°F	22°F	3 in
December	34°F	14°F	5.1 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter in Wyoming buy a general pronghorn licence over the counter for hunt area 71?: No. Every pronghorn hunt area in Wyoming, including hunt area 71, is limited-quota and drawn specifically. There is no general pronghorn licence sold over the counter in Wyoming and no region licence for pronghorn. A hunter must draw the licence for this specific area or cannot legally hunt pronghorn here.
Do Wyoming residents need to build preference points for a pronghorn hunt in this area?: No. Wyoming residents have no preference-point system for pronghorn at all—the resident draw for every hunt area, including hunt area 71, is purely random. Residents do not build, bank or burn points for pronghorn hunts. Preference points are a nonresident concept only.
What public land can a hunter actually get onto in hunt area 71?: About 33% of the area—roughly 58 square miles—is public ground a hunter can generally rely on accessing, mostly BLM and state trust land. Most of it lies on the western and southern portions of Strohecker Road. Access is rated poor by the state, roads can become difficult in wet or snowy weather, and Natrona County Walk-In Area 5 offers posted access during its open season. Much of the remaining public land is either inaccessible by road or not suitable pronghorn habitat.
Which seasons run in hunt area 71, and when?: Hunt area 71 has one pronghorn season for any antelope, running from August 15 through October 31. Archery hunting is valid from August 15 through September 14, and regular (rifle and shotgun) hunting is valid from September 15 through October 31. Both windows are part of the same hunt, so a successful hunter in the archery period cannot then hunt again in the regular season.
Can a hunter access most of hunt area 71 from Strohecker Road?: Strohecker Road forms the hunt area boundary, and hunters must remember their licence is only valid on the east and north sides of it. The road is also where the best public-land access points lie, on its western and southern portions. Hunters need to research and verify exactly where they can legally hunt before heading out.

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