Can a hunter obtain a license for hunt area 76 without entering a draw?

No. Hunt area 76 is a limited-quota area drawn specifically for that hunt area. Residents enter a random draw; nonresidents have three quarters of the available licenses awarded top-down by preference points and a quarter available to a random draw. No general pronghorn license exists in Wyoming, and no regional fallback applies if the draw does not come through.

How much public land can a hunter actually access in hunt area 76?

About 55% of the hunt area—roughly 286 square miles—is dependably open public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and State Trust Land. However, roads, trailheads, and private inholdings still limit entry. The northern portion holds most public ground in large contiguous blocks that are more readily accessible; the southern portion is predominantly private land.

Can a hunter walk onto the walk-in areas in hunt area 76 without advance permission?

Yes. The five walk-in areas require no permission slip and no application; a hunter may walk in during posted open periods subject to the area's rules. However, enrollment in these areas is renegotiated annually, so availability cannot be guaranteed for any specific future season.

Does the Kirby Creek hunter management area require advance permission to hunt?

Yes. The Kirby Creek hunter management area is private ground requiring a printed permission slip from the manager before hunting. Walk-in areas do not have this requirement; the permission slip is needed only for hunter management areas.

When do pronghorn shift to public land in hunt area 76?

As the season progresses into October, pronghorn migrate northward from the southern private-dominated terrain toward the public lands in the northern portion of the hunt area. Early-season hunters pursuing the archery and early October windows are more likely to find pronghorn on private ground and will need landowner permission to access the better early-season habitat.

Wyoming Hunt Area 76 (Copper Mountain) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

55%

Elevation

4,200–8,300 ft

Terrain

Gentle

Hunt area 76 spreads across 515 square miles of rolling sagebrush-covered hills and ridges cut by draws and deeper canyons, ranging from 4,200 to 8,300 feet with typical ground around 5,100 feet. Three-quarters of the terrain is gentle ground, and sagebrush dominates across all elevation bands, interspersed with grass, meadow, and scattered conifers at higher elevations. Past wildfires have created large patches of cheatgrass. About 55% of the area is dependably open public land—primarily Bureau of Land Management and State Trust Land holdings—concentrated in the northern portion in large blocks. The remaining 45% is private, especially dense in the south, where access is difficult and the best pronghorn habitat lies on private ground that requires landowner permission.

The hunt area holds 5 walk-in areas open during posted periods, which require no permission slip, and one hunter management area on private ground that requires a printed permission before hunting. Public access to BLM and state land is workable in the north but limited by roads, trailheads, and private inholdings throughout. Early-season hunting in the high sagebrush country south of the public blocks concentrates on private permission; as autumn advances, pronghorn shift northward to the public lands where access improves later in the season.

Type 1 archery is valid area-wide, while other license types are restricted to ground near irrigated lands where private ground predominates. This hunt area overlaps with hunt area 37 for deer and hunt area 47 for elk during part of the season; upland birds—chukars and Hungarian partridge—are also present.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 76 (Copper Mountain) 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 30Regular October 1 – 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 for any antelope runs August 15 through September 30, followed by regular season October 1 through October 31. During the archery window, pronghorn are moving through pre-rut territory formation and into the primary rut, with does increasingly visible as bucks establish and defend ranges; early September sees the rut intensify, then winds down through late September into a post-rut recovery phase. Weather cools from highs around 86°F in August to the mid-70s in September and 59°F by early October, with virtually no snow until late October's 0.4 inches. The northern public blocks hold fewer pronghorn early on but become more productive as the season advances and animals shift north; southern private ground concentrates animals in August and early September but requires landowner access. Regular season in October finds pronghorn grouping for winter and continuing their northward movement to public lands, where access improves but hunting pressure rises. All valid Type 1 licenses allow any antelope.

Land and access

BLM46%

Generally open to public hunting

private land44%

Private

State Trust Land10%

Generally open to public hunting

About 55% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — BLM and State Trust Land, roughly 286 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 50% 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.

This hunt area has 5 enrolled walk-in areas. It also holds 1 Hunter Management Area. Both are 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. 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

Yearlong Range71%

the only layer that means year-round use

Winter Range28%

used in winter

Crucial Winter Range27%

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

Lower elevations

Sagebrush86%

Grass and meadow9%

Other cover4%

Riparian2%

Mid elevations

Sagebrush91%

Grass and meadow8%

Conifer1%

Higher elevations

Sagebrush79%

Grass and meadow17%

Conifer4%

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	34°F	10°F	3.1 in
February	37°F	13°F	3.3 in
March	49°F	23°F	1.7 in
April	57°F	31°F	1.1 in
May	67°F	41°F	0 in
June	79°F	49°F	0 in
July	88°F	56°F	0 in
August	86°F	54°F	0 in
September	75°F	44°F	0 in
October	59°F	32°F	0.4 in
November	45°F	21°F	2.1 in
December	34°F	11°F	4.1 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter obtain a license for hunt area 76 without entering a draw?: No. Hunt area 76 is a limited-quota area drawn specifically for that hunt area. Residents enter a random draw; nonresidents have three quarters of the available licenses awarded top-down by preference points and a quarter available to a random draw. No general pronghorn license exists in Wyoming, and no regional fallback applies if the draw does not come through.
How much public land can a hunter actually access in hunt area 76?: About 55% of the hunt area—roughly 286 square miles—is dependably open public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and State Trust Land. However, roads, trailheads, and private inholdings still limit entry. The northern portion holds most public ground in large contiguous blocks that are more readily accessible; the southern portion is predominantly private land.
Can a hunter walk onto the walk-in areas in hunt area 76 without advance permission?: Yes. The five walk-in areas require no permission slip and no application; a hunter may walk in during posted open periods subject to the area's rules. However, enrollment in these areas is renegotiated annually, so availability cannot be guaranteed for any specific future season.
Does the Kirby Creek hunter management area require advance permission to hunt?: Yes. The Kirby Creek hunter management area is private ground requiring a printed permission slip from the manager before hunting. Walk-in areas do not have this requirement; the permission slip is needed only for hunter management areas.
When do pronghorn shift to public land in hunt area 76?: As the season progresses into October, pronghorn migrate northward from the southern private-dominated terrain toward the public lands in the northern portion of the hunt area. Early-season hunters pursuing the archery and early October windows are more likely to find pronghorn on private ground and will need landowner permission to access the better early-season habitat.

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