Can a hunter in hunt area 84 draw a general or region pronghorn licence?

No. Hunt area 84 is limited-quota only, drawn specifically for this area. Wyoming issues no general pronghorn licence and no region pronghorn licence for antelope; every hunt area is drawn as its own unit, and a resident or nonresident who does not draw for area 84 has no alternative licence to hunt pronghorn there.

Do Wyoming residents need preference points for a pronghorn draw in hunt area 84?

No. Residents have no pronghorn preference points in Wyoming and enter a random draw for this area. Nonresidents, by contrast, compete in a preference-point system where three quarters of the licences go to the point draw, awarded from the highest points downward, and a quarter go to a random draw open to all nonresident applicants; nonresidents with points therefore have a substantial advantage.

Does hunt area 84 contain wilderness, and does it matter?

Yes, hunt area 84 includes designated wilderness. Wyoming law requires any nonresident to be accompanied by a licensed guide or a resident guide in wilderness—meaning a nonresident planning to hunt the backcountry here must either hire a guide or hunt with a resident guide, as hunting alone in wilderness is not legal.

How much of hunt area 84 can a hunter actually get onto?

About 92% of the area—roughly 1,149 square miles—is public land: National Forest, BLM, State Wildlife Areas, and State Trust Land. Private land makes up the remaining 8%, but public ownership does not mean open access; roads, trailheads, seasonal closures, and inholdings of private ground still limit where a hunter can go.

Which seasons run when in hunt area 84?

Three seasons are offered. Type 1 allows any antelope on archery August 15 through September 18 and rifle September 19 through October 31. Type 2 allows any antelope on archery August 15 through September 18 and rifle October 1 through October 31. Type 6 is doe or fawn on archery August 15 through September 18 and rifle September 19 through October 31.

Wyoming Hunt Area 84 (Wind River) pronghorn hunting

Licence

Limited quota — drawn

Open public land

92%

Elevation

6,400–13,800 ft

Terrain

Moderate

Hunt area 84 is a large, topographically complex landscape spanning from sagebrush foothills to alpine terrain. The country averages 9,200 feet in elevation but ranges from 6,400 feet to 13,800 feet, with terrain that grades Moderate at a mean slope of 12.9 degrees. The lower elevations are dominated by sagebrush with substantial conifer presence, while mid-elevations turn heavily forested; higher ground opens into meadow and tundra. Most pronghorn in the area concentrate in the eastern foothills and adjacent deer and elk winter range, where rolling sagebrush country offers reliable hunting. Table Mountain and Spring Mountain are known hotspots, and the Union Pass region along the continental divide can hold pronghorn early in the season. Much of the area's forested terrain remains unoccupied by antelope, though grassy parks along timber edges are worth working.

Access is the area's major advantage: 92% of hunt area 84 is public land, with National Forest, BLM, and State Wildlife Areas providing roughly 1,149 square miles of huntable ground. Dispersed camping is available on Forest Service and BLM lands, though overnight facilities on Wyoming Game and Fish lands are restricted to designated sites. Roads and trailheads do exist, but public ownership does not guarantee straightforward access—seasonal closures, private inholdings, and rough terrain still constrain movement. The area contains designated wilderness, where nonresidents are required by law to have a licensed guide or resident guide accompany them.

Hunt area 84 overlaps with elk and deer seasons, and the area also supports cottontail rabbits, red squirrels, upland game birds including chukars and grouse, and fishing opportunities in its lakes and rivers.

Licence and how this hunt area is drawn

Hunt Area 84 (Wind River) 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
Type 2 · Any antelope
Archery August 15 – September 18Regular October 1 – October 31
Type 6 · Doe or fawn
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)

Type 1 hunts the period spanning pre-rut territory formation and the primary rut through early recovery, opening with archery August 15–September 18 when bucks are establishing territories and does respond to calling, then continuing on rifle September 19–October 31 as the rut intensifies and transitions into its late phase. August hunting means cool mornings—highs around 67 degrees—and minimal snow, but by late October temperatures drop sharply to the mid-40s with significant snowfall, which can make high-country hunting difficult but can also concentrate animals on lower ground. Access to National Forest and BLM lands is unrestricted during the season, though nonresidents must have a licensed or resident guide with them in designated wilderness. This hunt allows any antelope of either sex.

Type 2 — Any antelope (August–October)

Type 2 hunts archery August 15–September 18 in the same pre-rut and primary-rut window as Type 1, but then shifts its rifle season to October 1–October 31, when the rut has moved into its late phase and animals are regrouping for winter. The archery period offers the same cool August conditions and early-season opportunities, but the rifle window falls entirely in October, where weather cooling and snowfall mounting can push pronghorn to lower elevations and create variable hunting conditions across the month. Public access remains available throughout, with the wilderness restriction applying to nonresidents. This hunt allows any antelope of either sex.

Type 6 — Doe or fawn (August–October)

Type 6 restricts harvest to doe and fawn, opening on archery August 15–September 18 during pre-rut and primary-rut timing when does are on summer range and bachelor groups are breaking apart, then continuing on rifle September 19–October 31 as animals move through the rut and into early fall grouping. August hunting is cool and dry, but the September-into-October rifle window faces cooling temperatures and increasing snowfall that affect both animal behavior and hunter mobility. As with other seasons, public access to Forest Service and BLM ground is available and nonresidents must be guided in wilderness. This hunt is limited to the harvest of antelope in the doe and fawn class.

Land and access

National Forest77%

Generally open to public hunting

State Wildlife Areas8%

Generally open to public hunting

private land8%

Private

BLM5%

Generally open to public hunting

State Trust Land2%

Generally open to public hunting

About 92% of this hunt area is ground a hunter can generally count on — National Forest, State Wildlife Areas, BLM and State Trust Land, roughly 1,149 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 includes designated wilderness. Wyoming law requires a nonresident to be accompanied by a licensed guide or a resident guide in designated wilderness.

Where pronghorn are mapped

Summer Range10%

used in summer

Winter Range9%

used in winter

Yearlong Range6%

the only layer that means year-round use

Crucial Winter Range3%

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

Sagebrush54%

Conifer33%

Grass and meadow7%

Other cover3%

Riparian3%

Mid elevations

Conifer66%

Sagebrush23%

Grass and meadow8%

Other cover3%

Higher elevations

Grass and meadow37%

Sagebrush30%

Other cover18%

Conifer15%

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	30°F	9°F	8 in
February	31°F	9°F	10.1 in
March	38°F	14°F	11.7 in
April	42°F	20°F	16.2 in
May	50°F	29°F	4.4 in
June	59°F	36°F	0 in
July	69°F	43°F	0 in
August	67°F	42°F	0 in
September	58°F	35°F	1.2 in
October	46°F	25°F	6.4 in
November	35°F	15°F	9.7 in
December	28°F	9°F	9.7 in

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

Common questions

Can a hunter in hunt area 84 draw a general or region pronghorn licence?: No. Hunt area 84 is limited-quota only, drawn specifically for this area. Wyoming issues no general pronghorn licence and no region pronghorn licence for antelope; every hunt area is drawn as its own unit, and a resident or nonresident who does not draw for area 84 has no alternative licence to hunt pronghorn there.
Do Wyoming residents need preference points for a pronghorn draw in hunt area 84?: No. Residents have no pronghorn preference points in Wyoming and enter a random draw for this area. Nonresidents, by contrast, compete in a preference-point system where three quarters of the licences go to the point draw, awarded from the highest points downward, and a quarter go to a random draw open to all nonresident applicants; nonresidents with points therefore have a substantial advantage.
Does hunt area 84 contain wilderness, and does it matter?: Yes, hunt area 84 includes designated wilderness. Wyoming law requires any nonresident to be accompanied by a licensed guide or a resident guide in wilderness—meaning a nonresident planning to hunt the backcountry here must either hire a guide or hunt with a resident guide, as hunting alone in wilderness is not legal.
How much of hunt area 84 can a hunter actually get onto?: About 92% of the area—roughly 1,149 square miles—is public land: National Forest, BLM, State Wildlife Areas, and State Trust Land. Private land makes up the remaining 8%, but public ownership does not mean open access; roads, trailheads, seasonal closures, and inholdings of private ground still limit where a hunter can go.
Which seasons run when in hunt area 84?: Three seasons are offered. Type 1 allows any antelope on archery August 15 through September 18 and rifle September 19 through October 31. Type 2 allows any antelope on archery August 15 through September 18 and rifle October 1 through October 31. Type 6 is doe or fawn on archery August 15 through September 18 and rifle September 19 through October 31.

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