Wyoming's nonresident general elk license region by region overview

As most of you now know, Wyoming has changed the nonresident general elk license from being a statewide license to a regional-based elk license. You now have to choose from one of three regions (Western Region, Southern Region, Eastern Region) when it comes time to apply for the general elk license in Wyoming as a nonresident. Each region has its own tag quotas and will have its own set of draw odds from this point on. This nonresident Wyoming region change was approved back in July of 2023, and official quotas were set late spring of 2024.

Stay tuned for later this fall when we publish updated Draw Odds on the Insider platform.

The above screenshots show nonresident general elk hunt areas, as well as the new region boundaries. You can also click on the "Choose a region" section to highlight the new regions and jump into the region profiles.

In this article, we’ll break down the Wyoming nonresident elk region map and provide you with some region data. We’ll explain how to interpret the odds and how things might look going forward. If you currently have one of the new region licenses in your pocket, GOHUNT Maps and Filtering both have the updated region boundaries and can help with your research prior to hunting this fall.

Remember that we now have research tools available on the GOHUNT mobile app as well. You have access to Filtering, Draw Odds, and Unit Profiles. And you can access all of this information on you mobile app.

Western Region - Wyoming nonresident elk

This is the biggest general region with 37 available units that are open to hunting for the 2024 season and a total of 2,775 licenses available. The region includes everything north of I-80 from the Utah border to the North Platte River, and runs due north up through Sheridan to the Montana border. Because this part of the state was the primary focus for hunters who previously held the old general license, it was feared that the point creep for this region would go through the roof. Overall, the point creep wasn’t nearly as bad as expected. Due to the special license price increase, the special odds got slightly better and the regular odds got slightly worse. Below is a comparison of draw odds between the 2023 general elk license and the 2024 western region elk license.

Southern Region  - Wyoming nonresident elk

This is the southernmost region that holds 11 available units and has 1,050 available licenses for the 2024 season. The region encompasses everything south of I-80 from the Utah border to just shy of Laramie, Wyoming. It does have some decent amounts of public land and a good number of elk to go with it. The predictions for this region to jump in points wasn’t that big of a concern, but it proved to have the biggest point creep in the regular draw. This could be caused by applicants electing not to chase the western license and the special price increase. Compared to the 2023 season, the regular odds actually jumped about a full point while the special odds actually went down a full two points.

Eastern Region - Wyoming nonresident elk

The far eastern region is actually the second biggest, yet has the least amount of units and the lowest tag quota. The biggest reason for this is primarily the massive amounts of private land and public access can be tricky. That being said, you have a total of six units and there are 600 licenses up for grabs. The region boundaries are everything east of I-25, the North Platte River, I-80 and Laramie, Wyoming, to the state boundaries. There wasn’t much concern for point creep in this region due to all the private land and it was assumed that the majority of hunters favored other parts of the state. However, like the other two regions, the regular license did jump slightly and the special odds went down quite a bit.

Researching a Wyoming nonresident general elk license you have this year

For those who have a region general elk license in their pocket, now is the time to jump onto GOHUNT Maps and take a look at all the available units for your region. Both the web platform and the mobile app have been updated to outline these regions and help you with your research. One of the biggest things I would pay attention to while researching is the percentage of public land and designated wilderness. Just a reminder for those who plan to hunt the wilderness: you need to have a licensed outfitter or be accompanied by a resident guide. There are a handful of units within the western region that are either completely within the wilderness or have some percentage of wilderness within them. You can see this information within the Unit Profiles and on GOHUNT Maps with the wilderness layers turned on. 

If you are looking to plan for the 2025 application period, this is a good look at what you might expect from these regions moving forward. I think it’s really a game of who wants to pay more money to draw the license sooner. At least, that’s how it looks for the southern and eastern regions. The western region will probably hold steady and continue to slowly climb away, but time will tell. If you’re not an Insider, there’s no better time to sign up and prepare for the upcoming season. Good luck to all.