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Units / Wyoming / Elk area 27

Same number, different ground: Deer area 27 · Antelope area 27 · Moose area 27

Unit research · Wyoming Elk area 27

Upper Sweetwater — Wyoming

94% public across 75,480 ac. Real backcountry here — 29% of the public land sits more than a mile from any road. No landlocked public land.

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Elk draw odds (2)Odds and pins: free, no account
Elk area 27Full map — ownership, roads, wind →
7,450–12,350 ft

elevation range

94%

public land

29%

of public >1 mi from a road

0 ac

landlocked public

1.58

road miles per mi²

24 mi

maintained trails

Computed from primary government data by the open pipeline. See the code →

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

2 limited-entry elk hunts are drawn on Elk area 27: apply in the Wyoming draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Elk tag · 2 draw hunts (2026)$62.00 resident · $707.00 nonresident

Season dates: see Wyoming Game and Fish Department's regulations

2026 WGFD Hunting License Application Information (booklet PDF)

Wyoming elk draw calendar

  • Nov 2, 2026point window closes — purchased-only, miss it and the year is gone

Fees and draw dates from Wyoming Game and Fish Department, 2026, verified 2026-08-05 — past its verify-by date, confirm with the agency. Tag type from the agency's published draw statistics: a elk area that appears in none of them has no limited-entry hunt we know of. Source: 2026 WGFD Hunting License Application Information (booklet PDF) · WGFD license fee list · WGFD preference points · WGFD application dates & deadlines.

Land & access

USFS 57%BLM 33%SLB 4%□ Private 6%
Unit area75,480 ac
Public land70,774 ac (94%)
Landlocked public0 ac (0.0%)
Elk draw pressure0.72 tags/mi² public (0.68 of total area)
Walk-in access161 ac
Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)187 mi
Maintained trails24 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road20,213 ac (29% of public)
Road density1.58 mi/mi²
Managed byUSFS 43k ac · BLM 25k ac · SLB 3k ac
Elevation7,450–12,350 ft
Median elevation8,420 ft
Median slope

Where the ground sits

7,450 ft12,350 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 13%
E 17%
S 38%
W 31%

Share of ground steeper than 5° — flat ground has no facing

North slopes hold shade, cover and snow; south slopes open first.

USGS 3DEP 1 arc-second (30 m), slope at native resolution in a local metric projection, sampled on a 200 m grid. See the code →

Unit intelligence report

13 ac of this elk area has burned — 0% of the unit. USGS migration corridors cover 19%. The full report assembles it into one printable document and keeps it current as the facts change.

Open the report →

Season conditions — measured, not vibes

Historical temperatures · 2000–2025

Monthly normal highs and lows, °F32° high13° lowJFMAMJJASOND

Normals for 2000–2025 — tap or hover for a month

Measured at HUNT FIELD AIRPORT, 39 km from the unit’s center and ~2,800 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2025

35.1% success

47 taken by 134 hunters · 869 days afield

15 bulls · 0 spikes · 25 cows · 7 calves

Res 31% · NR 57% success

Elk hunter success · 2021–2025 · 43% → 35%

WGFD estimates harvest statistics from a voluntary hunter survey run with the University of Wyoming Survey & Analysis Center. "Hunters" are active hunters (license holders who actually hunted). Hunt areas are species-specific geographies. Source: WGFD Annual Harvest Reports (per species-year PDFs) · WGFD Job Completion Reports (per herd unit: population, harvest, success).

How these numbers are made

public_land_pct = public_area / unit_area
landlocked = public ∖ reachable(roads, corners)
remote = public ∖ buffer(roads, 1 mi)

Computed, not curated: no paid research team, no opinions dressed as data. If a number looks wrong, file an issue — the fix ships for everyone.

Nearby elk areas

Cony Mountain · Elk area 2885% public · 39% remoteBig Sandy · Elk area 9991% public · 27% remoteSouth Pass · Elk area 2584% public · 1% remoteSteamboat · Elk area 10073% public · 11% remoteBoulder · Elk area 9892% public · 16% remotePinedale · Elk area 9785% public · 56% remote

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What happens nextNov 2Elk point window closes — purchased-only, miss it and the year is gone · details →
Watch this unit — freeReturned and leftover tags, new legal closures, fire near the unit, weather warnings — by email. One unit free, no card.