Same number, different ground: Antelope area 56 →

Unit research · Wyoming Elk area 56

Wapiti Ridge — Wyoming

88% public across 302,600 ac. Real backcountry here — 82% of the public land sits more than a mile from any road. Almost none of the public land is landlocked.

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Elk draw odds (4)Odds and pins: free, no account

Elk area 56Full map — ownership, roads, wind →

5,390–12,140 ft

elevation range

88%

public land

82%

of public >1 mi from a road

1,023 ac

landlocked public

0.31

road miles per mi²

49 mi

maintained trails

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

Tags & season

Draw hunts on this ground.

4 limited-entry elk hunts are drawn on Elk area 56: apply in the Wyoming draw, by the agency's deadline below.

Elk tag · 4 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, 2026 — point window closes — purchased-only, miss it and the year is gone

WGFD license fee list ↗Draw odds for Wyoming elk →How the Wyoming draw works →

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 78%■ BLM 7%■ SLB 2%■ Other public 2%□ Private 12%

Unit area302,600 ac

Public land267,385 ac (88%)

Landlocked public1,023 ac (0.4%)

Elk draw pressure0.096 tags/mi² public (0.085 of total area)

Walk-in access1,306 ac

Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)147 mi

Maintained trails49 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road220,418 ac (82% of public)

Road density0.31 mi/mi²

Managed byUSFS 236k ac · BLM 20k ac · SLB 5k ac

Elevation5,390–12,140 ft

Median elevation8,080 ft

Median slope22°

Where the ground sits

5,390 ft12,140 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 23%

E 29%

S 27%

W 22%

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

46,355 ac of this elk area has burned — 15% of the unit. 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

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

Measured at YELLOWSTONE, 69 km from the unit’s center. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2025

32.1% success

212 taken by 661 hunters · 4,346 days afield

102 bulls · 6 spikes · 94 cows · 10 calves

Res 32% · NR 32% success

Elk hunter success · 2021–2025 · 27% → 32%

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)
# AGPL — read the pipeline →

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

Grinnell · Elk area 55100% public · 87% remote Boulder Basin · Elk area 5991% public · 89% remote Sage Creek · Elk area 5833% public · 1% remote North Greybull River · Elk area 6169% public · 50% remote Thorofare · Elk area 60100% public · 100% remote Bald Ridge · Elk area 5468% public · 32% remote

Ready to scout it?

Everything on this page, live on the map — ownership, boundaries, roads, and your own waypoints.

Open Elk area 56 in the map

What happens nextNov 2 — Elk point window closes — purchased-only, miss it and the year is gone · details →