Same number, different ground: Deer area 78 → · Antelope area 78 →

Unit research · Wyoming Elk area 78

Wilson — Wyoming

37% public across 45,417 ac. Real backcountry here — 36% 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 78Full map — ownership, roads, wind →

6,150–10,840 ft

elevation range

37%

public land

36%

of public >1 mi from a road

160 ac

landlocked public

2.48

road miles per mi²

104 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 78: 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 32%■ SLB 3%■ BLM 1%■ Other public 1%□ Private 63%

Unit area45,417 ac

Public land16,719 ac (37%)

Landlocked public160 ac (1.0%)

Elk draw pressure4.7 tags/mi² public (1.7 of total area)

Walk-in access42 ac

Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)176 mi

Maintained trails104 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road6,049 ac (36% of public)

Road density2.48 mi/mi²

Managed byUSFS 15k ac · SLB 1k ac · BLM 1k ac

Elevation6,150–10,840 ft

Median elevation6,400 ft

Median slope6°

Where the ground sits

6,150 ft10,840 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 14%

E 39%

S 31%

W 16%

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

Burn history, migration coverage, and terrain for this elk area — 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 REXBURG-MADISON COUNTY APT, 85 km from the unit’s center and ~1,500 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2025

45.5% success

106 taken by 233 hunters · 1,936 days afield

63 bulls · 0 spikes · 40 cows · 3 calves

Res 47% · NR 42% success

Elk hunter success · 2021–2025 · 48% → 46%

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

National Elk Refuge · Elk area 7798% public · 36% remote Sheep Creek · Elk area 8099% public · 62% remote Snake River · Elk area 7599% public · 2% remote Fall Creek · Elk area 8592% public · 46% remote Lower Hoback · Elk area 8492% public · 68% remote Targhee-Alta · Elk area 7396% public · 53% remote

Ready to scout it?

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

Open Elk area 78 in the map

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