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Units / Wyoming / Elk area 85

Same number, different ground: Antelope area 85

Unit research · Wyoming Elk area 85

Fall Creek — Wyoming

92% public across 179,273 ac. Real backcountry here — 46% 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 area 85Full map — ownership, roads, wind →
5,580–9,930 ft

elevation range

92%

public land

46%

of public >1 mi from a road

200 ac

landlocked public

0.88

road miles per mi²

300 mi

maintained trails

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

Tags & season

Tags: check Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

No draw hunts are published for this elk area. Tag type, quotas and season dates are in Wyoming Game and Fish Department's regulations.

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

2026 WGFD Hunting License Application Information (booklet PDF)

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 92%SLB 0%BLM 0%□ Private 8%
Unit area179,273 ac
Public land165,583 ac (92%)
Landlocked public200 ac (0.1%)
Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)247 mi
Maintained trails300 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road75,763 ac (46% of public)
Road density0.88 mi/mi²
Managed byUSFS 164k ac · SLB 1k ac · BLM 0k ac
Elevation5,580–9,930 ft
Median elevation7,400 ft
Median slope20°

Where the ground sits

5,580 ft9,930 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 25%
E 29%
S 25%
W 21%

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

5,348 ac of this elk area has burned — 3% of the unit. USGS migration corridors cover 1%. 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, °F30° high15° lowJFMAMJJASOND

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

Measured at REXBURG-MADISON COUNTY APT, 90 km from the unit’s center and ~2,500 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2025

35.2% success

258 taken by 733 hunters · 5,367 days afield

134 bulls · 0 spikes · 105 cows · 19 calves

Res 36% · NR 29% success

Elk hunter success · 2021–2025 · 26% → 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

Wilson · Elk area 7837% public · 36% remoteGreys Feedground · Elk area 8882% public · 7% remoteLower Hoback · Elk area 8492% public · 68% remoteNational Elk Refuge · Elk area 7798% public · 36% remoteSheep Creek · Elk area 8099% public · 62% remoteLower Greys River · Elk area 89100% public · 36% remote

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