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Units / Wyoming / Elk area 86

Same number, different ground: Antelope area 86

Unit research · Wyoming Elk area 86

Monument Ridge — Wyoming

97% public across 74,107 ac. Real backcountry here — 50% of the public land sits more than a mile from any road. No landlocked public land.

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Elk area 86Full map — ownership, roads, wind →
6,400–10,820 ft

elevation range

97%

public land

50%

of public >1 mi from a road

0 ac

landlocked public

0.58

road miles per mi²

108 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 97%□ Private 3%
Unit area74,107 ac
Public land71,927 ac (97%)
Landlocked public0 ac (0.0%)
Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)67 mi
Maintained trails108 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road35,722 ac (50% of public)
Road density0.58 mi/mi²
Managed byUSFS 72k ac
Elevation6,400–10,820 ft
Median elevation7,880 ft
Median slope15°

Where the ground sits

6,400 ft10,820 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 29%
E 31%
S 21%
W 19%

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

20,203 ac of this elk area has burned — 27% of the unit. USGS migration corridors cover 64%. 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, °F26° high1° lowJFMAMJJASOND

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

Measured at BIG PINEY-MARBLETON ARPT, 67 km from the unit’s center and ~900 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2025

31.4% success

227 taken by 723 hunters · 4,292 days afield

95 bulls · 18 spikes · 101 cows · 13 calves

Res 22% · NR 45% success

Elk hunter success · 2021–2025 · 25% → 31%

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

Raspberry Ridge · Elk area 8791% public · 36% remoteLower Greys River · Elk area 89100% public · 36% remoteLower Hoback · Elk area 8492% public · 68% remotePiney-Horse Creek · Elk area 9255% public · 32% remoteWaterdog Lakes · Elk area 9365% public · 34% remoteGreys Feedground · Elk area 8882% public · 7% remote

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