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Units / Wyoming / Elk area 96

Same number, different ground: Deer area 96 · Antelope area 96

Unit research · Wyoming Elk area 96

New Fork — Wyoming

69% public across 160,464 ac. Real backcountry here — 50% 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 96Full map — ownership, roads, wind →
7,180–11,930 ft

elevation range

69%

public land

50%

of public >1 mi from a road

679 ac

landlocked public

1.15

road miles per mi²

127 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 96: 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, 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 60%BLM 4%SFW 2%■ Other public 2%□ Private 31%
Unit area160,464 ac
Public land109,931 ac (69%)
Landlocked public679 ac (0.6%)
Elk draw pressure2.7 tags/mi² public (1.8 of total area)
Motorized routes (MVUM + roads)289 mi
Maintained trails127 mi

Backcountry

Public land >1 mi from a road54,660 ac (50% of public)
Road density1.15 mi/mi²
Managed byUSFS 96k ac · BLM 7k ac · SFW 4k ac
Elevation7,180–11,930 ft
Median elevation7,970 ft
Median slope

Where the ground sits

7,180 ft11,930 ft

Tap or hover the bars for each elevation band

Slope mix

Which way the slopes face

N 15%
E 23%
S 26%
W 36%

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

18,302 ac of this elk area has burned — 11% of the unit. USGS migration corridors cover 38%. 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, 56 km from the unit’s center and ~1,000 ft below its median elevation — expect the unit to run colder. NOAA ISD-Lite hourly observations.

Harvest — agency survey estimates

Elk · 2025

24% success

155 taken by 647 hunters · 6,448 days afield

71 bulls · 6 spikes · 63 cows · 15 calves

Res 22% · NR 30% success

Elk hunter success · 2021–2025 · 24% → 24%

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

Waterdog Lakes · Elk area 9365% public · 34% remotePinedale · Elk area 9785% public · 56% remoteGreen River · Elk area 95100% public · 50% remotePiney-Horse Creek · Elk area 9255% public · 32% remoteWhiskey Mountain · Elk area 6995% public · 87% remoteBoulder · Elk area 9892% public · 16% 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.