Unit 019 (Muddy Mountain)

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names elk hunt area 19 "Muddy Mountain". It runs to about 743 square miles, in Natrona (86%) and Converse (12%) counties. WGFD reports these elk as the Laramie Peak/Muddy Mountain herd unit, which also takes in elk hunt area 7. What WGFD publishes for the area is its boundary and its harvest; where the elk stand inside it is our reading of the ground, and the two are kept apart below.

The line: Deer Creek, North Platte River and Curry Creek

WGFD's 2026 Chapter 7 walks the line around elk hunt area 19 corner by corner. It starts at the confluence of Deer Creek and the North Platte River at the town of Glenrock. On the way round it follows U.S.F.S. Road 660, Natrona County Road 402, B.L.M. Road 3141 and Wyoming Highway 487, and Deer Creek, North Platte River, Curry Creek and Squaw Springs. That is a legal description, not a habitat map, and it is the text a warden reads you against. The full text is in Section 9 of that chapter, with this year's season dates and license limitations in Section 2.

Not the same ground as the other hunt area 19s

WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 19 also belongs to its deer, antelope, moose and bighorn sheep hunt areas 19. Only the bighorn sheep area shares a county with this one. A license is good only in the hunt area of its own species, so this page is about the elk area, and the cards at the foot of the page link the others.

Ground WGFD opens: Muddy Mountain

Its Access Yes program enrolls a Hunter Management Area here that list elk among their species — Muddy Mountain (46,195 acres). WGFD's 2026 regulations open Access Yes land only for the species and dates listed for each area, with each area's own rules on WGFD's site and no motorized travel unless WGFD says otherwise. Public Access Areas such as Deer Creek Canyon (2 acres) and North Platte River-Rabbit Hill (1 acres) are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.

High ground inside the line: Reno Hill, Muddy Mountain and Deer Creek Range

Named high points inside elk hunt area 19 include Reno Hill at 8,760 feet, Muddy Mountain at 8,296 feet, Deer Creek Range at 8,205 feet, Casper Mountain at 8,176 feet and Six Horse Hill at 8,049 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Elk want timber to bed in and open ground to feed on, within a short walk of each other.

Holding ground: Steeple Pasture, Mud Springs Draw and Deer Creek Park

Below them sit Steeple Pasture at 7,010 feet, Mud Springs Draw at 6,951 feet, Deer Creek Park at 6,933 feet, Negro Creek Park at 6,823 feet and Hess Draw at 6,755 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past.

Water: Mohawk Well, Hillcrest Spring and Garden Creek Waterfall

Named water inside the line includes Mohawk Well, Hillcrest Spring, Garden Creek Waterfall, Phillips Spring, Indian Spring and Asbestos Spring. Nothing in the data says which of it runs in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest survey estimates 637 hunters took 287 elk in elk hunt area 19 — 45.1% success, at about 19.4 days of hunting for every animal taken. Residents ran 45.5% and nonresidents 43.2% that year. Fewer than half the hunters here filled a license, which makes scouting time the difference between the two groups. The plan: find the feed, find the timber it backs onto, then watch the seam between them at the edges of the day.

License types WGFD reported in elk hunt area 19 for 2025

WGFD's 2025 survey breaks the elk harvest in elk hunt area 19 down by license type.

• Type 1 — 147 licenses in use, 58.5% success, 11.3 days per animal
• Type 2 — 164 licenses in use, 54.9% success, 19.7 days per animal
• Type 4 — 84 licenses in use, 27.4% success, 24.2 days per animal
• Type 5 — 109 licenses in use, 20.2% success, 35.7 days per animal
• Type 6 — 190 licenses in use, 34.7% success, 22.6 days per animal

What each type allows — antlered, antlerless, archery-only, where it is valid — and this year's dates are set area by area in Section 2 of WGFD's 2026 Chapter 7, so read the line for the license you hold rather than assume it matches another area's.

Glassing from Banner Mountain, Coal Mountain and Twin Buttes

Take a position on one of Banner Mountain (7,282 ft), Coal Mountain (7,024 ft), Twin Buttes (6,752 ft) and Hat Six Hogback (6,109 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. September bugling works where you can get above a drainage and let the thermals carry sound downhill.

Hunting the Access Yes ground

Hunter Management Areas and Walk-In Areas are private land opened through WGFD's Access Yes program, and the 2026 regulations open each one only for the species and dates listed for it. Read the area's page on WGFD's site before you go — its rules, its dates and whether it needs anything more than your license. Anything else on that land, or any species not listed, needs the landowner's permission, so treat the Access Yes line as the edge of what you were given.

Reading the Laramie Peak/Muddy Mountain herd, not just the area

WGFD's harvest report also tabulates elk by herd unit, and elk hunt area 19 shares the Laramie Peak/Muddy Mountain herd unit with elk hunt area 7. The animals cross those lines without noticing them, so a neighbouring area in the same herd is the fairest comparison for a season here.

Getting past the roads: WY 487 and Shirley Ridge Road

WY 487, Shirley Ridge Road and Bates Hole Stock Trail are the named routes in our road inventory for the area. The country past the end of the gravel is the part worth your legs.

What a day here costs you

743 square miles is more country than a season will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the area. WGFD's figure of 19.4 days of hunting per elk is the one to budget against. Leave the truck earlier than you want to and you will hunt the best half-hour of the day.