Unit 031 (Little Mountain)
Wyoming Hunting Guide — Elk
Elk Hunt Area 31, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Little Mountain, covers about 280 square miles in Sweetwater County. It belongs to WGFD's South Rock Springs elk herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put elk success here at 61.2%, with 139 hunters taking 85 elk at about 15.3 days of hunting per animal. Federal land covers about 88% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 031
Elk Hunt Area 31, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Little Mountain, covers about 280 square miles in Sweetwater County. It belongs to WGFD's South Rock Springs elk herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put elk success here at 61.2%, with 139 hunters taking 85 elk at about 15.3 days of hunting per animal. Federal land covers about 88% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Elk in Elk Hunt Area 31
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names elk hunt area 31 "Little Mountain". It runs to about 280 square miles, entirely in Sweetwater County. WGFD reports these elk as the South Rock Springs herd unit, which also takes in elk hunt areas 30 and 32. WGFD prints the line and counts the harvest. It doesn't say where inside the line the elk live, so that part is our read of the ground, labelled as such.
The line: Flaming Gorge Reservoir and Sage Creek
WGFD's 2026 Chapter 7 walks the line around elk hunt area 31 corner by corner. It starts where the east shore of Flaming Gorge Reservoir crosses the Wyoming-Utah state line. On the way round it follows Sweetwater County Road 36, Sweetwater County Road 34 and U.S. Highway 191, and Flaming Gorge Reservoir and Sage Creek. Read it as the legal edge of your license rather than as a hint about animals. 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 31s
WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 31 also belongs to its deer and antelope hunt areas 31. None of them 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.
High ground inside the line: Little Mountain, Little Mountain and Hawks Nest
Named high points inside elk hunt area 31 include Little Mountain at 9,064 feet, Little Mountain at 8,637 feet, Hawks Nest at 8,620 feet, Currant Creek Ridge at 8,620 feet and Big Ridge at 8,282 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: Janes Meadow, Wildhorse Basin and Buster Basin
Below them sit Janes Meadow at 7,544 feet, Wildhorse Basin at 6,879 feet, Buster Basin at 6,866 feet, Sugarloaf Basin at 6,748 feet and Dry Hollow at 6,715 feet. Those are the basins and bottoms of the area, and they are what you glass into from above.
Water: Spitzi Spring, Camp Creek Springs and Brown Spring
Named water inside the line includes Spitzi Spring, Camp Creek Springs, Brown Spring, Jones Springs, Angelovie Spring and Harris Spring. Nothing in the data says which of it runs in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.
Reading the land status
Federal land — BLM, Forest Service and Park Service — covers about 88% of elk hunt area 31 in our read of the federal land-status layer; state trust land isn't counted in that figure. Our ownership read for this hunt area is approximate — it comes out as National Forest 60%, Private / Other 32% and State Trust 8%, so treat it as a starting point and check a current land-status layer before you plan a route. The hunt area runs from 6,257 feet to 8,750 feet, averaging 7,065 — enough relief to separate summer range from winter range.
Unit 031 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up · figures are for GMU 31
The lay of it
- 6,257–8,750 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,065 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 280.2 sq mi inside the boundary.
Who owns the ground
- National Forest — 60%
- State Trust — 8%
- Private / Other — 32%
Roughly 68% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 1 lakes
Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Little Mountain (9,064 ft), Hawks Nest (8,620 ft), Big Ridge (8,282 ft)
Holding ground: The Narrows (8,049 ft), Buckskin Basin (7,986 ft), Big Pasture (7,897 ft), Spitzi Spring, Camp Creek Springs, Jones Springs
Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.
How to Hunt Elk in Elk Hunt Area 31
Elk Success Rates
Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 61.2% elk success in elk hunt area 31: 85 animals taken by 139 active hunters over 1,304 days of hunting, or 15.3 days per animal. By residency, residents 65.2% (75 taken by 115) and nonresidents 41.7% (10 taken by 24).
These are WGFD's own estimates from its hunter survey, for this hunt area and season only — not a statewide average. One season isn't a trend, so check the current report before you read one into it.
Elk Draw Odds
| Season | Tags | Applicants | Draw % | Pts (n/p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle — General Type 1 either sex (resident) | 32 | 1,062 | 3.0% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 1 either sex (nonresident) | 0 | 44 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 4 antlerless (resident) | 42 | 194 | 21.6% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 4 antlerless (nonresident) | 1 | 24 | 4.2% | — |
Data from 2026 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number. This agency publishes no point thresholds, so the Pts column stays blank and these are pool odds, not what a point total draws.
Open in Draw Odds EngineWyoming Game and Fish's 2026 demand report for elk in elk hunt area 31, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:
- Type 1 (any elk), residents: 1,062 first-choice applicants for 32 licenses, 3% drawn
- Type 4 (antlerless elk), residents: 194 first-choice applicants for 42 licenses, 21.6% drawn
- Type 1 (any elk), nonresidents: 44 first-choice applicants for 0 licenses, 0% drawn
- Type 4 (antlerless elk), nonresidents: 24 first-choice applicants for 1 license, 4.2% drawn
Wyoming residents draw elk licenses without preference points; nonresidents draw part of their quota on points, highest balance first (Chapter 44, Section 19), and the nonresident figures above are from WGFD's random draw. WGFD publishes no preference-point level at which a hunt draws, so none is given here. Every figure was checked against WGFD's demand-report PDFs on 2026-08-10.
Unit Logistics & Expectations
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Wyoming elk hunt area 31?
What is the elk success rate in elk hunt area 31?
Is elk hunt area 31 the same ground as deer hunt area 31?
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Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-25.
- Chapter 7 — Elk Hunting Seasons (2026) — Wyoming Game and Fish Commission · supports: Name and legal boundary of elk hunt area 31, Season dates, license types and limitations by hunt area · accessed 2026-10-25
- Elk 2025 Harvest Report — Wyoming Game and Fish Department · supports: Hunters, harvest, percent success and days per animal for elk in elk hunt area 31, The same by license type and residency · accessed 2026-10-25
- WGFD draw results and odds — demand reports 2021-2026 — Wyoming Game and Fish Department · supports: First-choice applicants, licenses and percent drawn, by license type, residency and year · accessed 2026-08-10
- Chapter 44 — Regulation for Issuance of Licenses, Permits, Stamps, Tags, Preference Points and Competitive Raffle Chances — Wyoming Game and Fish Commission · supports: Which licenses are drawn on preference points (Section 19), When preference points are deleted · accessed 2026-10-25
- WGFD ArcGIS feature services — hunt areas by species, CWD sampling areas, WHMAs, Public Access Areas, Hunter Management Areas, Walk-In Hunting Areas — Wyoming Game and Fish Department · supports: Mapped outline of the hunt area, Herd unit and square miles · accessed 2026-10-25
- TIGERweb State_County — Wyoming county boundaries (used only to measure which counties a hunt area lies in) — U.S. Census Bureau · supports: Which counties the hunt area lies in, and in what share · accessed 2026-10-25