Unit 047 (Copper Mountain)
Wyoming Hunting Guide — Elk
Elk Hunt Area 47, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Copper Mountain, covers about 697 square miles in Fremont and Hot Springs counties. It belongs to WGFD's South Bighorn elk herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put elk success here at 32.2%, with 143 hunters taking 46 elk at about 22.2 days of hunting per animal. Federal land covers about 54% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 047
Elk Hunt Area 47, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Copper Mountain, covers about 697 square miles in Fremont and Hot Springs counties. It belongs to WGFD's South Bighorn elk herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put elk success here at 32.2%, with 143 hunters taking 46 elk at about 22.2 days of hunting per animal. Federal land covers about 54% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Elk in Elk Hunt Area 47
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names elk hunt area 47 "Copper Mountain". It runs to about 697 square miles, in Fremont (56%) and Hot Springs (44%) counties. WGFD reports these elk as the South Bighorn herd unit, which also takes in elk hunt areas 33, 34, 48, 49 and 120. The boundary and the harvest figures are WGFD's. The read of the country inside them is ours, and it says so where it starts.
The line: Bighorn River, Black Mountain and Kirby Creek
WGFD's 2026 Chapter 7 walks the line around elk hunt area 47 corner by corner. It starts where the Bighorn River intersects Wyoming Highway 172 (Black Mountain Road). On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 172, Hot Springs County Road 7, Fremont County Road 259 and Fremont County Road 117, and Bighorn River, Black Mountain, Kirby Creek and Hot 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 47s
WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 47 also belongs to its deer and antelope hunt areas 47. 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.
Ground WGFD opens: Kirby Creek and Hot Springs 8
Its Access Yes program enrolls a Hunter Management Area here that list elk among their species — Kirby Creek (11,503 acres). WGFD also lists 2 Walk-In Areas covering about 5,902 acres open for elk, among them Hot Springs 8 and Hot Springs 19. 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 Bighorn River-Wedding of the Water (13 acres) and Bighorn River-Kirby Ditch (2 acres) are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.
High ground inside the line: Copper Mountain, Guffy Peak and Greer Peak
Named high points inside elk hunt area 47 include Copper Mountain at 8,281 feet, Guffy Peak at 8,026 feet, Greer Peak at 7,708 feet, Birdseye Mountain at 7,519 feet and Fuller Peak at 7,487 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: Grider Basin, Goedicke Draw and Jack Welch Basin
Below them sit Grider Basin at 6,153 feet, Goedicke Draw at 6,142 feet, Jack Welch Basin at 6,109 feet, Brown Spring Draw at 5,958 feet and Cottonwood Draw at 5,866 feet. Those are the basins and bottoms of the area, and they are what you glass into from above.
Unit 047 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up · figures are for GMU 47
The lay of it
- 4,884–7,952 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 5,848 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 696.8 sq mi inside the boundary.
Who owns the ground
- BLM — 15%
- State Trust — 8%
- Private / Other — 77%
Roughly 23% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 37 tanks
- 1 springs
- 20 stream segments
- 8 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: Guffy Peak (8,026 ft), Greer Peak (7,708 ft), Birdseye Mountain (7,519 ft), Stone Mountain (7,187 ft)
Holding ground: Goedicke Draw (6,142 ft), West Fork Graham Draw (5,477 ft), Devil Slide (5,432 ft), Kirby Creek Hunter Management Area, Walk-In Area Hot Springs 19
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 47
Elk Success Rates
Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 32.2% elk success in elk hunt area 47: 46 animals taken by 143 active hunters over 1,021 days of hunting, or 22.2 days per animal. By residency, residents 35.2% (38 taken by 108) and nonresidents 22.9% (8 taken by 35).
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) | 104 | 61 | 100.0% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 1 either sex (nonresident) | 2 | 30 | 6.7% | — |
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 47, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:
- Type 1 (any elk), residents: 61 first-choice applicants for 104 licenses, 100% drawn
- Type 1 (any elk), nonresidents: 30 first-choice applicants for 2 licenses, 6.7% 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 47?
What is the elk success rate in elk hunt area 47?
Is elk hunt area 47 the same ground as deer hunt area 47?
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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 47, 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 47, 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
- 2026 Antelope, Deer and Elk Hunting Regulations — Wyoming Game and Fish Commission · supports: Access Yes Walk-In and Hunter Management Area rules · 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, WHMAs, Public Access Areas, Hunter Management Areas and Walk-In Areas inside the area · 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