Unit 049 (Otter Creek)

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names elk hunt area 49 "Otter Creek". It runs to about 1,237 square miles, in Washakie (90%), Hot Springs (6%) and Johnson (4%) counties. WGFD reports these elk as the South Bighorn herd unit, which also takes in elk hunt areas 33, 34, 47, 48 and 120. 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: Bighorn Divide, Cherry Creek Hill and Lost Creek

WGFD's 2026 Chapter 7 walks the line around elk hunt area 49 corner by corner. It starts at the junction of U.S. Highway 16 and the Bighorn National Forest Boundary approximately nine (9) miles east of the town of Ten Sleep. On the way round it follows U.S. Highway 16, U.S.F.S. Road 452, Johnson County Road 3 and B.L.M. Road 1404, and Bighorn Divide, Cherry Creek Hill, Lost Creek and Deep Creek. 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.

Ground WGFD opens: Washakie 2 and Washakie 5

WGFD also lists 2 Walk-In Areas covering about 1,327 acres open for elk, among them Washakie 2 and Washakie 5. 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 Beartrap Creek/Pheasant (79 acres) and Bighorn River-Skelton (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: Monument Hill, Canyon Ridge and Horse Butte

Named high points inside elk hunt area 49 include Monument Hill at 8,090 feet, Canyon Ridge at 7,887 feet, Horse Butte at 7,435 feet, Mahogany Butte at 6,449 feet and Lighting Ridge at 6,209 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: Schoonover Flats, Kennedy Basin and Bear Gulch

Below them sit Schoonover Flats at 6,782 feet, Kennedy Basin at 6,628 feet, Bear Gulch at 6,623 feet, Sagebrush Flats at 6,535 feet and Cooks Vee at 6,414 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past.

Water: Big Spring, Taylor Spring and Bear Spring

Named water inside the line includes Big Spring, Taylor Spring, Bear Spring, Bob Spring, Cooks Spring and Old Maid 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 824 hunters took 400 elk in elk hunt area 49 — 48.5% success, at about 17.8 days of hunting for every animal taken. Residents ran 52.9% and nonresidents 42.9% 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 49 for 2025

WGFD's 2025 survey breaks the elk harvest in elk hunt area 49 down by license type.

• Type 1 — 317 licenses in use, 44.8% success, 21.9 days per animal
• Type 4 — 102 licenses in use, 46.1% success, 23.5 days per animal
• Type 6 — 248 licenses in use, 29.4% success, 24.1 days per animal
• Type 7 — 235 licenses in use, 58.7% success, 8.4 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 Wild Horse Butte, Middle Butte and Big Cedar Ridge

Take a position on one of Wild Horse Butte (5,436 ft), Middle Butte (5,378 ft), Big Cedar Ridge (5,296 ft) and Zimmerman Buttes (5,227 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 South Bighorn herd, not just the area

WGFD's harvest report also tabulates elk by herd unit, and elk hunt area 49 shares the South Bighorn herd unit with elk hunt areas 33, 34, 47, 48 and 120. 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: Devils Slide Road and Nowater Road

Devils Slide Road, Nowater Road and US 16 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

1,240 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 17.8 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.