Unit 051 (Sunlight-Crandall)
Wyoming Hunting Guide — Elk
Elk Hunt Area 51, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Sunlight-Crandall, covers about 650 square miles in Park County. It belongs to WGFD's Clark's Fork elk herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put elk success here at 42.7%, with 281 hunters taking 120 elk at about 16.7 days of hunting per animal. Federal land covers about 98% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 051
Elk Hunt Area 51, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Sunlight-Crandall, covers about 650 square miles in Park County. It belongs to WGFD's Clark's Fork elk herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put elk success here at 42.7%, with 281 hunters taking 120 elk at about 16.7 days of hunting per animal. Federal land covers about 98% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Elk in Elk Hunt Area 51
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names elk hunt area 51 "Sunlight-Crandall". It runs to about 650 square miles, entirely in Park County. WGFD reports these elk as the Clark's Fork herd unit, which also takes in elk hunt areas 54 and 65. 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: Clark's Fork River, Dead Indian Creek and Elk Creek
WGFD's 2026 Chapter 7 walks the line around elk hunt area 51 corner by corner. It starts at Wyoming Highway 212 where it crosses the Wyoming-Montana state line east of Twin Lakes. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 212 and U.S.F.S. Road 120, and Clark's Fork River, Dead Indian Creek, Elk Creek and Sunlight 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.
Not the same ground as the other hunt area 51s
WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 51 also belongs to its deer and antelope hunt areas 51. 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: Sunlight Basin
WGFD administers the Sunlight Basin Wildlife Habitat Management Area (1,410 acres) inside or across the line.
Wilderness inside the line: North Absaroka Wilderness and Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness
About 43% of elk hunt area 51 lies in the North Absaroka Wilderness and 6% of elk hunt area 51 lies in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. WGFD's 2026 regulations print the rule that matters there: no nonresident may hunt big game in a designated wilderness area unless accompanied by a licensed professional guide or a resident guide, with at least one guide for every two nonresident hunters. Inside the wilderness there are no roads, so every animal there comes out on your back or on a horse.
High ground inside the line: Trout Peak, Dead Indian Peak and Pilot Peak
Named high points inside elk hunt area 51 include Trout Peak at 12,239 feet, Dead Indian Peak at 12,141 feet, Pilot Peak at 11,605 feet, Black Mountain at 11,556 feet and Stinkingwater Peak at 11,547 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: Strawberry Gulch, Willow Park and Burnt Gulch
Below them sit Strawberry Gulch at 7,034 feet, Willow Park at 6,983 feet, Burnt Gulch at 6,970 feet, East Fork Painter Gulch at 6,940 feet and Deweys Gateway at 6,889 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past.
Water: Park Rapids, Badger Spring and Bear Springs
Named water inside the line includes Park Rapids, Badger Spring, Bear Springs, Brown Bear Spring and Beartooth Falls. Nothing in the data says which of it runs in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.
Unit 051 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up · figures are for GMU 51
The lay of it
- 6,692–10,728 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 8,571 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
- 646.9 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
- 158 tanks
- 157 stream segments
- 60 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: Trout Peak (12,239 ft), Dead Indian Peak (12,141 ft), Pilot Peak (11,605 ft), Black Mountain (11,556 ft)
Holding ground: Beartooth Pass (10,948 ft), Ram Pasture (10,413 ft), Beartooth Plateau (9,815 ft), Sunlight Basin WHMA, Park Rapids
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 51
Elk Success Rates
Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 42.7% elk success in elk hunt area 51: 120 animals taken by 281 active hunters over 2,005 days of hunting, or 16.7 days per animal. By residency, residents 37.9% (88 taken by 232) and nonresidents 65.3% (32 taken by 49).
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) | 82 | 309 | 26.5% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 1 either sex (nonresident) | 2 | 328 | 0.6% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 2 either sex (resident) | 25 | 82 | 30.5% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 2 either sex (nonresident) | 0 | 22 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 4 antlerless (resident) | 21 | 85 | 24.7% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 4 antlerless (nonresident) | 1 | 27 | 3.7% | — |
| Archery — Type 9 either sex (resident) | 50 | 81 | 61.7% | — |
| Archery — Type 9 either sex (nonresident) | 1 | 32 | 3.1% | — |
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 51, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:
- Type 1, nonresidents: 328 first-choice applicants for 2 licenses, 0.6% drawn
- Type 1, residents: 309 first-choice applicants for 82 licenses, 26.5% drawn
- Type 4 (antlerless elk), residents: 85 first-choice applicants for 21 licenses, 24.7% drawn
- Type 2, residents: 82 first-choice applicants for 25 licenses, 30.5% drawn
- Type 9, residents: 81 first-choice applicants for 50 licenses, 61.7% 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. There are 3 more type-and-residency rows for this area in 2026. 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 51?
What is the elk success rate in elk hunt area 51?
Is elk hunt area 51 the same ground as deer hunt area 51?
What do you need besides a license to hunt elk hunt area 51?
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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 51, 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 51, 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: Nonresident guide requirement in designated wilderness · 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