Unit 056 (Wapiti Ridge)

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names elk hunt area 56 "Wapiti Ridge". It runs to about 473 square miles, entirely in Park County. WGFD reports these elk as the Cody herd unit, which also takes in elk hunt areas 55, 58, 59, 60, 61 and 66. 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: North Fork, Shoshone River and Sweetwater Creek

WGFD's 2026 Chapter 7 walks the line around elk hunt area 56 corner by corner. On the way round it follows North Fork, Shoshone River, Sweetwater Creek and Jim 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 56s

WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 56 also belongs to its antelope hunt area 56. None of it 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: Bear Creek and Park 18

Its Access Yes program enrolls a Hunter Management Area here that list elk among their species — Bear Creek (1,264 acres). WGFD also lists one Walk-In Area covering about 79 acres open for elk: Park 18. 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 South Fork Shoshone River-Andy Martin Hill (29 acres) and South Fork Shoshone River-Cody Canal (72 acres) are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.

Wilderness inside the line: Washakie Wilderness and North Absaroka Wilderness

About 37% of elk hunt area 56 lies in the Washakie Wilderness and 17% of elk hunt area 56 lies in the North Absaroka 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: Wapiti Ridge, Ptarmigan Mountain and Sheep Mesa

Named high points inside elk hunt area 56 include Wapiti Ridge at 12,049 feet, Ptarmigan Mountain at 12,042 feet, Sheep Mesa at 11,995 feet, Fortress Mountain at 11,995 feet and Citadel Mountain at 11,904 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.

Water: Sweetwater Creek Falls and Big Creek Falls

Named water inside the line includes Sweetwater Creek Falls and Big Creek Falls. Nothing in the data says which of it runs in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.