Unit 065 (Heart Mountain)
Wyoming Hunting Guide — Elk
Elk Hunt Area 65, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Heart Mountain, covers about 1,679 square miles in Park and Big Horn counties. It belongs to WGFD's Clark's Fork elk herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put elk success here at 23.3%, with 386 hunters taking 90 elk at about 32.9 days of hunting per animal. Federal land covers about 53% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 065
Elk Hunt Area 65, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Heart Mountain, covers about 1,679 square miles in Park and Big Horn counties. It belongs to WGFD's Clark's Fork elk herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put elk success here at 23.3%, with 386 hunters taking 90 elk at about 32.9 days of hunting per animal. Federal land covers about 53% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Elk in Elk Hunt Area 65
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names elk hunt area 65 "Heart Mountain". It runs to about 1,679 square miles, in Park (55%) and Big Horn (45%) counties. WGFD reports these elk as the Clark's Fork herd unit, which also takes in elk hunt areas 51 and 54. 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.
Where elk hunt area 65 begins and ends
WGFD's 2026 Chapter 7 defines elk hunt area 65 as all of the area west of the Bighorn River that lies north of U.S. Highway 14-16-20 and east of Wyoming Highway 120. 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 65s
WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 65 also belongs to its deer and antelope hunt areas 65. 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: Yellowtail and Heart Mountain
WGFD administers the Yellowtail Wildlife Habitat Management Area (19,203 acres) inside or across the line. Its Access Yes program enrolls 2 Hunter Management Areas here that list elk among their species — Heart Mountain (9,924 acres) and Yellowtail (19,487 acres). 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 Idaho Pond (1 acres) and Shoshone River-North Cody (150 acres) are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.
High ground inside the line: Heart Mountain, McCullough Peaks and Little Sheep Mountain
Named high points inside elk hunt area 65 include Heart Mountain at 8,087 feet, McCullough Peaks at 6,523 feet, Little Sheep Mountain at 5,157 feet, Sheep Mountain at 5,069 feet and Polecat Bench at 5,060 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: Rough Gulch, Elk Basin and Powell Flats
Below them sit Rough Gulch at 4,658 feet, Elk Basin at 4,525 feet, Powell Flats at 4,434 feet, Powell Flats at 4,301 feet and Petroglyph Canyon at 4,285 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past.
Water: Sykes Spring, Britton Spring and Black Spring
Named water inside the line includes Sykes Spring, Britton Spring, Black Spring and Stone Barn Spring. Nothing in the data says which of it runs in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.
Unit 065 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up · figures are for GMU 65
The lay of it
- 3,789–5,904 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,492 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 1,675.8 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.
Who owns the ground
- Private / Other — 100%
Roughly 0% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 51 tanks
- 90 stream segments
- 30 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: McCullough Peaks (6,523 ft), Little Sheep Mountain (5,157 ft), Sheep Mountain (5,069 ft), Gilmore Hill (5,025 ft)
Holding ground: Red Point Draw (4,777 ft), Penney Gulch (4,670 ft), Petroglyph Canyon (4,285 ft), Yellowtail Hunter Management Area, Heart Mountain Hunter Management Area
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 65
Elk Success Rates
Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 23.3% elk success in elk hunt area 65: 90 animals taken by 386 active hunters over 2,962 days of hunting, or 32.9 days per animal. By residency, residents 17.7% (43 taken by 243) and nonresidents 32.9% (47 taken by 143).
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) | 10 | 41 | 24.4% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 1 either sex (nonresident) | 0 | 8 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 4 antlerless (resident) | 71 | 20 | 100.0% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 4 antlerless (nonresident) | 3 | 0 | 100.0% | — |
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 65, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:
- Type 1 (any elk), residents: 41 first-choice applicants for 10 licenses, 24.4% drawn
- Type 4 (antlerless elk), residents: 20 first-choice applicants for 71 licenses, 100% drawn
- Type 1 (any elk), nonresidents: 8 first-choice applicants for 0 licenses, 0% 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 65?
What is the elk success rate in elk hunt area 65?
Is elk hunt area 65 the same ground as deer hunt area 65?
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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 65, 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 65, 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