Unit 078 (Wilson)
Wyoming Hunting Guide — Elk
Elk Hunt Area 78, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Wilson, covers about 71 square miles in Teton County. It belongs to WGFD's Jackson elk herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put elk success here at 45.5%, with 233 hunters taking 106 elk at about 18.3 days of hunting per animal. Federal land covers about 33% of it. Elk hunters here also need WGFD's Elk Special Management Permit. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 078
Elk Hunt Area 78, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Wilson, covers about 71 square miles in Teton County. It belongs to WGFD's Jackson elk herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put elk success here at 45.5%, with 233 hunters taking 106 elk at about 18.3 days of hunting per animal. Federal land covers about 33% of it. Elk hunters here also need WGFD's Elk Special Management Permit. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Elk in Elk Hunt Area 78
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names elk hunt area 78 "Wilson". It runs to about 71 square miles, entirely in Teton County. WGFD reports these elk as the Jackson herd unit, which also takes in elk hunt areas 70, 71, 72, 75, 77, 79, 80 and 81 and 2 more. 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.
Where elk hunt area 78 begins and ends
WGFD's 2026 Chapter 7 walks the line around elk hunt area 78 corner by corner. It starts where the Caribou-Targhee National Forest boundary crosses Wyoming Highway 22 at Teton Pass. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 22 and U.S. Highway 191, and Teton Pass. It is the description your license is good inside, so it is worth reading once in full before you go. 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 78s
WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 78 also belongs to its deer and antelope hunt areas 78. 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.
High ground inside the line: Rendezvous Mountain, Rendezvous Peak and Mount Glory
Named high points inside elk hunt area 78 include Rendezvous Mountain at 10,905 feet, Rendezvous Peak at 10,884 feet, Mount Glory at 10,071 feet, Phillips Ridge at 8,441 feet and Apres Vous Peak at 8,419 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: Spring Gulch, Middle Fork Phillips Canyon and Rock Springs Canyon
Below them sit Spring Gulch at 6,274 feet, Middle Fork Phillips Canyon at 7,245 feet, Rock Springs Canyon at 6,994 feet, North Fork Phillips Canyon at 6,907 feet and Phillips Canyon at 6,304 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past.
Reading the land status
Federal land — BLM, Forest Service and Park Service — covers about 33% of elk hunt area 78 in our read of the federal land-status layer; state trust land isn't counted in that figure. Our ownership read for this hunt area is approximate — it comes out as National Forest 60%, Private / Other 32% and State Trust 8%, so treat it as a starting point and check a current land-status layer before you plan a route. The hunt area runs from 6,163 feet to 9,346 feet, averaging 7,042 — enough relief to separate summer range from winter range.
Unit 078 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up · figures are for GMU 78
The lay of it
- 6,163–9,346 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,042 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 70.8 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
- 390 tanks
- 1 springs
- 218 stream segments
- 7 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: Rendezvous Mountain (10,905 ft), Mount Glory (10,071 ft), Phillips Ridge (8,441 ft), Apres Vous Peak (8,419 ft)
Holding ground: Middle Fork Phillips Canyon (7,245 ft)
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 78
Elk Success Rates
Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 45.5% elk success in elk hunt area 78: 106 animals taken by 233 active hunters over 1,936 days of hunting, or 18.3 days per animal. By residency, residents 47% (78 taken by 166) and nonresidents 41.8% (28 taken by 67).
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) | 57 | 74 | 77.0% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 1 either sex (nonresident) | 1 | 16 | 6.3% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 2 either sex (resident) | 42 | 16 | 100.0% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 2 either sex (nonresident) | 1 | 4 | 25.0% | — |
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 78, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:
- Type 1 (any elk), residents: 74 first-choice applicants for 57 licenses, 77% drawn
- Type 1 (any elk), nonresidents: 16 first-choice applicants for 1 license, 6.3% drawn
- Type 2 (any elk), residents: 16 first-choice applicants for 42 licenses, 100% drawn
- Type 2 (any elk), nonresidents: 4 first-choice applicants for 1 license, 25% 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 78?
What is the elk success rate in elk hunt area 78?
Is elk hunt area 78 the same ground as deer hunt area 78?
What do you need besides a license to hunt elk hunt area 78?
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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 78, Season dates, license types and limitations by hunt area, Elk Special Management Permit areas (Section 7) · 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 78, 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
- Chapter 2 — General Hunting Regulation (2026) — Wyoming Game and Fish Commission · supports: Mandatory CWD sample submission (Section 17) · 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, 2026 CWD mandatory and priority sampling areas · 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