Unit 097 (Pinedale)
Wyoming Hunting Guide — Elk
Elk Hunt Area 97, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Pinedale, covers about 473 square miles in Sublette County. It belongs to WGFD's Pinedale elk herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put elk success here at 28.2%, with 497 hunters taking 140 elk at about 30.3 days of hunting per animal. Federal land covers about 81% 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 097
Elk Hunt Area 97, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Pinedale, covers about 473 square miles in Sublette County. It belongs to WGFD's Pinedale elk herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put elk success here at 28.2%, with 497 hunters taking 140 elk at about 30.3 days of hunting per animal. Federal land covers about 81% 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 97
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names elk hunt area 97 "Pinedale". It runs to about 473 square miles, entirely in Sublette County. WGFD reports these elk as the Pinedale herd unit, which also takes in elk hunt area 98. 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: East Green River, Pine Creek and Summit Lake
WGFD's 2026 Chapter 7 walks the line around elk hunt area 97 corner by corner. It starts where Wyoming Highway 351 intersects the East Green River Road (Sublette County 23-110). On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 351, U.S. Highway 191 and Sublette County Road 23, and East Green River, Pine Creek, Summit Lake and Continental Divide. 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 97s
WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 97 also belongs to its deer and antelope hunt areas 97. 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: Half Moon and Fall Creek
WGFD administers 2 Wildlife Habitat Management Areas inside or across the line, including Half Moon (3,761 acres) and Fall Creek (633 acres). Public Access Areas such as New Fork River-Remmick (9 acres) and Green River-Huston (30 acres) are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.
Wilderness inside the line: Bridger Wilderness
About 42% of elk hunt area 97 lies in the Bridger 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: Fremont Peak, Henderson Peak and Bow Mountain
Named high points inside elk hunt area 97 include Fremont Peak at 13,713 feet, Henderson Peak at 13,064 feet, Bow Mountain at 12,978 feet, Knife Point Mountain at 12,963 feet and Harrower Peak at 12,937 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: Gunsight Pass, Bald Mountain Basin and Europe Canyon
Below them sit Gunsight Pass at 10,527 feet, Bald Mountain Basin at 10,516 feet, Europe Canyon at 10,223 feet, North Fork Canyon at 9,984 feet and Miller Park at 9,962 feet. Those are the basins and bottoms of the area, and they are what you glass into from above.
Unit 097 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up · figures are for GMU 97
The lay of it
- 6,897–11,026 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 8,377 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
- 472.6 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
- 820 tanks
- 234 stream segments
- 176 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: Henderson Peak (13,064 ft), Knife Point Mountain (12,963 ft), Angel Peak (12,360 ft)
Holding ground: Shannon Pass (11,154 ft), Lester Pass (11,112 ft), Indian Basin (11,094 ft), Half Moon WHMA, Fall Creek WHMA
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 97
Elk Success Rates
Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 28.2% elk success in elk hunt area 97: 140 animals taken by 497 active hunters over 4,239 days of hunting, or 30.3 days per animal. By residency, residents 24.1% (90 taken by 373) and nonresidents 40.3% (50 taken by 124).
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) | 210 | 72 | 100.0% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 1 either sex (nonresident) | 6 | 37 | 16.2% | — |
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 97, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:
- Type 1 (any elk), residents: 72 first-choice applicants for 210 licenses, 100% drawn
- Type 1 (any elk), nonresidents: 37 first-choice applicants for 6 licenses, 16.2% 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 97?
What is the elk success rate in elk hunt area 97?
Is elk hunt area 97 the same ground as deer hunt area 97?
What do you need besides a license to hunt elk hunt area 97?
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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 97, 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 97, 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
- 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, 2026 CWD mandatory and priority sampling areas, 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