Unit A81 (South Fork)
Wyoming Hunting Guide — Pronghorn
Antelope Hunt Area 81, which Wyoming Game and Fish names South Fork, covers about 619 square miles in Park County. It belongs to WGFD's Carter Mountain antelope herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put pronghorn success here at 100.8%, with 260 hunters taking 262 pronghorn at about 3.5 days of hunting per animal. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Pronghorn Hunting in Unit A81
Antelope Hunt Area 81, which Wyoming Game and Fish names South Fork, covers about 619 square miles in Park County. It belongs to WGFD's Carter Mountain antelope herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put pronghorn success here at 100.8%, with 260 hunters taking 262 pronghorn at about 3.5 days of hunting per animal. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Pronghorn in Antelope Hunt Area 81
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names antelope hunt area 81 "South Fork". It runs to about 619 square miles, entirely in Park County. WGFD reports these pronghorn as the Carter Mountain herd unit, which also takes in antelope hunt areas 78 and 82. WGFD prints the line and counts the harvest. It doesn't say where inside the line the pronghorn live, so that part is our read of the ground, labelled as such.
The line: Dry Creek, Meeteetse Creek and Sage Creek
WGFD's 2026 Chapter 5 walks the line around antelope hunt area 81 corner by corner. It starts where Dry Creek crosses Wyoming Highway 120 at the Halfway House historical marker. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 120 and U.S. Highway 14-16-20, and Dry Creek, Meeteetse Creek, Sage Creek and Greybull River. Read it as the legal edge of your license rather than as a hint about animals. The full text is in Section 5 of that chapter, with this year's season dates and license limitations in Section 2.
Not the same ground as the other hunt area 81s
WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 81 also belongs to its elk and deer hunt areas 81. 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 antelope area, and the cards at the foot of the page link the others.
Ground WGFD opens: Carter Mountain and Park 9
Its Access Yes program enrolls a Hunter Management Area here that list antelope among their species — Carter Mountain (81,406 acres). WGFD also lists 2 Walk-In Areas covering about 5,007 acres open for antelope, among them Park 9 and Park 6. 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
About 10% of antelope hunt area 81 lies in the Washakie 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: Needle Mountain, Boulder Ridge and Slide Mountain
Named high points inside antelope hunt area 81 include Needle Mountain at 12,107 feet, Boulder Ridge at 11,633 feet, Slide Mountain at 9,581 feet, Devils Tooth at 8,528 feet and Sheep Mountain at 7,993 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Pronghorn stay on the open rolling ground and leave the timber alone.
Unit A81 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Needle Mountain (12,107 ft), Slide Mountain (9,581 ft), Cedar Mountain (7,834 ft), Elk Butte (6,197 ft)
Holding ground: Boulder Basin (8,799 ft), Aldrich Basin (8,525 ft), Eagle Pass (5,288 ft), Carter Mountain Hunter Management Area, Walk-In Area Park 9
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 Pronghorn in Antelope Hunt Area 81
Pronghorn Success Rates
Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 100.8% pronghorn success in antelope hunt area 81: 262 animals taken by 260 active hunters over 915 days of hunting, or 3.5 days per animal. By residency, residents 98.1% (203 taken by 207) and nonresidents 111.3% (59 taken by 53). The figure passes 100% because WGFD counts animals taken over hunters, and its Chapter 2 lets one hunter hold a full-price license and up to four reduced-price doe/fawn licenses.
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.
Pronghorn Draw Odds
| Season | Tags | Applicants | Draw % | Pts (n/p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle — General Type 1 either sex (resident) | 135 | 755 | 17.9% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 1 either sex (nonresident) | 5 | 152 | 3.3% | — |
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 pronghorn in antelope hunt area 81, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:
- Type 1 (any antelope), residents: 755 first-choice applicants for 135 licenses, 17.9% drawn
- Type 1 (any antelope), nonresidents: 152 first-choice applicants for 5 licenses, 3.3% drawn
Wyoming residents draw pronghorn 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 antelope hunt area 81?
What is the pronghorn success rate in antelope hunt area 81?
Is antelope hunt area 81 the same ground as elk hunt area 81?
What do you need besides a license to hunt antelope hunt area 81?
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Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-25.
- Chapter 5 — Antelope Hunting Seasons (2026) — Wyoming Game and Fish Commission · supports: Name and legal boundary of antelope hunt area 81, Season dates, license types and limitations by hunt area · accessed 2026-10-25
- Antelope 2025 Harvest Report — Wyoming Game and Fish Department · supports: Hunters, harvest, percent success and days per animal for pronghorn in antelope hunt area 81, 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: How many licenses one hunter may hold (Section 4) · accessed 2026-10-25
- 2026 Antelope, Deer and Elk Hunting Regulations — Wyoming Game and Fish Commission · supports: Nonresident guide requirement in designated wilderness, 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