Unit A97 (Boysen)
Wyoming Hunting Guide — Pronghorn
Antelope Hunt Area 97, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Boysen, covers about 416 square miles in Fremont County. It belongs to WGFD's Project antelope herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put pronghorn success here at 97.6%, with 127 hunters taking 124 pronghorn at about 3 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 A97
Antelope Hunt Area 97, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Boysen, covers about 416 square miles in Fremont County. It belongs to WGFD's Project antelope herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put pronghorn success here at 97.6%, with 127 hunters taking 124 pronghorn at about 3 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 97
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names antelope hunt area 97 "Boysen". It runs to about 416 square miles, entirely in Fremont County. WGFD reports these pronghorn as the Project herd unit, which also takes in antelope hunt area 117. 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: Cottonwood Creek and Boysen Reservoir
WGFD's 2026 Chapter 5 defines antelope hunt area 97 as all lands within the Bureau of Reclamation's Riverton and Boysen Unit boundaries and those lands within Boysen State Park south of Cottonwood Creek and west of Boysen Reservoir and those lands within Boysen State Park south of U.S. Highway 20-26. 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 97s
WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 97 also belongs to its elk and deer hunt areas 97. Only the deer area 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: Sand Mesa and Ocean Lake
WGFD administers 2 Wildlife Habitat Management Areas inside or across the line, including Sand Mesa (19,357 acres) and Ocean Lake (11,289 acres). WGFD also lists 2 Walk-In Areas covering about 1,584 acres open for antelope, among them Fremont 18 and Fremont 34. 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 Killebrew (239 acres) and Mile High Ranch are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.
High ground inside the line: Pilot Butte, Lost Wells Butte and Sand Butte
Named high points inside antelope hunt area 97 include Pilot Butte at 5,831 feet, Lost Wells Butte at 5,685 feet, Sand Butte at 5,672 feet, Edmo Buttes at 5,640 feet and Sand Mesa at 5,178 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Pronghorn live in the open and trust their eyes, which is the whole problem.
Holding ground: Missouri Valley, Mexican Flat and Mexican Draw
Below them sit Missouri Valley at 4,793 feet, Mexican Flat at 5,570 feet, Mexican Draw at 5,563 feet, Kinnear Valley at 5,282 feet and Paradise Valley at 5,137 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past.
Reading the land status
Named ground inside antelope hunt area 97 runs from 4,793 feet to 5,831 feet. Those are the heights of the features GNIS names, which bound the range from inside rather than measure it.
Unit A97 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Lost Wells Butte (5,685 ft), Sand Hills (4,959 ft)
Holding ground: Sand Gulch (4,888 ft), Missouri Valley (4,793 ft), Sand Mesa WHMA, Ocean Lake WHMA, Walk-In Area Fremont 34, Walk-In Area Fremont 18
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 97
Pronghorn Success Rates
Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 97.6% pronghorn success in antelope hunt area 97: 124 animals taken by 127 active hunters over 366 days of hunting, or 3 days per animal. By residency, residents 94.6% (88 taken by 93) and nonresidents 105.9% (36 taken by 34).
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) | 24 | 202 | 11.9% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 1 either sex (nonresident) | 1 | 73 | 1.4% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 2 either sex (resident) | 18 | 33 | 54.5% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 2 either sex (nonresident) | 1 | 22 | 4.5% | — |
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 97, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:
- Type 1 (any antelope), residents: 202 first-choice applicants for 24 licenses, 11.9% drawn
- Type 1 (any antelope), nonresidents: 73 first-choice applicants for 1 license, 1.4% drawn
- Type 2 (any antelope), residents: 33 first-choice applicants for 18 licenses, 54.5% drawn
- Type 2 (any antelope), nonresidents: 22 first-choice applicants for 1 license, 4.5% 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 97?
What is the pronghorn success rate in antelope hunt area 97?
Is antelope hunt area 97 the same ground as 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 5 — Antelope Hunting Seasons (2026) — Wyoming Game and Fish Commission · supports: Name and legal boundary of antelope hunt area 97, 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 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
- 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