Wyoming Whitetail Deer

Unit D121 (Heart Mountain)

Wyoming Hunting Guide — Whitetail Deer

Deer Hunt Area 121, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Heart Mountain, covers about 465 square miles in Park County. It belongs to WGFD's Bighorn Basin white-tailed deer herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put white-tailed deer success here at 51.2%, with 330 hunters taking 169 white-tailed deer at about 11 days of hunting per animal. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Wyoming Hunting Guide

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Whitetail Deer guide

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Whitetail Deer Hunting in Unit D121

Where to Find White-Tailed Deer in Deer Hunt Area 121

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names deer hunt area 121 "Heart Mountain". It runs to about 465 square miles, entirely in Park County. WGFD reports these white-tailed deer as the Bighorn Basin herd unit, which also takes in deer hunt areas 35, 37, 39, 40, 41, 46, 47 and 50 and 24 more. What WGFD publishes for the area is its boundary and its harvest; where the white-tailed deer stand inside it is our reading of the ground, and the two are kept apart below.

The line: Shoshone River, Clark's Fork River and Elk Basin

WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 defines deer hunt area 121 as all of the north drainage of the Shoshone River east of Wyoming Highway 120 and west of Wyoming Highway 295; all of the drainage of the Clark's Fork River east of Wyoming Highway 120 and west of Wyoming Highway 295 and Elk Basin Road. Read it as the legal edge of your license rather than as a hint about animals. The full text is in Section 7 of that chapter, with this year's season dates and license limitations in Section 2.

Ground WGFD opens: Park 14

WGFD also lists one Walk-In Area covering about 250 acres open for deer: Park 14. 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, Polecat Bench and Badland Hills

Named high points inside deer hunt area 121 include Heart Mountain at 8,087 feet, Polecat Bench at 5,060 feet, Badland Hills at 4,991 feet and Chapman Bench at 4,564 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. White-tailed deer hold to cover — river bottoms, brushy draws and timber edges — and rarely stray far from it.

Holding ground: Eaglenest Basin, Elk Basin and Powell Flats

Below them sit Eaglenest Basin at 5,029 feet, Elk Basin at 4,525 feet and Powell Flats at 4,434 feet. That is the low ground — where animals drop when they are pushed or when the weather turns.

Reading the land status

Named ground inside deer hunt area 121 runs from 4,434 feet to 8,087 feet. Those are the heights of the features GNIS names, which bound the range from inside rather than measure it.

Unit D121 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Badland Hills (4,991 ft), Chapman Bench (4,564 ft), Heart Mountain (8,087 ft), Polecat Bench (5,060 ft)

Holding ground: Eaglenest Basin (5,029 ft), Elk Basin (4,525 ft), Walk-In Area Park 14

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 White-Tailed Deer in Deer Hunt Area 121

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest survey estimates 330 hunters took 169 white-tailed deer in deer hunt area 121 — 51.2% success, at about 11 days of hunting for every animal taken. Residents ran 49% and nonresidents 79.2% that year. More hunters filled a license here than went home without one, and the days-per-animal figure is the honest measure of what it took. The plan: find the trails between bedding cover and feed, then sit downwind of them at first and last light.

License types WGFD reported in deer hunt area 121 for 2025

WGFD's 2025 survey breaks the white-tailed deer harvest in deer hunt area 121 down by license type.

Type 3 — 59 licenses in use, 50.8% success, 17 days per animal
Type 6 — 57 licenses in use, 42.1% success, 11.2 days per animal
Type 8 — 71 licenses in use, 66.2% success, 8.5 days per animal
General — 234 licenses in use, 29.1% success, 10.1 days per animal

What each type allows — antlered, antlerless, archery-only, where it is valid — and this year's dates are set area by area in Section 2 of WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6, so read the line for the license you hold rather than assume it matches another area's.

A CWD priority area in 2026

WGFD's 2026 CWD map lists deer hunt area 121 as a priority area for chronic wasting disease sampling, where it wants samples to meet its testing goals. Chapter 2's mandatory-sample rule applies where the Department designates an area mandatory; this one is listed as priority, and a sample from your animal is still the most useful thing you can hand in.

Glassing from Heart Mountain, Polecat Bench and Badland Hills

Take a position on one of Heart Mountain (8,087 ft), Polecat Bench (5,060 ft), Badland Hills (4,991 ft) and Chapman Bench (4,564 ft) and be on it before light. In the dark the air runs downhill. Pick an approach that doesn't send it into the country you want to see, and plan to move once the slope warms. November bucks travel and check doe groups in daylight, which is when a stand on a travel route pays.

Hunting the Access Yes ground

Hunter Management Areas and Walk-In Areas are private land opened through WGFD's Access Yes program, and the 2026 regulations open each one only for the species and dates listed for it. Read the area's page on WGFD's site before you go — its rules, its dates and whether it needs anything more than your license. Anything else on that land, or any species not listed, needs the landowner's permission, so treat the Access Yes line as the edge of what you were given.

Reading the Bighorn Basin herd, not just the area

WGFD's harvest report also tabulates white-tailed deer by herd unit, and deer hunt area 121 shares the Bighorn Basin herd unit with deer hunt areas 35, 37, 39, 40, 41 and 46 and 26 more. The animals cross those lines without noticing them, so a neighbouring area in the same herd is the fairest comparison for a season here.

Wyoming rules that decide your day

Summarised from WGFD regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Wyoming has no general off-road retrieval allowance on federal ground. Travel stays on designated routes.

Tagging

Attach the carcass coupon to the animal before it is moved, and keep evidence of sex attached.

Leaving meat

Wanton waste of edible meat is a serious offence in Wyoming.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No shooting from or across a public road, and no shooting toward an occupied dwelling.

Whitetail Deer: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body.

Shots to refuse

Nothing behind or overlapping the animal you picked.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have shot a three-shot group into a paper plate from the rest you are carrying.
Pass the shot you are talking yourself into.

Plan the carry: roughly 40– 120 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two large coolers. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Whitetail Deer Success Rates

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 51.2% white-tailed deer success in deer hunt area 121: 169 animals taken by 330 active hunters over 1,861 days of hunting, or 11 days per animal. By residency, residents 49% (150 taken by 306) and nonresidents 79.2% (19 taken by 24).

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.

Whitetail Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Rifle — General either sex (resident)	60	111	54.1%	—
Rifle — General either sex (nonresident)	12	1	100.0%	—

Data from 2025 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 Engine

The white-tailed deer draw figures we hold for Wyoming have not been checked against WGFD's demand reports, so none are printed here. WGFD's draw results and odds page has the demand report for every hunt area and license type.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

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Water

No named water source falls inside the hunt area in our water layer, so plan on carrying water or finding it on a scouting trip.

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Road Conditions

WGFD's boundary for the hunt area follows Wyoming Highway 120 and Wyoming Highway 295. That is the edge, not a promise of access inside — check a current motor-vehicle-use map before you drive in.

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Terrain Difficulty

Named features inside the hunt area run from 4,434 to 8,087 ft. Named heights only — the ground between and below them can run lower.

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Hunting Pressure

WGFD's 2025 survey counted about 330 white-tailed deer hunters spending 1,861 days here.

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Permit Notes

Season dates and license limitations: WGFD 2026 Chapter 6, Section 2.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Wyoming deer hunt area 121?

Deer Hunt Area 121 (Heart Mountain) covers about 465 square miles in Park County. WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 defines deer hunt area 121 as all of the north drainage of the Shoshone River east of Wyoming Highway 120 and west of Wyoming Highway 295; all of the drainage of the Clark's Fork River east of Wyoming Highway 120 and west of Wyoming Highway 295 and Elk Basin Road.

What is the white-tailed deer success rate in deer hunt area 121?

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 51.2% white-tailed deer success in deer hunt area 121, with 330 hunters taking 169 white-tailed deer at about 11 days of hunting per animal. That is WGFD's figure for this hunt area, not a statewide average.

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