Wyoming Whitetail Deer

Unit D122 (Shoshone River)

Wyoming Hunting Guide — Whitetail Deer

Deer Hunt Area 122, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Shoshone River, covers about 992 square miles in Big Horn and Park counties. It belongs to WGFD's Bighorn Basin white-tailed deer herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put white-tailed deer success here at 27.7%, with 664 hunters taking 184 white-tailed deer at about 19.8 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 D122

Where to Find White-Tailed Deer in Deer Hunt Area 122

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names deer hunt area 122 "Shoshone River". It runs to about 992 square miles, in Big Horn (54%) and Park (46%) counties. 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. The boundary and the harvest figures are WGFD's. The read of the country inside them is ours, and it says so where it starts.

The line: Elk Basin, Bighorn River and Shoshone River

WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 walks the line around deer hunt area 122 corner by corner. It starts where the Elk Basin Road (Wyoming Highway 295) crosses the Wyoming-Montana state line. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 295, Wyoming Highway 37, U.S. Highway 14A and B.L.M. Road 1138, and Elk Basin, Bighorn River, Shoshone River and Dry Creek. 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.

Not the same ground as the other hunt area 122s

WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 122 also belongs to its elk hunt area 122. None of it 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 deer area, and the cards at the foot of the page link the others.

Ground WGFD opens: Yellowtail and Yellowtail

WGFD administers the Yellowtail Wildlife Habitat Management Area (19,203 acres) inside or across the line. Its Access Yes program enrolls a Hunter Management Area here that list deer among their species — Yellowtail (19,487 acres). WGFD also lists 9 Walk-In Areas covering about 6,197 acres open for deer, among them Park 1, Park 3 and Big Horn 2. 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.

High ground inside the line: McCullough Peaks, Little Sheep Mountain and Sheep Mountain

Named high points inside deer hunt area 122 include McCullough Peaks at 6,523 feet, Little Sheep Mountain at 5,157 feet, Sheep Mountain at 5,069 feet, Gilmore Hill at 5,025 feet and Red Point at 4,979 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. White-tailed deer on farm country live in the cover strips between fields and feed out at the edges of the day.

Holding ground: Powell Flats, Petroglyph Canyon and Willwood Draw

Below them sit Powell Flats at 4,301 feet, Petroglyph Canyon at 4,285 feet, Willwood Draw at 4,249 feet, Roan Wash at 4,120 feet and East Fork Sand Draw at 4,118 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past.

Water: Sykes Spring, Britton Spring and Black Spring

Named water inside the line includes Sykes Spring, Britton Spring, Black Spring and Stone Barn Spring. Nothing in the data says which of it runs in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Unit D122 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: McCullough Peaks (6,523 ft), Little Sheep Mountain (5,157 ft), Sheep Mountain (5,069 ft), Gilmore Hill (5,025 ft)

Holding ground: Red Point Draw (4,777 ft), Penney Gulch (4,670 ft), Petroglyph Canyon (4,285 ft), Walk-In Area Big Horn 2, Walk-In Area Park 3

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 122

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest survey estimates 664 hunters took 184 white-tailed deer in deer hunt area 122 — 27.7% success, at about 19.8 days of hunting for every animal taken. Residents ran 27.7% and nonresidents 27.9% that year. Fewer than half the hunters here filled a license, which makes scouting time the difference between the two groups. 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 122 for 2025

WGFD's 2025 survey breaks the white-tailed deer harvest in deer hunt area 122 down by license type.

Type 3 — 65 licenses in use, 36.9% success, 31.7 days per animal
Type 6 — 62 licenses in use, 24.2% success, 23.6 days per animal
Type 8 — 115 licenses in use, 30.4% success, 18.5 days per animal
General — 535 licenses in use, 20.6% success, 17 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 122 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 Sheep Mountain, Gilmore Hill and Red Point

Take a position on one of Sheep Mountain (5,069 ft), Gilmore Hill (5,025 ft), Red Point (4,979 ft) and Katys Nipple (4,003 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. 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 122 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 27.7% white-tailed deer success in deer hunt area 122: 184 animals taken by 664 active hunters over 3,634 days of hunting, or 19.8 days per animal. By residency, residents 27.7% (167 taken by 603) and nonresidents 27.9% (17 taken by 61).

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	244	24.6%	—
Rifle — General either sex (nonresident)	12	4	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

4 named water sources inside the hunt area in our water layer, including Sykes Spring, Britton Spring and Black Spring. Which of them run in autumn is something only a scouting trip will tell you.

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Road Conditions

WGFD's boundary for the hunt area follows Wyoming Highway 295, Wyoming Highway 37, U.S. Highway 14A and B.L.M. Road 1138. 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 3,722 to 6,523 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 664 white-tailed deer hunters spending 3,634 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 122?

Deer Hunt Area 122 (Shoshone River) covers about 992 square miles in Big Horn and Park counties. WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 walks the line around deer hunt area 122 corner by corner. It starts where the Elk Basin Road (Wyoming Highway 295) crosses the Wyoming-Montana state line. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 295, Wyoming Highway 37, U.S. Highway 14A and B.L.M. Road 1138, and Elk Basin, Bighorn River, Shoshone River and Dry Creek.

What is the white-tailed deer success rate in deer hunt area 122?

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 27.7% white-tailed deer success in deer hunt area 122, with 664 hunters taking 184 white-tailed deer at about 19.8 days of hunting per animal. That is WGFD's figure for this hunt area, not a statewide average.

Is deer hunt area 122 the same ground as elk hunt area 122?

No. WGFD numbers hunt areas separately for each species, so elk hunt area 122 is a different piece of ground with its own boundary and its own page. A license is valid only in the hunt area of its own species.

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