Wyoming Whitetail Deer Mule Deer

Unit D127 (Cottonwood)

Wyoming Hunting Guide — Whitetail Deer, Mule Deer

Deer Hunt Area 127, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Cottonwood, covers about 265 square miles in Hot Springs and Washakie 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 50.3%, with 149 hunters taking 75 white-tailed deer at about 14.3 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 Hunting in Unit D127

Where to Find White-Tailed Deer in Deer Hunt Area 127

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names deer hunt area 127 "Cottonwood". It runs to about 265 square miles, in Hot Springs (76%) and Washakie (24%) 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. 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: Gooseberry Creek, Grass Creek and Cottonwood Creek

WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 walks the line around deer hunt area 127 corner by corner. It starts where Wyoming Highway 120 crosses the divide between Gooseberry Creek and Grass Creek. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 120, and Gooseberry Creek, Grass Creek, Cottonwood Creek and Tie Down Gulch. 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 127s

WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 127 also belongs to its elk hunt area 127. 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: Hot Springs 5 and Hot Springs 12

WGFD also lists 4 Walk-In Areas covering about 3,107 acres open for deer, among them Hot Springs 5, Hot Springs 12 and Hot Springs 1. 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 Bighorn River-Wakely (2 acres) and Bighorn River-Shafer (1 acres) are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.

High ground inside the line: Red Ridge, Blue Mesa and Cedar Ridge

Named high points inside deer hunt area 127 include Red Ridge at 5,676 feet, Blue Mesa at 5,662 feet, Cedar Ridge at 5,215 feet, Round Top at 5,002 feet and T Hill at 4,784 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: North Fork Coal Draw, South Fork Coal Draw and Spring Gulch

Below them sit North Fork Coal Draw at 4,454 feet, South Fork Coal Draw at 4,453 feet, Spring Gulch at 4,413 feet, Lester Draw at 4,333 feet and Chimney Gulch at 4,280 feet. That is the low ground — where animals drop when they are pushed or when the weather turns.

Water: Harris Spring, The Maytag Spring and Keg Spring

Named water inside the line includes Harris Spring, The Maytag Spring and Keg Spring. Nothing in the data says which of it runs in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Unit D127 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Red Ridge (5,676 ft), Blue Mesa (5,662 ft), Cedar Ridge (5,215 ft), T Hill (4,784 ft)

Holding ground: North Fork Coal Draw (4,454 ft), Walk-In Area Hot Springs 12, Walk-In Area Hot Springs 14, Walk-In Area Hot Springs 1, Walk-In Area Hot Springs 5

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 127

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest survey estimates 149 hunters took 75 white-tailed deer in deer hunt area 127 — 50.3% success, at about 14.3 days of hunting for every animal taken. Residents ran 49.6% and nonresidents 56.2% 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 127 for 2025

WGFD's 2025 survey breaks the white-tailed deer harvest in deer hunt area 127 down by license type.

Type 3 — 41 licenses in use, 31.7% success, 20.5 days per animal
Type 8 — 75 licenses in use, 46.7% success, 11 days per animal
General — 96 licenses in use, 28.1% success, 15.6 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.

Glassing from Round Top, T Hill and Red Ridge

Take a position on one of Round Top (5,002 ft), T Hill (4,784 ft), Red Ridge (5,676 ft) and Blue Mesa (5,662 ft) and be on it before light. Cold air slides downhill in the dark, so keep your scent out of the bowl you mean to watch, and expect the thermals to turn uphill an hour after the sun reaches the slope. 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 127 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.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Red Ridge, Blue Mesa and Cedar Ridge as places to see from, and North Fork Coal Draw, Walk-In Area Hot Springs 12 and Walk-In Area Hot Springs 14 as ground to work. Each pin is a named feature or a WGFD access property placed inside the area line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Take the pair you can reach on one road and treat the rest as a second trip.

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 50.3% white-tailed deer success in deer hunt area 127: 75 animals taken by 149 active hunters over 1,075 days of hunting, or 14.3 days per animal. By residency, residents 49.6% (66 taken by 133) and nonresidents 56.2% (9 taken by 16).

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)	38	68	55.9%	—
Rifle — General either sex (nonresident)	2	0	0.0%	—

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.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit D127

Deer Hunt Area 127, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Cottonwood, covers about 265 square miles in Hot Springs and Washakie counties. It belongs to WGFD's Basin mule deer herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put mule deer success here at 26.8%, with 112 hunters taking 30 mule deer at about 12.4 days of hunting per animal. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mule Deer in Deer Hunt Area 127

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names deer hunt area 127 "Cottonwood". It runs to about 265 square miles, in Hot Springs (76%) and Washakie (24%) counties. WGFD reports these mule deer as the Basin herd unit, which also takes in deer hunt area 125. 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: Gooseberry Creek, Grass Creek and Cottonwood Creek

WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 walks the line around deer hunt area 127 corner by corner. It starts where Wyoming Highway 120 crosses the divide between Gooseberry Creek and Grass Creek. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 120, and Gooseberry Creek, Grass Creek, Cottonwood Creek and Tie Down Gulch. 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 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 127s

Ground WGFD opens: Hot Springs 5 and Hot Springs 12

High ground inside the line: Red Ridge, Blue Mesa and Cedar Ridge

Named high points inside deer hunt area 127 include Red Ridge at 5,676 feet, Blue Mesa at 5,662 feet, Cedar Ridge at 5,215 feet, Round Top at 5,002 feet and T Hill at 4,784 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Mule deer on open country use every fold and draw there is, and almost none of the flat.

Holding ground: Coal Draw, Sand Draw and Tie Down Gulch

Below them sit Coal Draw at 4,236 feet, Sand Draw at 4,228 feet, Tie Down Gulch at 4,165 feet, Spring Draw at 4,754 feet and Boulder Gulch at 4,618 feet. Those are the basins and bottoms of the area, and they are what you glass into from above.

Water: Harris Spring, The Maytag Spring and Keg Spring

Named water inside the line includes Harris Spring, The Maytag Spring and Keg Spring. Nothing in the data says which of it runs in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Unit D127 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Red Ridge (5,676 ft), Blue Mesa (5,662 ft), Cedar Ridge (5,215 ft), T Hill (4,784 ft)

Holding ground: North Fork Coal Draw (4,454 ft), Walk-In Area Hot Springs 12, Walk-In Area Hot Springs 14, Walk-In Area Hot Springs 1, Walk-In Area Hot Springs 5

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 Mule Deer in Deer Hunt Area 127

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest survey estimates 112 hunters took 30 mule deer in deer hunt area 127 — 26.8% success, at about 12.4 days of hunting for every animal taken. Residents ran 28.7% and nonresidents 16.7% that year. Fewer than half the hunters here filled a license, which makes scouting time the difference between the two groups. The plan: glass the broken edges at first light, then sit still and keep glassing the same ground.

License types WGFD reported in deer hunt area 127 for 2025

WGFD's 2025 survey breaks the mule deer harvest in deer hunt area 127 down by license type.

General — 112 licenses in use, 26.8% success, 12.4 days per animal

Glassing from Cedar Ridge, Round Top and T Hill

Take a position on one of Cedar Ridge (5,215 ft), Round Top (5,002 ft), T Hill (4,784 ft) and Red Ridge (5,676 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. Late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Hunting the Access Yes ground

Reading the Basin herd, not just the area

WGFD's harvest report also tabulates mule deer by herd unit, and deer hunt area 127 shares the Basin herd unit with deer hunt area 125. The animals cross those lines without noticing them, so a neighbouring area in the same herd is the fairest comparison for a season here.

A first plan from the pins on this page

What a day here costs you

265 square miles is more country than a season will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the area. WGFD's figure of 12.4 days of hunting per animal is the one to budget against. Decide the night before where you will be at first light, and go there in the dark.

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.

Mule 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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Mule Deer Success Rates

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 26.8% mule deer success in deer hunt area 127: 30 animals taken by 112 active hunters over 371 days of hunting, or 12.4 days per animal. By residency, residents 28.7% (27 taken by 94) and nonresidents 16.7% (3 taken by 18).

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Rifle — General Type 3 either sex (resident)	37	42	88.1%	—
Rifle — General Type 3 either sex (nonresident)	2	0	100.0%	—

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 Engine

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2026 demand report for mule deer in deer hunt area 127, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:

Type 3, residents: 42 first-choice applicants for 37 licenses, 88.1% drawn

Wyoming residents draw mule deer 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

Planning Notes

💧

Water

3 named water sources inside the hunt area in our water layer, including Harris Spring, The Maytag Spring and Keg Spring. Which of them run in autumn is something only a scouting trip will tell you.

🛣️

Road Conditions

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

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

Named features inside the hunt area run from 4,165 to 5,676 ft. Named heights only — the ground between and below them can run lower.

👥

Hunting Pressure

WGFD's 2025 survey counted about 149 white-tailed deer hunters spending 1,075 days here.

📋

Permit Notes

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Wyoming deer hunt area 127?

Deer Hunt Area 127 (Cottonwood) covers about 265 square miles in Hot Springs and Washakie counties. WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 walks the line around deer hunt area 127 corner by corner. It starts where Wyoming Highway 120 crosses the divide between Gooseberry Creek and Grass Creek. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 120, and Gooseberry Creek, Grass Creek, Cottonwood Creek and Tie Down Gulch.

What is the white-tailed deer success rate in deer hunt area 127?

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 50.3% white-tailed deer success in deer hunt area 127, with 149 hunters taking 75 white-tailed deer at about 14.3 days of hunting per animal. That is WGFD's figure for this hunt area, not a statewide average.

Is deer hunt area 127 the same ground as elk hunt area 127?

No. WGFD numbers hunt areas separately for each species, so elk hunt area 127 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.

What is the mule deer success rate in deer hunt area 127?

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 26.8% mule deer success in deer hunt area 127, with 112 hunters taking 30 mule deer at about 12.4 days of hunting per animal. That is WGFD's figure for this hunt area, not a statewide average.

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Sources & Verification

Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-25.

Chapter 6 — Deer Hunting Seasons (2026) — Wyoming Game and Fish Commission · supports: Name and legal boundary of deer hunt area 127, Season dates, license types and limitations by hunt area · accessed 2026-10-25
Deer 2025 Harvest Report — Wyoming Game and Fish Department · supports: Hunters, harvest, percent success and days per animal for white-tailed deer in deer hunt area 127, The same by license type and residency · 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
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

Unit D127 (Cottonwood)

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Whitetail Deer Hunting in Unit D127

Where to Find White-Tailed Deer in Deer Hunt Area 127

The line: Gooseberry Creek, Grass Creek and Cottonwood Creek

Not the same ground as the other hunt area 127s

Ground WGFD opens: Hot Springs 5 and Hot Springs 12

High ground inside the line: Red Ridge, Blue Mesa and Cedar Ridge

Holding ground: North Fork Coal Draw, South Fork Coal Draw and Spring Gulch

Water: Harris Spring, The Maytag Spring and Keg Spring

Unit D127 terrain and land status

Named features inside the unit

How to Hunt White-Tailed Deer in Deer Hunt Area 127

Whitetail Deer Success Rates

Whitetail Deer Draw Odds

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit D127

Where to Find Mule Deer in Deer Hunt Area 127

The line: Gooseberry Creek, Grass Creek and Cottonwood Creek

Not the same ground as the other hunt area 127s

Ground WGFD opens: Hot Springs 5 and Hot Springs 12

High ground inside the line: Red Ridge, Blue Mesa and Cedar Ridge

Holding ground: Coal Draw, Sand Draw and Tie Down Gulch

Water: Harris Spring, The Maytag Spring and Keg Spring

Unit D127 terrain and land status

Named features inside the unit

How to Hunt Mule Deer in Deer Hunt Area 127

Mule Deer Success Rates

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

Water

Road Conditions

Terrain Difficulty

Hunting Pressure

Permit Notes

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Sources & Verification