Wyoming Whitetail Deer

Unit D131 (Steamboat)

Wyoming Hunting Guide — Whitetail Deer

Deer Hunt Area 131, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Steamboat, covers about 4,232 square miles in Sweetwater and Fremont counties. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put white-tailed deer success here at 0%, with 14 hunters taking 0 white-tailed deer. 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 D131

Where to Find White-Tailed Deer in Deer Hunt Area 131

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names deer hunt area 131 "Steamboat". It runs to about 4,232 square miles, in Sweetwater (93%) and Fremont (7%) counties. 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: Fontenelle Dam, Sweetwater River and Bison Basin

WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 walks the line around deer hunt area 131 corner by corner. It starts at the junction of Interstate Highway 80 and Wyoming Highway 372. On the way round it follows Interstate Highway 80, Wyoming Highway 372, Lincoln County Road 313 and Sweetwater County Road 52, and Fontenelle Dam, Sweetwater River and Bison Basin. 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.

Ground WGFD opens: Fremont 22

WGFD also lists one Walk-In Area covering about 1,730 acres open for deer: Fremont 22. 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 Green River-Blue Rim Road are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.

High ground inside the line: Steamboat Mountain, Oregon Buttes and Continental Peak

Named high points inside deer hunt area 131 include Steamboat Mountain at 8,672 feet, Oregon Buttes at 8,616 feet, Continental Peak at 8,412 feet, South Table Mountain at 8,281 feet and Essex Mountain at 8,044 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: Indian Gap, Blind Canyon and Split Rock Canyon

Below them sit Indian Gap at 7,378 feet, Blind Canyon at 7,361 feet, Split Rock Canyon at 7,322 feet, Johnson Canyon at 7,288 feet and Mowing Machine Draw at 7,175 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past.

Water: Alkali Spring, UP Spring and Olson Springs

Named water inside the line includes Alkali Spring, UP Spring, Olson Springs, Marine Spring, Fifteenmile Spring and Minnie Spring. Nothing in the data says which of it runs in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Reading the land status

Named ground inside deer hunt area 131 runs from 6,118 feet to 8,672 feet. Those are the heights of the features GNIS names, which bound the range from inside rather than measure it.

Unit D131 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Steamboat Mountain (8,672 ft), Oregon Buttes (8,616 ft), Continental Peak (8,412 ft), South Table Mountain (8,281 ft)

Holding ground: Johnson Gap (7,898 ft), Freighter Gap (7,469 ft), Summit of the Original South Pass (7,416 ft), Walk-In Area Fremont 22

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 131

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest survey estimates 14 hunters took 0 white-tailed deer in deer hunt area 131 — 0% success. Most hunters here went home without an animal; plan the trip around the days-per-animal figure, not the hope of a quick one. On a sample that small, one animal moves the percentage several points. 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 131 for 2025

WGFD's 2025 survey breaks the white-tailed deer harvest in deer hunt area 131 down by license type.

Type 7 — 2 licenses in use, 0% success
General — 12 licenses in use, 0% success

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 131 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 Steamboat Rim, Leucite Hills and Pacific Butte

Take a position on one of Steamboat Rim (7,930 ft), Leucite Hills (7,930 ft), Pacific Butte (7,915 ft) and Monument Ridge (7,906 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.

The way in: Interstate Highway 80, Wyoming Highway 372 and Lincoln County Road 313

We hold no road inventory for deer hunt area 131, so the only routes we can name are the ones WGFD draws its boundary with: Interstate Highway 80, Wyoming Highway 372, Lincoln County Road 313, Sweetwater County Road 52 and Sweetwater County Road 49. Those are its edges, not its interior — where you leave the pavement, not what the inside is like. Pick the edge nearest the country you mean to hunt and work in from it on foot.

What a day here costs you

4,232 square miles is more country than a season will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the area. One good position held through the whole of first light beats three visited in a hurry.

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 0% white-tailed deer success in deer hunt area 131: 0 animals taken by 14 active hunters over 22 days of hunting. By residency, residents 0% (0 taken by 12) and nonresidents 0% (0 taken by 2).

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)	19	79	24.1%	—
Rifle — General either sex (nonresident)	0	4	0.0%	—

Data from 2022 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

53 named water sources inside the hunt area in our water layer, including Alkali Spring, UP Spring and Olson Springs. 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 Interstate Highway 80, Wyoming Highway 372, Lincoln County Road 313 and Sweetwater County Road 52. 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 6,118 to 8,672 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 14 white-tailed deer hunters spending 22 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 131?

Deer Hunt Area 131 (Steamboat) covers about 4,232 square miles in Sweetwater and Fremont counties. WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 walks the line around deer hunt area 131 corner by corner. It starts at the junction of Interstate Highway 80 and Wyoming Highway 372. On the way round it follows Interstate Highway 80, Wyoming Highway 372, Lincoln County Road 313 and Sweetwater County Road 52, and Fontenelle Dam, Sweetwater River and Bison Basin.

What is the white-tailed deer success rate in deer hunt area 131?

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 0% white-tailed deer success in deer hunt area 131, with 14 hunters taking 0 white-tailed deer. That is WGFD's figure for this hunt area, not a statewide average.

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