Wyoming Whitetail Deer

Unit D171 (Crowheart Butte)

Wyoming Hunting Guide — Whitetail Deer

Deer Hunt Area 171, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Crowheart Butte, covers about 2,384 square miles in Fremont County. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put white-tailed deer success here at 55.3%, with 291 hunters taking 161 white-tailed deer at about 8.5 days of hunting per animal. CWD samples are mandatory here in 2026. 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 D171

Where to Find White-Tailed Deer in Deer Hunt Area 171

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names deer hunt area 171 "Crowheart Butte". It runs to about 2,384 square miles, entirely in Fremont County. 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: Wind River, East Fork and Hot Springs

WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 walks the line around deer hunt area 171 corner by corner. On the way round it follows Wind River, East Fork and Hot Springs. 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: Public Access Areas

Public Access Areas such as North Popo Agie are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.

Land inside the Wind River Reservation

WGFD draws deer hunt area 171 to take in non-Indian fee title land inside the exterior boundaries of the Wind River Reservation. Its 2026 regulations say that only non-Indian owned, fee title lands there are open to hunting with a State of Wyoming license, that land status is complicated, and that lawful access must be investigated thoroughly — so settle the parcel before the season.

High ground inside the line: Roberts Mountain, Windy Ridge and Wolverine Peak

Named high points inside deer hunt area 171 include Roberts Mountain at 12,756 feet, Windy Ridge at 12,615 feet, Wolverine Peak at 12,615 feet, Mount Lander at 12,581 feet and Saddle Mountain at 12,531 feet. None of them carries a public-land flag we trust, so settle ownership before you plan to stand on one. White-tailed deer hold to cover — river bottoms, brushy draws and timber edges — and rarely stray far from it.

Holding ground: Lenagon Meadows, Paradise Basin and Kirkland Park

Below them sit Lenagon Meadows at 9,964 feet, Paradise Basin at 9,871 feet, Kirkland Park at 9,746 feet, Elk Meadow at 9,550 feet and Mosquito Park at 9,456 feet. That is the low ground — where animals drop when they are pushed or when the weather turns.

Water: Wild Horse Spring, Box Spring and Cold Springs

Named water inside the line includes Wild Horse Spring, Box Spring, Cold Springs, Black Rock Spring, Austin Spring and Blue 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 171 runs from 4,994 feet to 12,756 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit D171 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Baily Peak (12,060 ft)

Holding ground: Bain Draw (6,598 ft), Lamoreaux Draw (5,060 ft), Wild Horse Spring, Box Spring, Cold Springs

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 171

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest survey estimates 291 hunters took 161 white-tailed deer in deer hunt area 171 — 55.3% success, at about 8.5 days of hunting for every animal taken. Residents ran 57.6% and nonresidents 41.5% 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 171 for 2025

WGFD's 2025 survey breaks the white-tailed deer harvest in deer hunt area 171 down by license type.

Type 3 — 105 licenses in use, 36.2% success, 16.8 days per animal
Type 6 — 132 licenses in use, 57.6% success, 4.9 days per animal
General — 118 licenses in use, 39.8% success, 7.6 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.

CWD samples are mandatory here in 2026

WGFD's 2026 CWD map lists deer hunt area 171 as a mandatory sampling area. Chapter 2 of its regulations lets the Department require samples from harvested deer, elk and moose in designated areas and makes failing to submit one a violation, so find out before the season how WGFD wants the sample from your white-tailed deer taken and turned in.

Glassing from Kagevah Peak, Milky Ridge and Mount Baldy

Take a position on one of Kagevah Peak (12,116 ft), Milky Ridge (12,094 ft), Mount Baldy (12,080 ft) and Baily Peak (12,060 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.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Baily Peak as places to see from, and Bain Draw, Lamoreaux Draw and North Popo Agie Public Access Area 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.

What a day here costs you

2,384 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 8.5 days of hunting per animal is the one to budget against. With 7,762 feet between the lowest and highest named ground, plan the walk back out of a kill site before the shot. 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.

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 55.3% white-tailed deer success in deer hunt area 171: 161 animals taken by 291 active hunters over 1,369 days of hunting, or 8.5 days per animal. By residency, residents 57.6% (144 taken by 250) and nonresidents 41.5% (17 taken by 41).

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)	120	97	100.0%	—
Rifle — General either sex (nonresident)	21	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

23 named water sources inside the hunt area in our water layer, including Wild Horse Spring, Box Spring and Cold Springs. Which of them run in autumn is something only a scouting trip will tell you.

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Terrain Difficulty

Named features inside the hunt area run from 4,994 to 12,756 ft. More than 4,000 feet between them alone, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

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Hunting Pressure

WGFD's 2025 survey counted about 291 white-tailed deer hunters spending 1,369 days here.

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Permit Notes

Season dates and license limitations: WGFD 2026 Chapter 6, Section 2. CWD sample submission mandatory in 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Wyoming deer hunt area 171?

Deer Hunt Area 171 (Crowheart Butte) covers about 2,384 square miles in Fremont County. WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 walks the line around deer hunt area 171 corner by corner. On the way round it follows Wind River, East Fork and Hot Springs.

What is the white-tailed deer success rate in deer hunt area 171?

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 55.3% white-tailed deer success in deer hunt area 171, with 291 hunters taking 161 white-tailed deer at about 8.5 days of hunting per animal. That is WGFD's figure for this hunt area, not a statewide average.

What do you need besides a license to hunt deer hunt area 171?

Beyond the license, deer hunt area 171 calls for a CWD sample from your animal, which WGFD has made mandatory here for 2026. Season dates and license limitations are in Section 2 of WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6.

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