Unit D78 (French Creek)
Wyoming Hunting Guide — Mule Deer
Deer Hunt Area 78, which Wyoming Game and Fish names French Creek, covers about 457 square miles in Carbon and Albany counties. It belongs to WGFD's Platte Valley mule deer herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put mule deer success here at 68.5%, with 235 hunters taking 161 mule deer at about 8.5 days of hunting per animal. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit D78
Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Wyoming Unit D78 guide around your hunt: three ranked spots with morning, afternoon and evening plays, a day-by-day plan, topo maps with every pin numbered, a camp and access plan, the legal and retrieval rules for this unit, shot discipline, a meat-care and pack-out plan, and a pre-trip checklist. Every coordinate sits on land recorded as public.
Free accounts get one report a year with the top spot unlocked. ProHunt Pro includes unlimited reports, all three spots, the full camp plan, and GPX/KML downloads for onX and Google Earth. Prefer to see one first? Open the builder and pick any unit.
Mule Deer Hunting in Unit D78
Deer Hunt Area 78, which Wyoming Game and Fish names French Creek, covers about 457 square miles in Carbon and Albany counties. It belongs to WGFD's Platte Valley mule deer herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put mule deer success here at 68.5%, with 235 hunters taking 161 mule deer at about 8.5 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 78
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names deer hunt area 78 "French Creek". It runs to about 457 square miles, in Carbon (78%) and Albany (22%) counties. WGFD reports these mule deer as the Platte Valley herd unit, which also takes in deer hunt areas 79, 80 and 81. 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: Laramie River, North Platte River and Douglas Creek
WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 walks the line around deer hunt area 78 corner by corner. It starts where Wyoming Highway 130 crosses the divide between the Laramie River and the North Platte River. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 130, U.S.F.S. Road 543, U.S.F.S. Road 512 and Wyoming Highway 230, and Laramie River, North Platte River and Douglas Creek. 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 78s
WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 78 also belongs to its elk and antelope hunt areas 78. None of them 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: Public Access Areas
Public Access Areas such as Big Creek and North Platte River-Treasure Island (243 acres) are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.
Wilderness inside the line: Platte River Wilderness and Savage Run Wilderness
About 8% of deer hunt area 78 lies in the Platte River Wilderness and 5% of deer hunt area 78 lies in the Savage Run Wilderness. WGFD's 2026 regulations print the rule that matters there: no nonresident may hunt big game in a designated wilderness area unless accompanied by a licensed professional guide or a resident guide, with at least one guide for every two nonresident hunters. Inside the wilderness there are no roads, so every animal there comes out on your back or on a horse.
High ground inside the line: Somber Hill, Barrett Ridge and Douglas Point
Named high points inside deer hunt area 78 include Somber Hill at 9,408 feet, Barrett Ridge at 9,251 feet, Douglas Point at 9,247 feet, Platte Ridge at 9,054 feet and Horatio Rock at 8,767 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Mule deer bed on broken ground with a view and feed on the brush below it.
Holding ground: Buffalo Gulch, Sixmile Gap and Francis Draw
Below them sit Buffalo Gulch at 7,647 feet, Sixmile Gap at 7,607 feet, Francis Draw at 7,585 feet, Bull Canyon at 7,567 feet and Stovepipe Gulch at 7,487 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past.
Unit D78 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Somber Hill (9,408 ft), Barrett Ridge (9,251 ft), Douglas Point (9,247 ft), Platte Ridge (9,054 ft)
Holding ground: Hay Park (9,105 ft), Pelton Park (8,473 ft), Sixmile Gap (7,607 ft)
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 78
Mule Deer Success Rates
Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 68.5% mule deer success in deer hunt area 78: 161 animals taken by 235 active hunters over 1,361 days of hunting, or 8.5 days per animal. By residency, residents 65.8% (123 taken by 187) and nonresidents 79.2% (38 taken by 48).
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.
Mule Deer Draw Odds
| Season | Tags | Applicants | Draw % | Pts (n/p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle — General Type 1 antlered (resident) | 188 | 1,403 | 13.4% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 1 antlered (nonresident) | 7 | 141 | 5.0% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 3 either sex (resident) | 35 | 51 | 68.6% | — |
| 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 EngineWyoming Game and Fish's 2026 demand report for mule deer in deer hunt area 78, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:
- Type 1, residents: 1,403 first-choice applicants for 188 licenses, 13.4% drawn
- Type 1, nonresidents: 141 first-choice applicants for 7 licenses, 5% drawn
- Type 3, residents: 51 first-choice applicants for 35 licenses, 68.6% 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
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Wyoming deer hunt area 78?
What is the mule deer success rate in deer hunt area 78?
Is deer hunt area 78 the same ground as elk hunt area 78?
What do you need besides a license to hunt deer hunt area 78?
Plan Your Hunt with ProHunt Pro
Unlock advanced tactics, the Tag-to-Trail Planner, AI hunt strategy assistant, and personalized camp and trip execution plans.
Upgrade to Pro — $49/yrSources & 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 78, 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 mule deer in deer hunt area 78, The same by license type and residency · 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
- 2026 Antelope, Deer and Elk Hunting Regulations — Wyoming Game and Fish Commission · supports: Nonresident guide requirement in designated wilderness · 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