Unit D80 (Spring Creek)
Wyoming Hunting Guide — Mule Deer
Deer Hunt Area 80, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Spring Creek, covers about 771 square miles in Carbon County. It belongs to WGFD's Platte Valley mule deer herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put mule deer success here at 66.7%, with 135 hunters taking 90 mule deer at about 8.4 days of hunting per animal. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Mule Deer Hunting in Unit D80
Deer Hunt Area 80, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Spring Creek, covers about 771 square miles in Carbon County. It belongs to WGFD's Platte Valley mule deer herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put mule deer success here at 66.7%, with 135 hunters taking 90 mule deer at about 8.4 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 80
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names deer hunt area 80 "Spring Creek". It runs to about 771 square miles, entirely in Carbon County. WGFD reports these mule deer as the Platte Valley herd unit, which also takes in deer hunt areas 78, 79 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: Continental Divide, Sage Creek and North Platte River
WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 walks the line around deer hunt area 80 corner by corner. It starts at the Continental Divide on Wyoming Highway 70. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 70, Carbon County Road 401, Wyoming Highway 71 and Interstate Highway 80, and Continental Divide, Sage Creek and North Platte River. 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 80s
WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 80 also belongs to its elk and antelope hunt areas 80. 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 North Platte River-Pick Bridge (50 acres) and North Platte River-Sanger (229 acres) are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.
High ground inside the line: Sierra Madre, Vulcan Mountain and Mowry Peak
Named high points inside deer hunt area 80 include Sierra Madre at 10,958 feet, Vulcan Mountain at 10,769 feet, Mowry Peak at 10,293 feet, Sharp Hill at 9,414 feet and Chokecherry Knob at 8,133 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: Tram Gulch, Round Meadow and Snow Draw
Below them sit Tram Gulch at 7,731 feet, Round Meadow at 7,582 feet, Snow Draw at 7,401 feet, Grove Draw at 7,346 feet and Buck Draw at 7,275 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past.
Reading the land status
Named ground inside deer hunt area 80 runs from 6,507 feet to 10,958 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.
Unit D80 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Sierra Madre (10,958 ft), Vulcan Mountain (10,769 ft), Mowry Peak (10,293 ft), Sharp Hill (9,414 ft)
Holding ground: Hidden Treasure Gulch (8,552 ft), Joes Park (8,466 ft), Jack Creek Park (8,413 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 80
Mule Deer Success Rates
Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 66.7% mule deer success in deer hunt area 80: 90 animals taken by 135 active hunters over 758 days of hunting, or 8.4 days per animal. By residency, residents 65.7% (67 taken by 102) and nonresidents 69.7% (23 taken by 33).
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) | 118 | 289 | 40.8% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 1 antlered (nonresident) | 4 | 55 | 7.3% | — |
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 80, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:
- Type 1, residents: 289 first-choice applicants for 118 licenses, 40.8% drawn
- Type 1, nonresidents: 55 first-choice applicants for 4 licenses, 7.3% 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 80?
What is the mule deer success rate in deer hunt area 80?
Is deer hunt area 80 the same ground as elk hunt area 80?
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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 80, 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 80, 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
- 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