Unit D81 (Blackhall)
Wyoming Hunting Guide — Mule Deer
Deer Hunt Area 81, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Blackhall, covers about 304 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 74.2%, with 155 hunters taking 115 mule deer at about 6.6 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 D81
Deer Hunt Area 81, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Blackhall, covers about 304 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 74.2%, with 155 hunters taking 115 mule deer at about 6.6 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 81
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names deer hunt area 81 "Blackhall". It runs to about 304 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 80. 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.
Where deer hunt area 81 begins and ends
WGFD's 2026 Chapter 6 walks the line around deer hunt area 81 corner by corner. It starts at the Wyoming-Colorado state line and Wyoming Highway 230. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 230 and Wyoming Highway 70, and Continental Divide. 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 81s
WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 81 also belongs to its elk and antelope hunt areas 81. 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.
Wilderness inside the line: Huston Park Wilderness and Encampment River Wilderness
About 6% of deer hunt area 81 lies in the Huston Park Wilderness and 5% of deer hunt area 81 lies in the Encampment River 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: Blackhall Mountain, Red Mountain and Green Mountain
Named high points inside deer hunt area 81 include Blackhall Mountain at 10,957 feet, Red Mountain at 10,490 feet, Green Mountain at 10,309 feet, Doane Peak at 10,271 feet and Bear Mountain at 9,967 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: Casteel Park, Slaughterhouse Gulch and Beaver Dam Park
Below them sit Casteel Park at 8,525 feet, Slaughterhouse Gulch at 8,513 feet, Beaver Dam Park at 8,455 feet, Quimby Park at 8,454 feet and Commissary Park at 8,364 feet. That is the low ground — where animals drop when they are pushed or when the weather turns.
Reading the land status
Named ground inside deer hunt area 81 runs from 7,242 feet to 10,957 feet. Those are the heights of the features GNIS names, which bound the range from inside rather than measure it.
Unit D81 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Blackhall Mountain (10,957 ft), Red Mountain (10,490 ft), Green Mountain (10,309 ft), Bear Mountain (9,967 ft)
Holding ground: Long Park (9,875 ft), Willow Park (9,221 ft), Deadhorse Park (8,806 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 81
Mule Deer Success Rates
Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 74.2% mule deer success in deer hunt area 81: 115 animals taken by 155 active hunters over 755 days of hunting, or 6.6 days per animal. By residency, residents 68.1% (81 taken by 119) and nonresidents 94.4% (34 taken by 36).
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) | 132 | 554 | 23.8% | — |
| Rifle — General Type 1 antlered (nonresident) | 4 | 117 | 3.4% | — |
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 81, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:
- Type 1, residents: 554 first-choice applicants for 132 licenses, 23.8% drawn
- Type 1, nonresidents: 117 first-choice applicants for 4 licenses, 3.4% 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 81?
What is the mule deer success rate in deer hunt area 81?
Is deer hunt area 81 the same ground as elk hunt area 81?
What do you need besides a license to hunt deer hunt area 81?
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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 81, 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 81, 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 · 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