2025 Wyoming Application Details
Putting a 2025 Wyoming hunt on the books? Learn the latest from Huntin’ Fool.
Cost Overview
Hunting license and species costs for tags usually include:
- Non-refundable $15 non-resident application fee per species.
- Hunting license fee to apply (usually need a qualifying license before you can apply).
- Species fee (This is what you pay for the animal you want to hunt. Wyoming requires you to pay at the time of application).
- Points-only fee (fees for people just buying points and not actually applying for a hunt).
Application Dates
WYOMING DEADLINES
Non-Resident Elk
Jan 31
Moose, Sheep, Bison, & Mtn. Goat
APR 30
Deer, Antelope, & Resident Elk
JUN 2
Leftover Draw
JUN 27
Points Only
OCT 31
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Key Changes for 2025
- Wyoming now issues type 8 unlimited cow/calf elk licenses in several eastern elk units.
- New elk hunts, including some new type 9 archery licenses, may be adopted by late April.
- More non-resident general elk licenses will be issued than ever before with the three region split.
- There was no random draw bighorn sheep license in the 2024 drawing. Applicants with fewer than 24 sheep points had exactly 0% chance of drawing a sheep license.
- The deadline to modify your elk application is May 8th. Finalized hunt structures, seasons, and potential license quotas will be available in late April after the Commission meeting. You can also withdraw your application before this date.
Wyoming Draw Process Basics
- There is no point system for Wyoming residents applying for elk, deer, and antelope; tags are issues via a random draw.
- For elk, deer, and antelope, Wyoming uses a preference point system for non-residents. In Wyoming’s draw, preference point drawing accounts for 75 percent of available licenses in each hunt area. The remaining 25 percent go to a random draw, so it’s worth applying even if you haven’t been building points for years.
- Preference points are like a place in line—first in, first out. The applicants with the most preference points draw before applicants with fewer points.
- Non-residents buy species-specific preference points during an application window in the late summer; you do not buy points at the time of your tag application.
- You can’t buy preference points for a species if you successfully drew your first choice for that species in the same year.
- If you draw your first choice for your species, your preference points are purged back to zero.
- If non-residents fail to apply for or buy a preference point for a particular species for two consecutive years, they lose all accumulated preference points for that species.
