Wyoming Unit 44 Pronghorn Antelope Hunting Guide
Wyoming Unit 44 sits in high country by pronghorn standards, with elevations ranging from 7,140 to 9,644 feet across 273,555 acres. For hunters researching Wyoming Unit 44 pronghorn antelope hunting, this unit offers a limited-quota draw structure with harvest success rates that have run as high as 92-93% in recent years — numbers that make it one of the more productive antelope units in the state when hunters do draw a tag.
Unlike many Wyoming antelope units that offer general season opportunity, Unit 44 operates entirely on a limited-quota basis. Every hunt here — including tags for antlered/either-sex animals — goes through the draw. There is no walk-in, buy-a-license-over-the-counter option in this unit, which immediately changes how hunters should think about planning a season here. Public land in Unit 44 sits at 28%, meaning the majority of the ground is privately held, a fact that shapes both access strategy and expectations for DIY hunters.
HuntPilot Analysis
Is Unit 44 worth applying for? The harvest data makes a reasonably strong case, at least on the success side of the ledger. Success rates over the past four years have been 92% in 2025, 93% in 2024, 72% in 2023, and 68% in 2022. That's a wide swing — the two most recent years show hunters converting tags into harvested animals at a rate matched by very few units anywhere in the West, while 2022 and 2023 were more modest, still respectable, showing typical variability tied to weather, hunter effort, and antelope distribution across the unit in a given year. Hunter numbers have also grown, from 64-109 hunters annually in 2022-2023 up to 142 in 2025, suggesting more hunters are pursuing tags here or more tags are being issued.
The trophy angle adds real weight to the case for applying. The counties overlapping Unit 44 carry a strong history of trophy-record pronghorn, giving this unit exceptional trophy potential relative to a typical Wyoming antelope draw. That history is shared across neighboring units within the same counties — it isn't exclusive to Unit 44's boundaries — but it's a meaningful signal that this part of Wyoming has consistently produced pronghorn worth putting on the wall, not just meat-pole bucks.
The buck:doe ratio adds a note of caution, however. The average across four survey years (2021-2024) sits at 40:100, which is a workable ratio for antelope but not an exceptional one. It suggests a herd with a reasonable buck component but not an overabundance of mature males relative to does — hunters should have realistic expectations about buck density on the ground, even with strong trophy potential in the county-level record books.
The access picture is the real friction point. With only 28% public land, the majority of Unit 44 is private. That's below the threshold where DIY hunters can expect to freely maneuver across large blocks of accessible ground. Hunters without a private land access agreement or without doing serious homework on which specific parcels are public will find their options constrained. This unit rewards hunters willing to do legwork identifying accessible tracts, walking farther from access points, or lining up permission on private ground — it is not a "point at the map and go" unit.
Taken together: Unit 44 is worth applying for if a hunter values trophy potential and high recent success rates and is willing to either secure private land access or put in the scouting work to find the public fraction that exists. It's a tougher recommendation for hunters expecting wide-open public access typical of many Wyoming antelope units.
Harvest Success Rates
Recent harvest data for Unit 44 shows a unit that, in strong years, converts tags to harvested animals at an exceptional clip:
- 2025: 142 hunters, 130 harvested — 92% success
- 2024: 72 hunters, 67 harvested — 93% success
- 2023: 64 hunters, 46 harvested — 72% success
- 2022: 109 hunters, 74 harvested — 68% success
The two most recent years stand out. A 92-93% success rate means nearly every hunter who drew a tag and hunted came home with an animal — this is elite-tier antelope success, well above what most Western units produce in any given year. The 2022 and 2023 numbers, while lower, are still solid by broader antelope-hunting standards; a 68-72% success rate is respectable for most units nationally. The jump in hunter numbers from roughly 64-109 in 2022-2023 to 142 in 2025 is also worth noting for hunters trying to gauge how crowded the unit might feel on the ground, though even at higher hunter counts, success has remained strong.
The variability between years is a reminder that antelope hunting, even in a historically productive unit, is subject to conditions — drought, herd distribution, access timing, and hunter effort all play into whether a given season lands closer to the 90s or the high 60s.
Trophy Quality
Trophy data for the counties overlapping Unit 44 points to exceptional trophy potential. This area has a demonstrated history of producing trophy-class pronghorn, placing it among the stronger trophy pedigrees available in Wyoming's antelope draw system. It's worth restating the caveat clearly: record-book entries are logged by county, not by hunt unit boundary, so this trophy history is shared with neighboring units that fall within the same counties. A hunter drawing Unit 44 is hunting in a landscape that has proven capable of producing standout bucks, but the specific animal that ends up in the record book could have come from anywhere in that broader county footprint.
Combined with the buck:doe ratio of 40:100, the picture is one of a unit where mature bucks exist and have historically reached trophy class, even though the overall buck density relative to does is moderate rather than exceptional. Hunters looking for volume — lots of bucks to choose from on every outing — should temper expectations slightly; hunters looking for the chance at a genuinely notable buck have real justification for optimism based on the area's track record.
Herd Health & Population Trends
The available survey data spans four years (2021-2024) and shows an average buck:doe ratio of 40:100 for Unit 44. This is a moderate ratio for pronghorn — not alarming, but not indicative of a buck-heavy herd either. It falls short of the kind of skewed ratios that would suggest either exceptional buck survival or a small, unreliable sample size; 40:100 reads as a believable, sustainable ratio for a hunted antelope population.
Without year-by-year breakdowns in the available data, it's hard to say whether the ratio has trended up or down over the survey period, but the four-year average gives a reasonably stable baseline. Hunters should read this ratio as confirmation that Unit 44 supports a functional, breeding-capable buck population, while not expecting an unusually high proportion of mature males relative to the doe population when glassing the unit.
Access & Terrain
Unit 44 spans elevations from 7,140 to 9,644 feet, putting it on the higher end for pronghorn habitat in Wyoming. Antelope are typically associated with lower sagebrush basins, so a unit running up toward nearly 9,600 feet at its top end likely includes a mix of high sagebrush flats, rolling foothill terrain, and higher benches — hunters should expect more topographic relief than the classic flat-prairie antelope hunt.
Public land accounts for just 28% of the unit's 273,555 acres. That means the majority — 72% — is private. This is a critical planning point: hunters chasing a Unit 44 tag cannot assume open access across the landscape. Successful hunters here will need to either secure permission on private ground, identify and confirm the specific public parcels available (checking current land status carefully, since public/private boundaries can be irregular and non-contiguous), or work with landowners well before season. There is no wilderness designation in this unit (0%), so there are no wilderness-specific access restrictions to worry about, but the private-land dominance is the more relevant constraint for day-to-day hunting logistics.
Given the terrain elevation range and the fractional public access, hunters should plan on covering ground on foot to reach huntable areas that aren't immediately adjacent to roads, and should use mapping tools — including HuntPilot's public land layers — to identify exactly which sections are open before showing up on the ground.
How to Apply
Every antelope hunt in Unit 44 is a limited-quota draw hunt — there is no general season and no over-the-counter option here, for antlered/either-sex tags or otherwise. Hunters must apply through Wyoming's draw system to have a chance at a tag in this unit.
Wyoming splits its draw into resident and nonresident pools, and nonresidents face a materially more competitive path than residents across nearly all Wyoming pronghorn units. Wyoming residents accumulate preference points for pronghorn when they apply and don't draw, and those points factor into future draw cycles — a meaningful long-term strategy for residents targeting a unit like this. Nonresidents likewise accumulate points for pronghorn under Wyoming's system, and building points over multiple seasons is the standard approach for nonresidents targeting a limited-quota unit with strong trophy potential.
Because Unit 44 has no general season fallback, hunters who don't draw a tag here simply don't hunt this unit that year — there's no OTC backup plan the way there is in some Wyoming units where an antlerless tag remains available outside the draw. That makes accurate draw-odds research essential before building an application strategy around this specific unit.
Application dates, fees, and current draw odds change every cycle. For the most current numbers, deadlines, and license costs, check HuntPilot's Wyoming state page at /states/WY, or go directly to Wyoming Game and Fish for the published draw report.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the terrain like in Unit 44? Unit 44 ranges from 7,140 to 9,644 feet in elevation, higher than the classic flat-prairie pronghorn ground found in much of Wyoming. Expect a mix of high sagebrush flats and rolling, elevated terrain rather than pure basin country. With public land at only 28% of the unit's 273,555 acres, much of the accessible terrain will require careful identification of specific public parcels rather than open cross-country access.
What is harvest success like in Unit 44? Recent success rates have been strong: 92% in 2025 and 93% in 2024, though 2022 and 2023 were lower at 68% and 72% respectively. Hunter numbers have ranged from 64 to 142 across these four years. Overall, hunters who draw a tag in Unit 44 have historically had a good chance of harvesting an animal, particularly in the most recent two seasons.
How big are the pronghorn in Unit 44? Trophy data for the counties overlapping Unit 44 shows a strong history of trophy-class pronghorn, giving the unit exceptional trophy potential relative to typical Wyoming antelope units. That trophy history is shared with neighboring units in the same counties rather than being exclusive to Unit 44, but it signals this general area has consistently produced notable bucks. The buck:doe ratio has averaged 40:100 across recent surveys, a moderate figure suggesting a functional but not buck-heavy population.
Is Unit 44 worth applying for? Based on the available data, yes — with a caveat. High recent harvest success and a strong trophy pedigree in the surrounding counties make this an attractive draw target for hunters focused on quality. The tradeoff is access: with only 28% public land and no general season fallback, hunters need either private land access or a solid plan for locating and reaching the public fraction of the unit.
Does Unit 44 have a general season or walk-in tag option? No. Every hunt in Unit 44 is limited-quota and allocated through Wyoming's draw system, including tags for antlered/either-sex animals. There is no over-the-counter or general season path into this unit for any pronghorn tag.