Wyoming Elk — Hunt Area 15

Spring Creek

Wyoming Hunt Area 15 covers 322,180 acres and lies 10 miles south-west of Saratoga and 31 miles south-east of Rawlins. 62% of it is public land, mostly BLM (38%) and national forest (17%). In 2025, 1,002 people hunted elk here and took 317 — 32% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 32 nonresident tags here for 115 first-choice applicants.

Nonresident tags (2026):64 Applicants:115 Hunter success (2025):32% Public land:62% Size:322,180 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in Hunt Area 15, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

2 licenses on offer · 64 tags · 115 applicants in the 2026 draw

Chances are from the 2026 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level
  • 15-6 Cow or calf 32 tags · 115 applicants · Reduced price
    28% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • 15-6 Cow or calf 32 tags · 0 applicants · Landowner reduced price
    100% No first-choice applicants
What these columns mean
Your odds
the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2026 draw. Not a forecast: quotas and demand move every year.
The badge
plain language for that number. Likely draw 75% or better · Real chance 40%+ · Long shot 15%+ · Point builder below that, so you are applying mainly to bank a point · Undersubscribed means fewer first-choice applicants than tags, so everyone who applied drew.
As 2nd choice
Wyoming lets you name more than one hunt on the application. Miss on your first choice and you go into the pot for whatever tags are left, alongside everyone else's second choices. Points never help a lower choice, so this number is the same whatever you have banked — it is usually worth naming a hunt that goes undersubscribed.
Points needed
the lowest point total that still got a tag in the 2026 draw, and how that cut has moved since the earliest draw we hold.
Tags / applicants
tags on offer and first-choice applicants for them, as the agency published them. Under five tags we print counts instead of a percentage, because one applicant either way swings it.

What it costs to apply (2026 nonresident fees)

License Up front Gone if you miss If you draw
Reduced price license $303 $15 $324.50
Landowner reduced price license $15 $15 $36.50

Application window: opens Jan 2, closes Feb 2, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

The country

Saratoga Rawlins Mills Cheyenne Wheatland
Hunt Area 15 within Wyoming
108 11 110 12 125 13 130 21 Saratoga Encampment Rawlins Baggs
Hunt Area 15 and its neighbours
Zoomable USGS topo, aerial imagery and shaded relief, with the neighboring areas drawn on.

Boundaries are drawn for orientation only — the written boundary description in the regulations governs.

Who owns the ground

  • Private 122,634 ac · 38%
  • BLM 122,066 ac · 38%
  • National Forest 53,513 ac · 17%
  • State land 22,858 ac · 7%
  • County or city land 918 ac · 0%
  • Other public 196 ac · 0%

Source: BLM WY Surface Management Agency (land ownership / SMA)

How the hunting has gone

What Wyoming Game and Fish Department publishes for this area after each season — harvest statistics for everyone who hunted it, not draw odds and not a forecast. Wyoming's figures are estimates from a voluntary post-season survey of license holders, extrapolated to every license issued — not a count of animals checked in.

Season Hunters Harvest Success Days per animal
2025 1,002 317 32% 21.6
2024 1,181 412 35% 19.0
2023 910 292 32% 24.0
2022 1,072 279 26% 26.0
2021 1,107 348 31% 19.4

What people carried (2025 harvest)

  • Archery 68 · 21%
  • Firearm 249 · 79%

Residents vs nonresidents (2025)

  • Resident 255 taken · 848 hunters
  • Nonresident 62 taken · 154 hunters

Boundary: Elk Hunt Areas (Wyoming Game and Fish Department)

Harvest: Elk 2025 Harvest Report

Harvest: Elk 2024 Harvest Report

Harvest: Elk 2023 Harvest Report

How we compute draw odds · All Wyoming elk hunts