Wyoming Elk · Hunt Area 27 Upper Sweetwater

Wyoming Hunt Area 27 covers 75,480 acres and lies 25 miles south-west of Lander and 46 miles south-west of Riverton. 94% of it is public land, mostly national forest (57%) and BLM (33%). In 2025, 134 people hunted elk here and took 47, a 35% success rate. Its most applied-for hunt, 27-4, put up 12 nonresident tags in the 2026 draw for 19 first-choice applicants.

NR Tags, 2026
29

3 licenses

Applicants
19

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
35%

2025, all licenses

Public Land
94%

57% Forest Service

Size
118 mi²

75,480 acres

27
35%hunter success 2025 · 134 hunters, 47 elk

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

Best Bets at 0 Points

Ranked by your odds times how often that license type's hunters filled their tag in 2025. Nonresident, first choice, 2026 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.

Every License in Hunt Area 27

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it
27-4 Regular 36% 0
Special 100% (small sample) —
Landowner 100% —

First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file.

Draw results: WGFD 2026 Demand Report; WGFD 2026 Demand Report; WGFD 2026 Demand Report, retrieved Sep 1, 2026.

If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): Regular $728.50 ($707 to apply) · Special $1,986.50 ($1,965 to apply) · Landowner $36.50 ($15 to apply). Open Jan 2 – Feb 1, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

Harvest

Year Hunters Elk Success
2025 134 47 35%
2024 168 51 30%
2023 117 52 44%
2022 92 39 42%
2021 101 43 43%
2025 by LicenseHuntersElkSuccess
Type 1 62 17 27%
Type 4 73 30 41%

2025 split: archery 10 (21%), firearm 37 (79%) · residents 35 from 113 hunters, nonresidents 12 from 21 hunters

What Wyoming Game and Fish Department publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. 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. Source: WGFD 2025 Elk Harvest Report; WGFD 2024 Elk Harvest Report; WGFD 2023 Elk Harvest Report.

The Ground

National Forest 43,154 ac 57%
BLM 24,894 ac 33%
Private 4,670 ac 6%
State land 2,688 ac 4%
Other public 72 ac <1%

Source: U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming State Office 2026 BLM WY Surface Management Agency.

▸ Sources 12
  1. WGFD 2026 Demand Report draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  2. WGFD 2026 Demand Report draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  3. WGFD 2026 Demand Report draw results, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  4. WGFD 2026 License Fee List fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  5. WGFD 2026 Game and Fish Commission Chapter 44 fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  6. WGFD 2025 Elk Harvest Report harvest, area description, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  7. WGFD 2024 Elk Harvest Report harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  8. WGFD 2023 Elk Harvest Report harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  9. WGFD 2022 Elk Harvest Report harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  10. WGFD 2021 Elk Harvest Report harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  11. WGFD 2026 Elk Hunt Areas boundary, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  12. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming State Office 2026 BLM WY Surface Management Agency land ownership, retrieved Aug 31, 2026

About These Numbers

Odds are from the 2026 draw, the latest on file, computed from Wyoming Game and Fish Department's published results. They are what happened in that draw, not a forecast. Under five tags a percentage carries a *, because one applicant either way swings it. A dash means the agency did not publish the number, and a date marked expected is last cycle's schedule rolled forward. How we compute these.

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Every report is checked against the agency source before we change anything.

We don't take applications: check Wyoming Game and Fish Department's site and apply there.

Prior-draw odds from Wyoming Game and Fish Department's results, not a forecast · Methodology · All Wyoming elk hunts