Wyoming Elk · Hunt Area 39 Deer Creek

Wyoming Hunt Area 39 covers 147,284 acres and lies 18 miles east of Lovell. 92% of it is public land, mostly BLM (49%) and national forest (35%). In 2025, 503 people hunted elk here and took 231, a 46% success rate. Its most applied-for hunt, 39-1, put up 16 nonresident tags in the 2026 draw for 170 first-choice applicants, and the last tag went to someone with 10 points.

NR Tags, 2026
169

11 licenses

Applicants
468

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
46%

2025, all licenses

Public Land
92%

49% BLM

Size
230 mi²

147,284 acres

Lovell Cowley 39
46%hunter success 2025 · 503 hunters, 231 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 39

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it
39-1 Regular 3% 10 ▲4
Special 5% 9 ▲4
Landowner 100% —
39-4 Regular 25% 1 ▲1
Special 100% —
Landowner 100% —
39-6 Reduced price 18% —
Landowner reduced price 100% —
39-9 Regular 2% 14 ▲3
Special 4% 12 ▲2
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 and 2 more, retrieved Sep 1, 2026.

If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): Regular $728.50 ($707 to apply) · Special $1,986.50 ($1,965 to apply) · Reduced price $324.50 ($303 to apply) · Landowner $36.50 ($15 to apply) · Landowner reduced price $36.50 ($15 to apply). Open Jan 2 – Feb 1, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

Harvest

Year Hunters Elk Success
2025 503 231 46%
2024 440 237 54%
2023 469 234 50%
2022 455 250 55%
2021 408 202 50%
2025 by LicenseHuntersElkSuccess
Type 1 212 107 51%
Type 4 150 74 49%
Type 6 69 25 36%
Type 9 97 25 26%

2025 split: archery 30 (13%), firearm 201 (87%) · residents 190 from 417 hunters, nonresidents 41 from 86 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

BLM 71,654 ac 49%
National Forest 51,784 ac 35%
Private 11,667 ac 8%
State land 5,617 ac 4%
National Park Service 4,962 ac 3%
Other public 1,519 ac 1%
Bureau of Reclamation 79 ac <1%

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

▸ Sources 14
  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 Demand Report draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  5. WGFD 2026 Demand Report draw results, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  6. WGFD 2026 License Fee List fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  7. WGFD 2026 Game and Fish Commission Chapter 44 fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  8. WGFD 2025 Elk Harvest Report harvest, area description, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  9. WGFD 2024 Elk Harvest Report harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  10. WGFD 2023 Elk Harvest Report harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  11. WGFD 2022 Elk Harvest Report harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  12. WGFD 2021 Elk Harvest Report harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  13. WGFD 2026 Elk Hunt Areas boundary, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  14. 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