Wyoming Elk · Hunt Area 48 Upper Nowood

Wyoming Hunt Area 48 covers 596,180 acres and lies 32 miles north-east of Shoshoni and 46 miles south-east of Worland. 59% of it is public land, mostly BLM (47%) and state land (12%). In 2025, 1,040 people hunted elk here and took 420, a 40% success rate. Its most applied-for hunt, 48-1, put up 36 nonresident tags in the 2026 draw for 93 first-choice applicants, and the last tag went to someone with 7 points.

NR Tags, 2026
460

10 licenses

Applicants
204

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
40%

2025, all licenses

Public Land
59%

47% BLM

Size
932 mi²

596,180 acres

Shoshoni Thermopolis Worland Riverton Hudson 48
40%hunter success 2025 · 1,040 hunters, 420 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 48

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it
48-1 Regular 14% 7 ▲2
Special 38% 4 ▼1
Landowner 100% 0
48-4 Regular 100% 0
Special 100% —
Landowner 100% —
48-6 Reduced price 100% —
Landowner reduced price 100% —
48-7 Reduced price 100% —
Landowner reduced price 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 1,040 420 40%
2024 1,118 605 54%
2023 793 464 59%
2022 945 417 44%
2021 860 446 52%
2025 by LicenseHuntersElkSuccess
Type 1 353 160 45%
Type 4 64 12 19%
Type 6 467 186 40%
Type 7 219 62 28%

2025 split: archery 27 (6%), firearm 393 (94%) · residents 244 from 625 hunters, nonresidents 176 from 415 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 281,024 ac 47%
Private 251,071 ac 42%
State land 70,161 ac 12%
Other public 9 ac <1%
County or city land 2 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