Elk Hunt Areas 34–38: A Johnson County Basecamp Guide

The Bighorn Mountains surrounding Buffalo and Johnson County are consistently among Wyoming's most competitive elk draw areas. Hunt areas 34 through 38 span the range from high country down into the foothills, and thousands of hunters apply for them every year.

The Areas, at a Glance

Elk hunt areas 34–38 cover the Bighorn Mountains around Johnson County, with mule deer and antelope opportunities in the same general country. Boundaries, quotas, and season structures are set annually by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) and can shift from year to year — the WGFD Hunt Planner at wgfd.wyo.gov/HuntPlanner is the authoritative source before you apply, not a blog post.

These areas draw heavily on point systems, and draw odds shift with demand. If a specific area matters to your season, check current point requirements and draw statistics directly at wgfd.wyo.gov before building plans around it.

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A cabin basecamp changes a hunt in ways a motel room can't — real freezer space, a mudroom for wet gear, and a kitchen for the pre-dawn breakfast.

Two Real Basecamp Options

Wyo Stays manages two cabins in this corridor, and they serve genuinely different hunts.

Piton borders Bighorn National Forest directly, at 8,500 feet on five private acres — the closest thing to a walk-out basecamp in the collection. It comes with real tradeoffs: a steep driveway, no cell service on the property, and winter access that shifts to snowmobile-in once the roads close. For an early-season archery hunt or an accessible rifle season, it's a genuine basecamp with real seclusion. For a late-season hunt pushing into heavy snow, plan around the access realities honestly.

Clear Creek Crossing backs onto BLM public land minutes from downtown Buffalo — an easier basecamp for a party that wants forest access without the mountain drive. It sleeps up to 14 with its bunkhouse, useful for a multi-hunter camp that wants to split the cost and share the kitchen.

Season Logistics

Elk season in the Bighorns generally runs from early September archery through late fall rifle seasons, with exact dates set annually — confirm at wgfd.wyo.gov before booking. Late-season hunts push into genuinely cold, sometimes snowy conditions at elevation; a late hunt based at Piton requires real planning around its snowmobile-in winter access.

Buffalo has licensed game processors and a full-service grocery and hardware store downtown. Plan on driving field-dressed animals into town rather than expecting on-site processing at either cabin — neither is set up for it.