Prime Habitat for Wyoming's Big Game
The range's big-game herds represent impressive populations. The Wyoming Range Mule Deer herd has 50,000 animals, while the range’s 5,500 moose represent more than half of the state’s entire moose population. Four elk herds, representing 10,000 animals, use the range. In these mountains, Wyoming hunters enjoy the best elk-hunting success rates in the state and stalk world-class trophy mule deer during seasons that run as long as 40 days. Some of Wyoming’s densest concentrations of mule deer bucks are found here.
It’s no wonder that the Wyoming Range is one of Wyoming's most popular destinations for hunting big game. The area’s hotels, restaurants, gas stations and shops fill up in the fall as residents and non-residents pass through on their way into the mountains every hunting season. Some 35 outfitters in Pinedale, Big Piney, Daniel, Bondurant and Jackson lead clients in the Wyoming Range. High-quality hunting brings in millions of dollars to local economies and supports hundreds of jobs and several businesses.
If you were going to design elk habitat, the Wyoming Range would be the perfect model. It's one of those areas that has a little bit of everything. 
—Tom Toman, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
Diverse habitat is what makes these mountains so crucial for wildlife—from dry sagebrush steppes, to rocky alpine summits, and lush valleys filled with tall grass. Douglas fir and lodgepole pine forests dominate its flanks, and whitebark pine stands sit at timberline. Summer storms moving across the range create a high-precipitation zone with a wide array of vegetation. The range contains critical spring, summer and fall habitat for elk, mule deer and moose. And thanks to its aspen component, the range's sagebrush steppes are important calving areas.