Wyoming Shed Hunting Season 2027: Closures and Rules

Q: Is it legal to pick up shed antlers in Wyoming?

Wyoming closes Collection Area 1 to shed collecting from January 1 until 6 a.m. May 1, and until 6 a.m. May 8 for nonresidents. Wyoming Game and Fish Department puts it this way: "No person shall collect shed antlers or horns from big game animals in Collection Area 1 except as authorized in this regulation."

Q: When do deer shed antlers in Wyoming?

Elk shed their antlers from mid March to early May. The source: "They lose (shed) their antlers every year when their testosterone is at its lowest from mid-March to early May."

Q: Who sets the shed antler rules in Wyoming?

Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The rules here were read from its own pages on September 21, 2026, and each one links to the page it came from. Rules change between winters, so the agency page is the one to check before a trip.

Dated closures

Rule type

from Wyoming Game and Fish Department

May 1

Next closure lifts

Collection Area 1

For some

Course or permit

in the agency rules quoted below

September 21, 2026

Rules read

from the agency page

The rule

Shed antler rules in Wyoming

Dated closures

Collection Area 1 is the country west of the Continental Divide plus some land west of Laramie, and the closure covers public land, state land and Commission lands there. Many wildlife habitat management areas stay shut past May 1 until their own listed opening dates.

Collection Area 1

Residents may collect shed antlers and horns on state and public land in Collection Area 1 only from 6 a.m. May 1 through 11:59 p.m. Dec 31.

No person shall collect shed antlers or horns from big game animals in Collection Area 1 except as authorized in this regulation.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department, read September 21, 2026. Read it at the source

Collection Area 1

Nonresidents may collect only from 6 a.m. May 8 through 11:59 p.m. Dec 31, and those 15 and older need a conservation stamp.

A conservation stamp is required for all nonresidents fifteen (15) years of age and older to collect shed antlers or horns in Collection Area 1.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department, read September 21, 2026. Read it at the source

Collection Area 1

January 1 to May 1

The closed period on public land, state land and Commission lands in the area runs from Jan 1 to 6 a.m. May 1 for residents and to 6 a.m. May 8 for nonresidents.

A Wyoming Game and Fish Commission regulation prohibits anyone from collecting shed antlers or horns on public land, such as U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands, state lands and Wyoming Game and Fish Commission-owned or administered lands west of the Continental Divide, excluding the Great Divide Basin and some land west of Laramie, from Jan. 1 through 6 a.m. May 1 of each year for residents and Jan. 1 through 6 a.m. May 8 for nonresidents.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department, read September 21, 2026. Read it at the source

Statewide

Collecting antlers or horns on private property requires the permission of the owner or person in charge at any time of year.

It is illegal to enter any person's private property to collect antlers or horns without the permission of the property owner or the person in charge of the property, regardless of the time of year.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department, read September 21, 2026. Read it at the source

Dated windows

Wyoming shed closures by month

Winter range closures protect wintering deer and elk, keeping people off the ground where the animals spend the hardest months. The dates below are Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s own, each one printed in the agency sentence quoted above.

Wyoming windows, January to December, as Wyoming Game and Fish Department dates them

Collection Area 1January 1 to May 1

Closed to shed collecting

Courses, sale and state land

More Wyoming shed rules

Buying and selling sheds

Antlers or horns still attached to a skull or skull plate cannot be removed from the field without prior approval from a Game and Fish law enforcement officer, and then a Wyoming Interstate Game Tag is required.

A head or skull with antlers and horns attached to a big game animal cannot be removed from the field without prior approval from a Game and Fish law enforcement officer. If approval is granted, the purchase of a Wyoming Interstate Game Tag is required for any antlers or horns attached to a head or skull plate of a big game animal.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department, read September 21, 2026. Read it at the source

State wildlife land

Many of the 44 wildlife habitat management areas stay closed past May 1 until their own listed opening dates, and several are closed to all human presence over winter.

The areas listed below remain closed until their listed opening date to minimize disturbance to wintering big game animals and other wildlife and protect the habitat from resource damage.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department, read September 21, 2026. Read it at the source

When antlers drop

When deer shed antlers in Wyoming

Elk shed their antlers from mid March to early May.

They lose (shed) their antlers every year when their testosterone is at its lowest from mid-March to early May.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department, read September 21, 2026. Read it at the source

A large elk antler lying in green grass with snow covered mountains in the distance — An elk shed on the National Elk Refuge, Wyoming, with the Tetons behind. Elk winter range in the West is where most dated shed closures fall, because the closures exist for the animals wintering there. “Shed Antler on the National Elk Refuge (53662858076)”, USFWS Mountain Prairie, Public domain

Wyoming shed antler questions

Is it legal to pick up shed antlers in Wyoming?

When is shed hunting season in Wyoming?

Wyoming Game and Fish Department publishes these dated closures. Collection Area 1: closed from January 1 until May 1. In the agency's words: "A Wyoming Game and Fish Commission regulation prohibits anyone from collecting shed antlers or horns on public land, such as U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands, state lands and Wyoming Game and Fish Commission-owned or administered lands west of the Continental Divide, excluding the Great Divide Basin and some land west of Laramie, from Jan. 1 through 6 a.m. May 1 of each year for residents and Jan. 1 through 6 a.m. May 8 for nonresidents."

Do I need a permit to collect sheds in Wyoming?

Can you sell shed antlers in Wyoming?

Antlers or horns still attached to a skull or skull plate cannot be removed from the field without prior approval from a Game and Fish law enforcement officer, and then a Wyoming Interstate Game Tag is required. Wyoming Game and Fish Department: "A head or skull with antlers and horns attached to a big game animal cannot be removed from the field without prior approval from a Game and Fish law enforcement officer. If approval is granted, the purchase of a Wyoming Interstate Game Tag is required for any antlers or horns attached to a head or skull plate of a big game animal."

Can I collect sheds on state wildlife land in Wyoming?

Can I pick up sheds on private land in Wyoming?

When do deer shed antlers in Wyoming?

Who sets the shed antler rules in Wyoming?

Shed antler rules in other states

Wyoming deer seasonArchery and firearms dates for Wyoming, read from Wyoming Game and Fish Department.Wyoming deer rutWhen bucks breed in the fall, months before those antlers drop.Wyoming elk rutWhen bulls bugle in September and October, on the same animals that shed in spring.Shed antler rules by stateEvery state's shed rule, the dated western closures and when each species drops.

A bull moose with broad palmate antlers walking across a snowy flat — A bull moose near Soda Butte, Yellowstone. Colorado Parks and Wildlife dates the moose drop from November through January, the earliest of the antlered animals it names. Photo: Jacob W. Frank, NPS. “Bull moose near Soda Butte (b95e1acc-f297-4abd-8b01-bd4f25a9a6a5)”, Jacob W. Frank, Public domain

Compiled September 21, 2026. Every rule above is republished from Chapter 61 Collection of Shed Antlers and Horns, WGFD and the other Wyoming Game and Fish Department pages linked beside each quote, read on September 21, 2026. Rules change between winters, so the agency page is the one to check before a trip. Every state is in the national shed antler guide.