Can I legally hunt state land that is part of a walk in access area for another elk?

[Outdoor Junkie]

My brother and I head to Wyoming for our deer hunt on Friday night an there is a spot that we've been looking that I wanted to understand if we could hunt. The area is a square mile of state land that is connected to national forest. We would have to walk 1 mile through the national forest to get to the state chunk, which would normally be fine. With that said, the state land and some surrounding private land butts up against a road and is included inside the boundary of an elk WIA area.

Based on this, would there be an issue with hunting the state land for deer since it is legally accessible through the national forest or is that state land closed since it is part of an elk WIA area?

Just wanted to make sure that we didn't run into any issues.

Thanks,
Chuck

 

[Wy067]

I'd contact the appropriate warden to be sure, but I don't think you can hunt it for deer. My assumption would be the that the G&F struck a deal with the private land owners to establish the WIA and included the restrictions in the state lands enrolled in the WIA. Here's an clip from the G&F website on WIA rules:

Unless explicitly stated otherwise in the access table for a certain WIA, the following regulations apply to all private and state lands enrolled in the Walk-In Area Program:
•Only hunt the species that are allowed to be hunted on a Walk-in Area. Refer to the appropriate table for the specific Walk-in Area. WIAs may be enrolled for hunting or fishing. Check posted signs and the appropriate “hunting” or “fishing” online atlas for the appropriate access information.

 

[Outdoor Junkie]

For the record, I spoke with the Casper regional office of the G&F and they informed
Me that I can legally hunt any public land that is accessible from a public road way or by way of other public land, regardless of it is included in a WIA boundary. The restrictions on the use of the WIA area come into play when you utilize the private land enrolled in the WIA area to access the public land.

Just wanted to let everyone know since I don’t think most people were aware of this.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[icebreaker12]

So long as you access the state section through a legal public means (the NF) you are legal to hunt it for whatever you choose. You can't access it through the private portions and hunt it for deer however.