Hunt Area 88, Kendrick, Wyoming

224-square-mile unit along the North Platte River corridor and Pathfinder Reservoir south of Casper, Natrona County. Elevation ranges from approximately 5,217 to 6,536 feet. Characterized by steep river bluffs, breaks, and hillsides above the North Platte River, with open sagebrush-grassland benches, creek drainages, and irrigated agricultural fields. Vegetation includes buffalo grass, blue grama, sagebrush, yucca, and juniper on ridges; ponderosa pine on higher slopes; cottonwood and willow in riparian corridors. The western boundary runs along the Rattlesnake Divide and Pathfinder Dam service road; the northern boundary is US Hwy 20-26 into the city of Casper.

Approximately 40% public land (BLM dominant; no USFS present in this unit). Roughly 60% private. Public land access is challenging — much of the productive river-bottom and agricultural habitat is private. Walk-In Areas 11 (10,899 ac), 12 (8,319 ac), 13 (2,905 ac), and 17 (4,162 ac) in Natrona County all include portions of Hunt Area 88, providing meaningful public hunting access to the unit. Key roads include Wyoming Hwy 220 (southern boundary), Natrona County Road 319 (Oregon Trail Road), and the Pathfinder Dam service road. Check with WGFD Casper Regional Office for current WIA status.

River-bottom riparian: cottonwood, willow, and tamarisk along the North Platte. Upland: big sagebrush, Wyoming sagebrush, greasewood, yucca, prickly pear cactus, blue grama, and buffalo grass on flats and lower slopes. Ponderosa pine and Rocky Mountain juniper on ridge tops and rocky breaks. Irrigated dryland crops (alfalfa, grain) in agricultural fields near the river — prime late-season deer feeding habitat.

Mule deer and white-tailed deer both use the North Platte River bottoms and adjacent agricultural fields as core feeding areas, particularly during early morning and evening. Deer move between river-bottom agricultural cover and upland sagebrush-juniper breaks. White-tailed deer concentrate in riparian cottonwood and willow corridors. Mule deer utilize the higher sagebrush benches and rocky bluff edges. The unit produces mature bucks due to good forage and agricultural production. Pronghorn are present in the open sagebrush grasslands. The unit is pooled with Area 66 and 89 for cross-hunt nonresident tags in Region D.

Harvest statistics are from the 2021 WGFD Deer Harvest Report (most recent available in downloaded document). Season dates are from the 2025 WGFD Chapter 6 Deer Hunting Seasons regulation. The unit is designated Kendrick after the Kendrick Canal which forms part of the northern boundary. The Type 7 tag (quota 75) for Area 88 allows doe or fawn white-tailed deer valid on private land only through Dec. 15 — a separate and important license type from the general mule deer tag. Cross-hunt nonresident tags valid in Region D cover units 66, 70, 74-77, and 88. Pronghorn seasons exist within the broader Natrona County area but are managed under separate antelope hunt area boundaries.