Can you hunt on land you buy in Bondurant? It sounds like a strange question to ask about a Wyoming valley known for some of the densest elk, mule deer, and antelope populations in the state. But the honest answer depends on which side of a property line drawn more than fifty years ago your parcel happens to sit on. Get it wrong, and the hunting cabin you pictured comes with a recorded covenant that prohibits discharging a firearm on your own tract.
That line is the boundary of Hoback Ranches, a 6,500-acre subdivision platted in 1973 by Star Valley developer Doyle Child. It is not marked on most listing photos, and it rarely comes up until a buyer is reading the title report. But it explains more about what a Bondurant property actually costs, and what it actually allows, than the median price on any portal ever will.
The Boundary Nobody Marks on a Listing Photo
Hoback Ranches sits about seven miles south of the Bondurant post office along US Highway 191, bordered by BLM ground managed through the Pinedale Field Office and Forest Service land under the Big Piney Ranger District of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The original 240 parcels have filled in over five decades into roughly 125 homes, with more than 300 residents, many of whom live there year round rather than treating it as a summer camp the way the earliest homesteaders did.
That history matters because Hoback Ranches was never just a real estate plat. It was founded with a stated intent to build what its own documents call a partnership with nature, and the recorded covenants that came with it were written to protect that vision permanently, not just for the first generation of owners.
What the Sales Actually Show
The subdivision has generated most of the transaction volume in Bondurant's small market. Of the 76 closed sales recorded in the area since 2020, 44 have been inside Hoback Ranches, and they cluster at the affordable end: entry-level lots starting around $135,000, with homes reaching up to $1.6 million at the top of the range.
Step outside that boundary and the market changes shape entirely. Residential sales outside Hoback Ranches carry a median near $1 million, with transactions reaching $3.8 million, reflecting the more private, often river-fronting parcels that define Bondurant's upper end. Across the whole area, the median runs about $378 per square foot, the highest of any residential market in Sublette County on a per-foot basis.
| Inside Hoback Ranches | Outside Hoback Ranches | |
|---|---|---|
| Sales since 2020 | 44 | 32 |
| Entry point | ~$135,000 (lot) | median near $1,000,000 |
| Top of range | $1.6 million | $3.8 million |
A buyer scanning a single average for "Bondurant real estate" is really looking at two different products stitched into one number. One is a platted subdivision with shared covenants and modest lot sizes. The other is open land defined by river frontage, hay ground, and unrestricted acreage, priced accordingly.
What You Give Up Inside the Line
The price gap is not just about acreage or river access. It is also about what the covenants let you do once you own the ground. Recorded restrictions specific to Hoback Ranches include:
- No discharge of firearms, explosives, or fireworks on any tract, and no hunting or trapping of wild animals or birds on the property
- A cap of four horses per tract, and only on tracts of at least ten acres
- One single-family dwelling permitted per tract, with no exceptions for a second structure
- A minimum 100-foot setback from any tract boundary for buildings, garages, and porches
For a buyer whose entire reason for looking at Bondurant is a hunting cabin or a horse property, that first restriction is the one that actually changes the plan. You can own ground inside one of the most game-dense valleys in Wyoming and still not be able to sight in a rifle from your own porch, because the tract you bought sits inside a subdivision that predates your interest in it by half a century.
Hoback Ranches was built on a stated partnership with nature, and its covenants still enforce that founding intent today.
None of this makes Hoback Ranches a bad option. Its lower entry price, established road network, and tight community calendar, including an annual picnic and a service district that funds infrastructure, make it a real and reasonable way into Bondurant for buyers who do not need to hunt from their own tract and are comfortable using public land access nearby instead. It just means the decision has to be made with the covenant in hand, not after closing.
The Restriction That Didn't Hold
Covenants also are not frozen in time. In May 2024, the Ninth Judicial District Court of Sublette County ruled in Winney v. Hoback Ranches Property Owners Improvement and Service District that Covenant Number 9 had been abandoned. The subdivision's own covenant page now carries that ruling as a formal note attached to the original text.
That single case is worth sitting with for a minute. It shows that these are not static rules a buyer can read once and file away. They are living legal documents that have already been tested and changed once through litigation, and a buyer relying on a decades-old printed copy of the covenants without checking current status is working from an outdated document.
The Other Line: When the Highway Decides Your Timeline
The subdivision boundary is not the only line that shapes a Bondurant purchase. The only paved route in and out, US Highway 191/189 through Hoback Canyon, closes for avalanche mitigation multiple times most winters. The Wyoming Department of Transportation scheduled one such closure for February 18, 2026, and similar closures have occurred in nearly every recent winter season, sometimes with only a few hours of public notice.
For a buyer used to year-round highway access, that is not a minor inconvenience. It affects how quickly a contractor can reach a build site in January, how reliably a buyer can schedule a walkthrough in shoulder season, and how long a remote listing sits before the right patient buyer finds it. Bondurant's own limited inventory and infrequent sales already mean prices are harder to benchmark from comparable listings alone. A closed canyon on the day of a scheduled inspection just adds another variable to a market that already runs on its own calendar.
What This Means If You're Comparing Bondurant to Other Sublette County Towns
If Bondurant is on a shortlist alongside Pinedale, Boulder, or Daniel, the comparison only works once you separate what you are actually pricing. A $150,000 lot inside Hoback Ranches and a $1.5 million river parcel a few miles away are not competing offers on the same product. They are two different lifestyles wearing the same town name.
The practical questions worth asking before writing an offer:
- Is this parcel inside the Hoback Ranches Service and Improvement District, and if so, what do the current covenants allow for firearms, horses, and additional structures?
- Has any covenant affecting this specific use been the subject of a court ruling, amendment, or abandonment since the property was originally platted?
- What is the realistic winter access plan for this address, including how the owner or a caretaker would handle a multi-hour highway closure during hunting season or a cold snap?
A buyer who answers those three questions before closing is working from the same information a longtime local already has. A buyer who skips them finds out the hard way, usually the first time they want to sight in a rifle from their own porch.
A Few Questions Buyers Ask
Does every property near Bondurant fall under Hoback Ranches covenants? No. The subdivision covers a defined 6,500-acre footprint. Land outside that boundary, including much of the river frontage and larger hay ranches that define Bondurant's upper price tier, is not bound by these covenants, though it may carry its own easements or road maintenance agreements that a title search will surface.
Can covenant restrictions like the firearm rule ever change? Yes. The 2024 ruling on Covenant Number 9 shows that restrictions can be found abandoned through litigation, and covenants generally can also be amended through the process laid out in the subdivision's governing documents. A buyer should confirm current status rather than relying on the original recorded text alone.
Why does Bondurant have the highest per-square-foot price in the county? The combination of limited inventory, proximity to public land, and river frontage on a portion of the market pushes the per-foot figure higher even though entry-level lots inside Hoback Ranches remain some of the more accessible pricing in Sublette County.
Bondurant rewards buyers who ask about the line before they ask about the price. If you are weighing a hunting property, a horse parcel, or a quiet second home in this part of the Hoback Basin and want to know which side of that boundary actually fits what you have in mind, Janelle Villalba can walk the covenants and the comps with you before you make an offer, not after.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
