Unit 113

Gray Butte, Cow Creek Buttes, and Rochelle Hills serve as useful navigation references across the otherwise featureless plains. Reed Reservoir and Rochelle Lake anchor water-finding routes in the southern and eastern sections. Pinnacle Rocks provides a distinctive landmark for orientation.

Multiple draws—including Shipley Draw, Willow Draw, and West Fork Rattlesnake Draw—funnel water and concentrate wildlife movement. These draws become critical terrain features in the hunting strategy, offering topographic breaks in otherwise monotonous sagebrush.

Elevations range from about 4,200 to 5,300 feet across gentle rolling terrain with minimal tree cover. The landscape is predominantly high-plains grassland and sagebrush steppe broken by scattered juniper and ponderosa pine on the higher ridges and buttes. Vegetation follows topography—denser timber on the Cow Creek Buttes, Miller Hills, and Red Hills offers thermal cover, while the flats support shortgrass prairie and sagebrush.

This is elk country defined by open space with refuge nearby rather than dense forest. The sparse forest badge reflects the dominance of open country.

Over 400 miles of county and Forest Service roads spider through the unit, but density is low given the vast acreage, keeping pressure moderate and predictable. Access points concentrate around Highway 59 on the west and county roads entering from Teckla and Underwood Crossing. Most hunters work the accessible road-adjacent country; the interior requires foot travel or day-trip discipline.

The limited road density and sparse human settlement create pockets of solitude for hunters willing to walk away from vehicle access.

Unit 113 occupies high plains country in northeastern Wyoming, bounded by Highway 59 on the west and Highway 450 on the north, with the Converse-Niobrara County line forming the eastern and southern boundaries. The unit encompasses vast sagebrush flats and grassland punctuated by modest buttes and draws. Thunder Basin National Grassland occupies the northwestern portion, anchoring access via Forest Service roads.

The relatively contained road network means the unit maintains a distinct character despite its size—large enough to offer room but not vast enough to feel entirely remote.

Water sources are distributed but scattered: numerous small reservoirs (Rat Number 1, Morton Number 1, Porcupine, Lazy Y Number 1 among others) dot the unit, and reliable springs including Red Spring, Hansen Spring, and Esau Spring provide fill points. Horse Creek, Wildcat Creek, and the North Prong Little Thunder Creek drain the western sections, while Dry Fork Cheyenne River forms the drainage system. This water distribution is critical—the limited badge reflects scarcity relative to the unit's size, requiring hunters to research water locations before the season.

Elk inhabit this country primarily for the abundance of grassland and sagebrush forage combined with accessible water and scattered thermal cover in the buttes and timbered ridges. Early season hunting targets bulls in the open flats during cool mornings, transitioning to the timbered breaks and buttes during the heat. Rut activity concentrates around the denser timber on Cow Creek Buttes and Miller Hills where cows gather.

Late season pushes elk toward the reliable water sources and the concentrated cover in the draws. Hunt the draws methodically—they funnel elk and offer elevation breaks for glassing. Water sources become focal points by late season.