Unit 40

Key glassing and navigation points include the Vees (The Vees, Eberhardt Vee, Otter Creek Vee, Cooks Vee)—open saddles and ridgeline features that offer vantage for scanning drainages and high parks. Mahogany Butte, Wild Horse Butte, and Canyon Ridge serve as recognizable terrain anchors and glassing platforms. Major drainages—Tensleep Creek, Otter Creek system, and Willow Creek—provide natural travel corridors through broken terrain and often hold water and cover.

Named flats like High Park, Sagebrush Flats, and Uncle Billys Flats break up the ridgelines and concentrate game during transitions. Springs including Taylor Spring, Sand Spring, and Big Spring mark reliable water sources scattered through the unit.

The unit spans from around 4,400 feet in lower valleys to nearly 9,600 feet on high ridges, creating distinct habitat zones. Lower elevations support open sagebrush flats and grasslands with scattered juniper and low timber. Mid-elevations transition to ponderosa and mixed conifer forest on slopes and benches.

Higher country becomes denser forest with aspen parks interspersed throughout. This vertical relief concentrates wildlife in specific zones seasonally—deer use lower and mid-elevation benches in fall, while summer range pushes animals to high parks and ridge systems. The sparse timber coverage means visibility is often good, but terrain is broken enough to create cover and movement corridors.

The limited road network (256 miles total, mostly rough) concentrates access at specific trailheads and forest service junctions. Most roads are BLM or USFS rough-stock standards—suitable for high-clearance vehicles but not reliable for passenger cars. Lack of major highways through the unit means few casual hunters; people hunting here are committed.

The vast size and terrain complexity mean pressure disperses quickly; hunters willing to walk away from roads find solitude. Early season pressure near Highway 16 corridor eases dramatically once you move into deeper country. Navigation challenges and road conditions naturally filter out hunters unprepared for remoteness.

Unit 40 occupies the foothills and high-desert country east of the Bighorn Mountains in north-central Wyoming, framed by Highway 16 to the north and a series of rough access roads defining its eastern and southern boundaries. The unit encompasses the Ten Sleep area and surrounding drainages—Tensleep Creek, Otter Creek system, and numerous smaller canyons cut through rolling terrain. This is remote, undeveloped country without significant towns immediately adjacent; Ten Sleep serves as the nearest community for supplies and coordination.

The vast scale makes navigation critical; roads are few and often rough, so detailed maps and GPS work are essential.

Water exists throughout the unit but isn't consistently reliable in all locations. Named springs dot the country—Taylor Spring, Coyote Spring, Box Spring, and others—providing scattered water sources across ridges and benches. Major creeks including Tensleep Creek, Otter Creek drainages, and Willow Creek run perennial or seasonal depending on location and time of year.

Several small reservoirs (Chimney, Divine, Round Corral, Last Hope, Snap) offer dependable water in their respective drainages. Lower-elevation valleys and canyon bottoms are more likely to hold consistent moisture. Understanding spring and creek locations is essential for planning multi-day hunts; water scarcity in high terrain can restrict where you effectively hunt.

Unit 40 holds both mule deer and whitetailed deer across different elevation zones. Mule deer favor high sagebrush benches and mid-elevation parks; early season offers access to high country where they summer on ridge systems. As weather pushes them downslope, mid- to lower-elevation draws and canyon bottoms hold concentrations of deer during fall.

Whitetails occupy canyon bottoms, riparian areas, and dense timber edges where cover is thickest. Spring and water sources guide hunting strategy—glass high parks and saddles early morning, then work canyon systems where deer transition between elevation zones. Complexity of terrain rewards hunters with topo skills and patience; the country is large enough to absorb hunting pressure and big enough that knowing where water and travel corridors exist defines success more than pure effort.