Hunt Zone 3F1, North Dakota

Zone 3F1 covers 1,583 square miles of extreme southwestern North Dakota (Slope County and surroundings) with some of the state''s most varied topography. The northwestern corner features dramatic ridges with 400-foot elevation gains, the Chalky Buttes badlands, and Duff Gulch. White Butte, North Dakota''s highest point at 3,506 feet, lies roughly 7 miles south of Amidon. Elevations across the unit range from 2,500 to 3,500 feet. Much of the unit is rolling mixed-grass prairie dominated by wheatgrass, grama grass, and sagebrush, with semiarid soils also supporting dryland wheat, barley, and alfalfa production. Creek bottoms provide linear timber corridors of aspen, oak, ash, elm, birch, and juniper. Highway 85 forms the western boundary; Highways 12, 67, and 22 provide grid access across the unit, with the town of Bowman serving as the main hub.

Public land access is extremely limited — approximately 3.2% of the unit is public. The primary WMA is Speck Davis Pond (159 acres, 9 mi W / 1 mi S / 6 mi W / 4 mi N of Amidon). A portion of the Little Missouri National Grassland (Dakota Prairie Grasslands, total 1,033,271 acres statewide across McKenzie, Billings, Slope, and Golden Valley counties) lies within or adjacent to the unit — Slope County holds a smaller share than the northern counties. State Trust Lands provide additional walk-in access when not locked by livestock activity. The PLOTS (Private Land Open To Sportsmen) program is the most important access tool in this unit; plat maps and the annual PLOTS Guide are essential for planning. PLOTS lands are walk-in only. Due to high recent deer populations, many private landowners also grant permission to rifle hunters for population management.

Mixed-grass prairie (wheatgrass, blue grama, sagebrush) dominates uplands. Dryland agriculture — wheat, barley, alfalfa — provides food sources in the eastern and southern portions of the unit. Creek bottoms and draws support aspen, oak, ash, elm, birch, and juniper, providing thermal cover and bedding habitat. Badlands formations in the northwest add rocky butte faces and talus pockets used by mule deer for escape cover.

Mule deer concentrate in the buttes, badlands ridges, and rugged coulees of the northwestern portion of the unit — the Chalky Buttes and the White Butte area are the core mule deer strongholds. White-tailed deer use creek-bottom timber corridors, brushy draws, and field edges throughout the flatter agricultural portions of the unit. Both species are most active at dawn and dusk. During the November gun season, deer movement peaks around the rut; crop fields and water sources in the creek drainages serve as focal evening feeding areas.

Zone 3F1 is one of North Dakota''s premier mixed-species deer units — offering a legitimate chance at both a whitetail and a mule deer on the same trip. Tags are comparatively easy to draw. The Any Antlered (either species) license is the most competitive at roughly 29% first-draw odds; all antlerless licenses and the Antlered Whitetail license drew at 100% in 2025. A current PLOTS guide and plat map are essential due to the low public land percentage. Bowman is the nearest supply town. The 2026 statewide deer gun license total was 39,100 — the lowest in over 50 years — reflecting population management adjustments; mule deer success rates statewide ran at 82% for both antlered and antlerless, while whitetail gun success was 53% antlered and 45% antlerless.