South Platte River east of Greeley is known to be the home to quality whitetails. Rolling prairie and farmlands provides many square miles for roaming mule deer and pronghorn antelope. The unit is mainly private.
Whitetails are the dominate species along the South Platte River. Mule deer make up less than 10% of the deer herd along the South Platte, but are the dominate species just a few miles away from the river bottoms. The southwest corner has active oil and gas operations. Expect heavy truck traffic. Private land access may require a trespass fee and outfitters have leased many properties. Some large deer and antelope bucks take up residence near irrigated crops.
Riverside Reservoir, South Platte River, Greasewood Flats, Coal, Crow and Lost Creek drainages can be found around this area. Coal Bank and Sanborn Draw are some of the major topographical features in the unit. Slightly rolling farmland covers many sections of land.
Rolling prairie consists of buffalo grass, blue grama and wheatgrass while cottonwood, Russian olive, willow, cattails and marsh grass are found along the South Platte. There are many center pivots irrigating corn and alfalfa as well as dryland wheat farms. On the edges of the farms silver sage, Canada thistle and yucca may be present.
Interstate 76, U.S. Highway 6 and 34 and Colorado Routes 68, 89, 392 and 93 combined with a good county road system make it easy to travel across the unit. Centennial Valley off County Road 380 does not allow the use of centerfire rifles and parking is in designated areas, Nakagawa can be reached on County Road 61. Pawnee National Grasslands along Colorado Route 14 and state lands total some 11,000 acres. State Land Board controls over 26,000 acres that is not readily accessible to hunters.
Greeley, a large city on the western boundary has many motels, hotels, restaurants, fast food franchises, gas, diesel and a large medical facility. It is also home of University of Northern Colorado with over 13,000 undergraduates. There are a few small communities north of Greeley along U.S. Highway 85 that might have a small café or gas station.