North Dakota’s Unit 11-A features badlands, sandstone buttes, brushy creek and river bottoms and a lot of agricultural property. This unit provides everything antelope could want. Consider yourself lucky if you’re able to draw a tag here. Between Unit 11-A's coulees and sandstone buttes in the northwest corner, Big Muddy Creek carves out a wide, lush valley known as Curlew Valley before it merges with Heart River near the center of the unit.

Great antelope populations and hunting conditions are found here along with excellent habitat.

Some sandstone buttes and large ridges break up the rolling hills and agricultural property. Unit 11-A features two lush river valleys that are exceptional hunting property – the Heart River and Big Muddy Creek. Big Muddy Creek creates Curlew Valley, known for its exceptional hay grounds. The two waterways merge at the center of the unit, before flowing into the Missouri River. The semiarid soil covering most of the unit is good for native grasses and crops. The unit’s rolling hills and prairies are used for livestock grazing and farming. Unit 11-A is considered part of North Dakota’s Slope Region that features mixed-grass prairies and very few trees outside of the creek bottoms. There are a large number of creeks running throughout this unit, providing a variety of spots for antelope to water. As you move south in the western portion you’ll find Rocky Ridge and the Red Hills. Once on top of the ridge, the landscape flattens into cropland and livestock pastures until you reach the Heart River valley. This river’s valley is similar, but not as deep as the Big Muddy Creek valley, and features cottonwood and buckbrush covered draws until it flows into the Missouri River near Bismarck. Anywhere along Big Muddy Creek and Heart River and their associated creeks and draws has the potential for a great hunt. South of Heart River transitions back into agricultural property. This is the theme across the entire unit – hilly river valleys and ridges that transition into semi-flat farmland and grazing pastures.

Wheatgrass fields used for livestock grazing and hay ground, as well as native short-grass prairies used for grazing cover much of Unit 11-A’s landscape. The semiarid soil supports some corn, alfalfa, wheat and barley production. Creek bottoms throughout this unit are forested with cottonwood, some aspen, oak, ash, elm, and birch. You’ll also find some buckbrush thickets in some of the draws. You’ll see some isolated badlands, impressive ridges and sandstone buttes amongst the rolling hills used for farming and livestock grazing. The semiarid soil produces a variety of crops including corn, wheat, barley and alfalfa. These crop fields provide bucks with the essential nutrients for big pronghorn.

Highway 3 runs north and south between I-94 and Mott, providing access to most secondary roads in the western end of Unit 11-A while Highway 6 runs north and south from Bismark on the eastern side of the unit. I-94 and Highway 21 from the unit’s northern and southern borders. Between these roads and the highways that form the unit’s borders, you can get you to virtually any spot in 11-A. There are some areas that don’t have great access due to large buttes and deep canyons, however paved or maintained dirt roads form a fairly consistent grid across the unit. Public access is scattered throughout the unit and consists primarily of State Trust Land and PLOTS properties. The PLOTS properties in this unit have been productive in recent years because there’s typically a large number of them. Landowners will often put attached properties into the PLOTS program during the same year, providing some substantial pieces of huntable property. Although Unit 11-A is part of North Dakota’s Slope Region, it doesn’t exactly fit typical Slope Region characteristics. It does have some rolling hills and short grass prairies, however steep ridges, badlands buttes and even some small wetlands can be found throughout the unit. There are a lot of rivers and creeks in this unit, and some major ridges that you may have to find a way to maneuver around.

With I-94 forming the unit’s northern border, there’s no shortage of motels, RV parks and campgrounds in and around the various towns. Along the southern border, New England is a decent sized town with a campground, RV park, motel and restaurant. There are some bed and breakfast locations somewhat centrally located in this unit as well. Since there aren’t any state parks or WMAs in this unit, opportunities to camp away from towns are limited. Mandan and Bismark just northeast of this unit provides any supplies, sporting goods and lodging needs you may have. You can really take your pick and stay wherever is closest to property you plan to hunt. If you’d like a change of pace, take a break from hunting at the Prairie Knights Casino and Resort along highway 24 near Lake Oahe.