Featuring rugged and remote terrain, this unit holds a good number of elk. Most are found on large private tracts or on remote sectors of public land.

Some elk can survive several seasons on private land, public land where access is blocked by private parcels, and in remote terrain that requires long hikes to reach. Easily accessible high ground is crowded with hunters.

Some of the most remote and rugged terrain in the Lower 48 is in this unit. Almost 5,000 feet deep, Desolation Canyon compares with the Grand Canyon in steepness, and other parts of the unit are extremely rugged and hard to reach. Elevation varies a lot throughout the unit. The bottoms of some steep-sided canyons are below 5,000 feet in elevation. The high country is typically a series of ridges and plateaus that range from about 8,500 to more than 9,000 feet above sea level. The highest point is 10,131-foot Bruin Point. The main drainages are the Green River, Nine Mile Creek, Argyle Creek, and Range Creek. The terrain between the bottomlands, plateaus, and ridges are typically extremely steep mountains and cliffs with a lot of exposed outcroppings and shale slides.

Lowlands are covered with sagebrush, desert grasses, bitterbrush, and greasewood with cottonwoods growing along some dry and running creek and river beds. Middle elevations are covered with sagebrush, pinyon pines, junipers, and oak brush with scattered patches of aspen. High elevations have aspen with north slopes covered in spruces, pines, and firs. Some high ridges are nearly treeless.

Large parts of this unit are inaccessible to motor vehicles. Some terrain is too tough to allow for packhorses or mules, so few hunters even try to hunt some of the wild places. Areas that hunters can reach by vehicle are crowded with hunters, causing most elk to leave for private or public lands where they are seldom bothered, if ever. Private lands impede access to much of the public land. Hunters with access to some private tracts can hunt otherwise inaccessible public land with minimal effort. Parts of the unit are designated as wilderness or wilderness study areas, where no vehicles are allowed. Jack Canyon and Desolation Canyon wilderness study areas cover many thousands of acres near the Green River. Turtle Canyon Wilderness Study Area is in the southern part of the unit near the Range Creek Wildlife Management Area. Hunting is allowed in the Range Creek WMA, but hunters must have an entry permit (limited to 28 per day). Some major access points are Bruin Point Road, Argyle Canyon road, and Nine Mile Canyon Road. Many roads are extremely rough. ATVs come in handy for those roads but may not be used off established trails.

Hunters may camp almost anywhere on public land except on the Range Creek Wildlife Management Area. No fires or camping are allowed on the WMA. Pit toilets are maintained at the mouth of Little Horse Canyon. Motels are available in Price and Wellington but are too far from most public areas where elk are commonly found to be of much use.