This district is found in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness along the Montana and Wyoming border and just north of Yellowstone National Park. This subunit features some incredibly steep and unforgiving terrain and will make for a challenging hunt for anyone with a tag, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has adopted a backcountry tag for this unit that begins much earlier than most other districts, however, the odds of success will not be any greater. Access into the unit and removing an animal from the backcountry, should a hunter be successful, will be the largest hurdles.

When researching info for the HD385 Bison tag, most hunters will encounter information for the Gardiner basin area due to the sheer amount of bison in that area. Very few bison will be taken from this unit annually, mostly because of the terrain and remoteness. Some good hunting can be found along the southern edge near the Yellowstone National Park border. Livestock will need to be used to pack out the animals the 15+ miles to the nearest trail head.

This district features some of the roughest and most remote country in the state. Hunters in this unit will need to utilize livestock or find a team of guys willing to pack out their buffalo at an extreme distance. Most of the northern end of the unit will be heavily forested with isolated meadows and natural clearings. At the highest elevations, nearly all of the vegetation will give way to massive rock fields. As you progress to the south, look for the majority of the trees to begin to dissipate quickly with large expanses of natural grasses and sage taking over. On the southern end, where most of the bison will be encountered, glassing will be an extremely effective technique.

This district features a very wide array of vegetation ranging from lush creek bottoms to arid peaks. On the northern end of the unit hunters can expect to encounter mature stands of lodgepole, doug fir, red fir, tamarack, and white pine with some sporadic patches of ponderosa pine in lower elevations. Mixed within these stands of timber will be open parks of natural grasses and rock fields. In the highest elevations of the unit thick stands of timber will dwindle down to patches of subalpine fir and eventually succumb to large expanses of rock with very little vegetation. On the southern end of the unit the landscape will make a drastic change as the forested ridges are transformed into rolling hills of natural grasses and rock with intermixed pockets of timber. Traversing the country in this area can also be difficult due to an over abundance of downed timber.

With this district being comprised almost entirely of public lands hunters will not encounter any issues with access. That being said, with the areas inhabited by buffalo lying 15+ miles from any trailhead, hunters should expect to experience one of the most difficult hunts of their lives. Most of the trails accessing the backcountry will take hunters over many thousands of feet in elevation change, extreme distances, and sometimes difficult to navigate areas. Beyond the extreme adventure involved in accessing the hunting grounds, successful hunters will now be faced with an even more daunting task, the packout. Another problem plaguing access for prospective hunters will be the early snows this area commonly experiences as this can certainly shut down any and all travel routes.

Due to the distance of the hunting grounds from any access points, all hunters will be faced with the need to make arrangements for primitive camping. This can be done with wall tents, but ultralight backpacking tents can certainly be options as well. Gear needs will need to be met prior to leaving for the hunt.