Highways 85 and 12 intersect at Bowman, creating the unit’s eastern and northern borders, while the Montana and South Dakota state lines create the western and southern borders of Unit 4A.

The entire unit is part of the state’s primary pronghorn range, making it a desirable unit with a great chance of success.

The unit is part of North Dakota’s badlands region known for its rugged buttes and steep draws. Although the terrain in this unit as a whole is milder than the units north, rougher badlands stretch from the Little Missouri River valley across the unit to the east before they transition into wheatgrass fields and livestock pastures. Big Gumbo Creek forks off the Little Missouri and runs towards Montana, creating a lush creek bottom with lots of watering holes. The Medicine Pole Hills in the center of this unit include some impressive buttes, numerous creeks, and lush grass fields that sustain antelope. Besides the wet creek bottoms, most of this unit is dry, desolate buttes, and fields of native grasses until you reach the eastern side. The creek bottoms support deciduous trees and junipers.

North Dakota’s southwestern-most hunting unit features a variety of terrain including river valleys, croplands, badlands, and enough public access hunting property to sustain a lot of antelope hunters. This unit provides a good combination of private, BLM, State Trust and PLOTS properties. Although most areas in this unit are easily accessible, there are plenty of spots that you cannot drive to. Camp Crook Road runs west of the Little Missouri River from Marmarth south to the South Dakota state line. This road will get you to any spot you’d like to hunt west of the river. Rhame Road runs south of Rhame to the South Dakota state line on the east side of the Little Missouri, and is a good road for accessing most areas east of the river. Highway 85 forms the eastern boundary of the unit, while Highway 12 forms the northern boundary. Both these highways will get you to good access points throughout the unit. There are a lot of trail roads and decent unmarked roads that wind through the badlands. The oil industry is active in parts of Unit 4A. Wherever there’s an active oilfield, the roads will be well maintained to accommodate the increased truck traffic. If you don’t want to hike far across difficult terrain, there are plenty of places to park and hunt a few hundred yards from your vehicle.

This unit consists of desolate flats of mixed-grass prairies between badland buttes, canyons, and creek beds. The Little Missouri River supports some smaller patches of deciduous trees -primarily aspen and oak. Creek bottoms throughout this unit are forested with aspen, oak, ash, elm, birch, and juniper. Some of the badland buttes feature cedars as well. Buckbrush thickets are common. The southeast portion of the unit is agricultural property with wheatgrass fields and livestock pastures. With the exception of the Little Missouri River valley and the outlying draws, valleys, and creek bottoms, there aren’t as many groves of trees as there are in the badlands units to the north.

Bowman, at the northeast corner of the unit, provides a number of motel accommodations as well as a variety of restaurants and a sporting goods store. Although Bowman isn’t centrally located, it is a great spot to stay as both major highways in the area come together here. Along Highway 12, Marmarth also has a small motel and restaurant, as well as a campground. If you’re pulling a camper trailer, Bowman is your best spot for an RV park.