Unit E5

The Little Badlands and Coteau du Missouri provide the unit's most recognizable terrain features. Key navigation landmarks include White Butte and Doaks Butte for orientation, with numerous smaller buttes like Mud Buttes, Camel Buttes, and Rattlesnake Buttes offering glassing vantage points. Major water features include Lake Trenton, Lake Tschida, and Buffalo Springs Lake as reference points.

The McClusky Canal and various reservoir systems (Edward Arthur Patterson Lake, Pretty Rock Lake) provide both water and visual markers. Creeks like Bull Creek, Coal Mine Creek, and Horse Creek define drainage corridors useful for navigation and access planning.

The landscape transitions gradually from lower prairie grasslands around 800 feet in the east to slightly elevated badland benches approaching 3,400 feet in the west. The habitat is predominantly open prairie and grassland with scattered patches of cottonwood and willow in creek bottoms and badland draws. Sagebrush flats intersperse the grass, and ponderosa-covered slopes appear on some north-facing breaks.

There's minimal forest cover overall—the country is defined by rolling grass, eroded badland formations, and scattered timber corridors along major drainages rather than dense timber.

Well-developed road networks crisscross E5 with approximately two miles of road per square mile, creating straightforward access from multiple directions. Small towns like Trenton, Ray, Rhame, and Bentley serve as logical staging points with services and accommodations. Most access is via county roads and ranch roads requiring landowner permission, typical of this agricultural landscape.

The high road density means hunters can reach most country relatively easily, which concentrates pressure along major corridors and near accessible public sections. Finding less-hunted areas requires scouting ranch access and understanding water locations that draw animals.

E5 encompasses the majority of northwestern North Dakota, stretching across vast prairie grasslands and badland breaks. The unit spans from the Missouri River drainage west through Mountrail, Williams, McKenzie, and Dunn counties, covering one of the region's largest hunting areas. The terrain is predominantly private agricultural land interspersed with public sections and reservoir areas.

Low relief characterizes most of the unit, with badland formations and creek drainages providing the primary topographic variation. This is working ranch country, not remote wilderness.

Water is notably abundant across E5, with lakes and reservoirs scattered throughout providing reliable hunting-season sources. Major reservoirs include Lake Trenton, Lake Tschida, Buffalo Springs Lake, and numerous smaller impoundments. Seasonal water is abundant in sloughs and coulees during wet periods.

Permanent creeks like Bull Creek, Coal Mine Creek, Teeter Creek, and Horse Creek flow through badland draws and provide reliable water corridors. The unit drains toward the Missouri River with multiple tributary systems. Water access is rarely a limiting factor for hunting here, though seasonal fluctuations affect reliability in smaller drainages.

Elk in E5 are primarily found in badland breaks, creek bottoms, and cottonwood corridors rather than open prairie. The scattered, modest elevation changes mean elk use drainage systems for cover and movement rather than migrating between distinct elevation zones. Early season hunting should focus on water sources and shaded draws where animals concentrate during heat.

Rut season activity centers on badland basins and creek drainages where patches of cover allow animals to move between feeding areas. Late season elk shift to protected south-facing slopes and dense draw bottoms. Success requires boots-on-ground scouting to identify ranch access points and understanding which landowners permit hunting on their private ground.