Unit 39A

Several low buttes serve as navigation landmarks and glassing platforms: Flat Top Butte, Hinton-Coleman Hill, and Big Foot Hill are prominent enough to use for orientation. Washburn Ridge and Millard Ridge run through portions of the unit, offering modest elevation gain for spotting. Draw systems like Bushnell Draw, Yellow Draw, and Jackrabbit Draw funnel movement and concentrate water during dry periods.

Norbeck Pass and Hughes Pass mark natural travel corridors. These landmarks help break up vast expanses of similar-looking prairie and guide hunters toward likely deer concentrations in creek bottoms and draw heads.

All terrain sits below 3,000 feet, with most country between 1,900 and 2,400 feet elevation. This means no seasonal migration patterns—deer remain throughout the year and hunting pressure is relatively consistent across seasons. The landscape is overwhelmingly grassland and sagebrush plains with essentially no forest cover.

Scattered low buttes like Flat Top Butte and Walker Hill rise from the prairie, offering glassing vantage points. The sparse vegetation makes this open-country hunting where you'll see a long way and animals spot you just as easily. Draws and creek bottoms provide the only shade and thermal cover available.

A fair road network (1.09 mi/sq mi density) provides moderate mobility, but 76% private land ownership limits where hunters can actually go. County roads and maintained ranch roads connect scattered properties and passes. Most hunters concentrate near known water sources and accessible draws rather than spreading across the entire vast unit.

The straightforward, low-complexity terrain means hunters can access much of the country on foot once they find parking. Pressure remains moderate rather than heavy—the combination of private land restrictions and open terrain keeps crowds manageable, but don't expect solitude near known reservoirs or passes.

Unit 39A sprawls across the central South Dakota plains, encompassing roughly 808 square miles of working ranch and grassland country. The unit is bounded by prairie in all directions with no dramatic geographic barriers—it's pure plains terrain punctuated by isolated buttes and draw systems. Nearby towns including Kadoka, Interior, and Philip Junction serve as staging points for hunting trips.

The landscape is characteristic of the high plains transition zone, where short-grass prairie dominates and elevation changes are modest measured in hundreds rather than thousands of feet. Access is facilitated by a network of county roads and private ranch roads connecting these small communities.

Water is the limiting factor in this arid plains environment. West Weta 91 Reservoir, Boocke Reservoir, and Kadoka Lake are reliable points that hold water year-round, attracting deer during dry stretches. Sixteenmile Creek, East Creek, and Deep Creek provide seasonal flow after precipitation, but their reliability varies.

Multiple named draws—Dead Horse Draw, Dugout Draw, Lone Tree Creek—serve as seasonal water sources and movement corridors. Understanding which water sources are active becomes critical, especially during late season. Hunting strategy should center on proximity to reliable water or recent precipitation patterns that activate seasonal seeps.

Unit 39A holds white-tailed and mule deer across its grassland terrain. Both species use draws and creek bottoms for thermal cover, movement corridors, and bedding, making draw systems primary hunting focus. Early season finds deer widely scattered across prairie; concentrate on shaded draws and near water.

Rut timing drives movement as bucks cover vast distances—use buttes and ridges to glass large swaths of country. Late season pushes deer to reliable water and remaining green vegetation, concentrating animals around named reservoirs and perennial creeks. The open terrain demands glassing skills and patience; spot-and-stalk from distance rather than expecting close encounters.

Work draws methodically and plan water sources before heading out. Success depends on reading sign, understanding which draws hold deer, and patience rather than mobility.