Unit 106

The unit's strongest navigational anchors are its water features. Hollibar Lake, Boris Lake, Bullhead Lake, and Cisco Lake provide obvious reference points for orientation and glassing. Johnson Springs and the White River Flowage offer reliable water access and mark drainage systems that funnel through the unit.

Mud Creek, North and South Fish Creek, and the South Fork White River are named drainages worth studying for travel routes and stand placement. Bibon Marsh and Ino Swamp are productive edge habitat zones. These features are far more useful for navigation than elevation changes; water is your map here.

The entire unit sits in the lower elevation band, ranging from roughly 580 feet to just under 1,400 feet, with most terrain clustered around 900 feet. This low-elevation forest supports a mixed hardwood and conifer canopy; roughly 55 percent is forested plains (flat or gently rolling terrain with significant tree cover) while the remaining 45 percent is open or partially open prairie, agricultural land, and cleared areas. The forest patches are dense enough to provide excellent whitetail habitat, particularly where timber edges meet open ground or water.

Swamps and wetlands pepper the landscape, creating natural travel corridors and bedding areas for deer.

Road density is high at 3.04 miles per square mile—among the densest access networks in Wisconsin. This reflects an active road system that allows vehicles to penetrate most of the unit. Major highways and secondary roads provide multiple entry points, but 83 percent of the land is private, which is the critical constraint.

Public land is scattered in small blocks, requiring advance scouting to identify legal access. High road density means other hunters can reach productive areas easily, but also that you can efficiently cover ground and set up near known deer movement corridors. Early season typically draws more pressure on accessible edges.

Unit 106 occupies roughly 300 square miles in northern Wisconsin's lake-dotted forest belt. The unit spans from the Mason area south and east through hardwood and conifer country typical of the region's transition zone between intensive forestry and wild forest. Multiple small towns (Mason, Minersville, Marengo, Sanborn) provide staging points and services.

The terrain is characterized by gentle topography—nothing steep or dramatically elevated—creating a landscape where elevation changes are subtle but water features are the dominant geographic anchors.

Water is abundant and distributed throughout the unit. Beyond the named lakes and flowages, perennial streams include Mud Creek, Spring Creek, Pine Creek, and several Fish Creek branches that provide reliable flow even in drier periods. Seasonal marshes (Bibon and Ino Swamp) are productive during hunting seasons.

Johnson Springs ensures fresh water in a specific drainage. The high water feature density means you're rarely far from reliable water for camp or drinking. Swamp edges are natural deer concentration zones, particularly during early and late season when deer use these wetter areas for cover and food.

Unit 106 is whitetail country, period. The mixed hardwood-conifer forest with extensive wetland edges creates textbook Wisconsin deer habitat. Early season hunters should focus on forest openings, marsh edges, and the transition zones between dense timber and semi-open country where deer feed at dawn and dusk.

Rut season (mid-November) concentrates movement along established travel corridors—the named creeks and drainage systems are travel highways for searching bucks. Late season, when snow pressure builds, the swamps and dense conifer patches become holding cover. Road access means you can efficiently scout and move to follow deer movement without long walks.

Water features are abundant, so hydration isn't a limiting factor.