Area 117 covers the southern Bighorn foothills running between the Worland-Ten Sleep area and the Bighorn front—a transition zone of broken country between the Bighorn Basin floor and the high range. Elevations run from about 4,500 feet on the basin benches to 9,000 feet on the higher foothill ridges. The country is foothill mosaic: sage and bunchgrass on the lower benches, mountain mahogany and juniper on the rocky shoulders, scattered Douglas fir on the cooler aspects, with limber pine and aspen pockets in the wetter draws. Nowood Creek and Tensleep Creek drain through and provide cottonwood-and-willow ribbons along the bottoms. The country has the kind of broken, rocky, shaded terrain mule deer love. BLM holds significant chunks with Bighorn NF on the upper margin and significant private ranch in the foothills. The HMA and Walk-In programs add private access. US-16 and county roads frame the access. Worland and Ten Sleep are the supply towns; Manderson is a smaller waypoint. Cell service is fair on US-16. Mule deer in the foothill mahogany and breaks—this is classic broken-country muley habitat where the bucks live in the mahogany year-round. Antelope on the lower sage benches, elk in the upper timber. The country is overlooked compared to the high mountain units and pressure stays manageable.