HD 652 covers the country in the upper Tongue River drainage around Birney and the country running west toward the Northern Cheyenne Reservation boundary—a smaller, more pine-break dominated unit than HD 650. Elevations run from about 2,800 feet on the Tongue River bottom to 4,000 feet on the higher pine-covered ridges. The country is the textbook SE Montana mosaic: cottonwood gallery forest along the Tongue River, scattered ponderosa pine and Rocky Mountain juniper breaks on the surrounding ridges, sandstone outcrops, sage-and-grass benches, and dryland wheat on the higher rolling country. Mule deer use the timbered breaks; whitetail concentrate in the Tongue bottom; pronghorn on the open prairie; some elk filter through from the surrounding pine-break country; turkeys (Merriam's) in the pines. BLM tracts scatter through, DNRC state checkerboards, and the bulk is private ranchland; the Northern Cheyenne Reservation borders the west and reservation ground is closed to non-tribal hunters without tribal permits. Block Management is essential. Limited road access—the Tongue River Road (MT-314) and a network of county dirt routes handle the back country, gumbo when wet. Birney is barely a place—essentially the school and a few houses; Ashland is north on US-212 with gas; Miles City is the supply town. Cell service is essentially gone. The country sees light pressure compared to the public-land units of the southwest, and a hunter willing to walk BMA tracts or BLM ground in the breaks can find quality animals.