The catchment of the Hunte is relatively narrow (its maximum width is about 40 km (25 mi)) and it extends from south to north mainly within the state of Lower Saxony but also to a small extent in North Rhine-Westphalia (counties of Minden-Lübbecke and Herford) for a length of about 110 km (68 mi). The highest point of the catchment area is the Nonnenstein in the Wiehen Hills (275 m above NN), the lowest regions of the catchment lie within the marshes on the lower Hunte (partly below sea level).
By far the largest part of the catchment lies on the North German Plain, so that the Hunte flows mainly through bogs, geest and marshland. A small portion lies within the Central Uplands.