Thanks for the reply. 680 stands out because it only allows 15 bowhunters, draw odds are like one in 13. All the other north breaks units (620, 630, etc.) allow 100-200 bowhunters, and those units you hunt allow unlimited bowhunters and wind up with 500 or 1,000 guys running around. My first thought was that there weren't a lot of elk there, but for rifle tags 680 allows about the same number as the other breaks units, so the elk must be there.

I still have to get hold of the biologist out of Havre, seems like he's out surveying game this time of year and I haven't caught up with him yet.

Anyhow, my thinking, purely theory mind you, is that if only 15 guys are running around in September in 680, as opposed to 100 or 1,000 in other districts, maybe those 680 bulls are less shy about calling. I like the idea of chasing those breaks monsters, I've done some hiking in 620 and in 410 during the summer, but if they won't bugle it really knocks a lot of the flavor out of the hunt in my opinion.

In my honey holes in western MT, the bulls don't live to the same advanced ages so aren't as big as the breaks bulls, but even so I've seen 6 PY bulls in 3 years of bowhunting (the biggest was a 340ish monster that is a whole other story). Also, these bulls I hunt are far enough back that they still bugle a lot. I'm really mixed on going to the breaks if the bulls won't bugle, even if 350-400 bulls grow on trees out there.

Anyhow, if you hunt 700 tell me, do the elk densities drop off as you head east away from the 'Shell? How are elk densities around that Hell Creek area? I drove all the way over to Jordan one weekend a couple years ago to drive in to Hell Creek and hike out into the breaks. Unfortunately, the skies opened up as I drove in to Jordan, and my Geo just doesn't do gumbo clay so I was screwed.