NWH,
I know we have exchanged a few messages, but thought I would reply to your thread and maybe some of the more experienced "breaks hunters" will chime in. Here is my historical perspective on the "breaks" and this is both from my own experience and my boy in Havre "Rocky" who is one heck of a "breaks" elk hunter, the best out there in this country and one good dude. Anyhow, me and my bro first stepped into thebreaks country in 02' and we had the same reaction as Stubaby, how can this be elk country............suspect you will too.......after running into alot of hunters and some decent elk, we learned from the locals that when Chuck Adams killed his world record at the time, some where around 00' or 01', it was reported to have come out of the public land on the "Breaks" and as a result the hunters exploded in 410 and I mean exploded. We ended up in the "breaks" due to a biologist out of Bozeman and not the Adams hoopla. So, we hunted there from 02 trough 05, drawing like no problem. My bro dropped out in 04 and said no more. Anyhow, there are some big bulls in the "Breaks" and the reason to hunt there is for bone not quality. The quality of the hunt will not be high, but you may see some big bulls. It is hard to get away from the roads as they are through out the unit. You really just can't get that far away from the roads. Also, over the past few years, it is my understanding that they have increased the cow tags and taken out alot of elk over the past few years. This, I have been told has brought the elk numbers down, but suspect there are still some big bulls around. Anyhow, it is a interesting place to hunt, there will be less people this year due to the draw and think bone, not quality. We have since switched to wilderness hunts and will be going back to New Mexico this year. I personally like hunting Montana and will hunt the breaks again some day, but it is a whole different deal than the high country experience. I will PM you another resource to contact. Anyhow, this is my NR perspective, there are others who know more than me and perhaps they will share. Good luck, stay positive and hunt hard. Good luck.
WillPower
"My only regret in life is setting my goals too low"