HD 600 covers the country between the Tongue and Powder rivers in SE Montana—Custer Gallatin NF Ashland District timber, ponderosa pine breaks, sage prairie, and the upper Mizpah Creek drainage. Elevations run from about 2,800 feet on the river bottoms to 4,500 feet on the higher pine-covered ridges. The country is the textbook SE Montana mosaic, but with bigger continuous timber tracts than most of the surrounding units—the Ashland Ranger District timber forms a meaningful piece of public ground here, and the National Forest pine breaks hold elk and mule deer in numbers that surprise hunters who think of SE MT as pure prairie. Sandstone outcrops, juniper-and-mountain mahogany draws, sage parks, and cottonwood-and-willow corridors along Mizpah and Otter Creeks fill in the rest. Mule deer in the breaks and timbered ridges; whitetail in the bottoms; pronghorn on the open prairie; elk in the National Forest timber; turkeys in the pines. Custer Gallatin NF (Ashland District) provides a real chunk of public access here, with BLM tracts scattered through and significant private ranchland in between. Block Management is essential. MT-39 north-south, the Ashland-Otter Creek road, and a network of forest and county dirt routes handle access. Broadus and Ashland are the supply towns with gas, basics, and cafes. Miles City is north for full services. Cell service is essentially gone. Roads gumbo when wet. This is a real sleeper elk unit by national standards, with quiet country and surprising opportunity for hunters willing to walk Forest Service ground in country most hunters write off as nothing-but-prairie.