We report a new analysis protocol for HCN hyperfine data , based on the PySpecKit package \citep b7 , and results of using this new protocol to analyze a sample area of 7 massive molecular clumps from the CHaMP survey \citep b1 , in order to derive maps of column density for this species . There is a strong correlation between the HCN integrated intensity , I _ { HCN } , and previously reported I _ { HCO ^ { + } } in the clumps , but I _ { N _ { 2 } H ^ { + } } is not well-correlated with either of these other two ‘ ‘ dense gas tracers ’ ’ . The four fitted parameters from PySpecKit in this region range over V _ { LSR } = 8–10 km/s , \sigma _ { V } = 1.2–2.2 km/s , T _ { ex } = 4–15 K , and \tau = 0.2–2.5 . These parameters allow us to derive a column density map of these clouds , without limiting assumptions about the excitation or opacity . A more traditional ( linear ) method of converting I _ { HCN } to total mass column gives much lower clump masses than our results based on the hyperfine analysis . This is primarily due to areas in the sample region of low I , low T _ { ex } , and high \tau . We conclude that there may be more dense gas in these massive clumps not engaged in massive star formation than previously recognized . If this result holds for other clouds in the CHaMP sample , it would have dramatic consequences for the calibration of the Kennicutt-Schmidt star formation laws , including a large increase in the gas depletion timescale in such regions .