In your situation, I would consider applying for the first rifle season, either sex or bull tag, with a second choice of a cow tag. To me the first season (elk hunters only, no deer hunters, elk at the tail end of the rut) is the premier season for elk. If you don't pull an either sex or bull tag, in most areas it is almost a lock to get a cow tag as a second choice, and you would still get a preference point for next year.

Since elk are so mobile that "elk are where you find them" a good area that holds lots of elk this week may be empty next week. That makes a drop camp on public land a crap shoot. Also, any outfitter that tells you that it is better hunting on public land in his area than private, I would not trust, unless you get a confirmation from a DOW official. That is NOT true 98% of the time. As stated above, I think you should look into some private land tresspass hunts. Usually eaiser hunts with a higher success rate. That said, a drop camp is probably better than camping at the trailhead and hiking in every day.

Here is a useful link: http://wildlife.state.co.us/Hunting/BigGame/Statistics/ The "hunt recaps" has been the most useful to me as a nonresident. When you figure out a unit that you are interested in, click on elk, then scroll down to the unit code that you are interested in. On the far left, they give you the number of general tags availble. On the far rightare the numbers of resident and nonresident hunters that applied broken down with how many had how many preference points. Of course with elk, except for the draw only units that you would not be able to draw except withno points, the main thing you will be looking for will be the first and fourth rifle season. As you stated, the 2nd and 3rd are OTC.

Now remember that the percentage for nonresidents is only 35% of the tags in the primary drawing. However, if there areleftover tags after the primarydrawing, then you have a50/50 chance regardless of residence.

So, lets say that you decide you want to hunt unit XYZ and there are 100 tags available. And lets say there are over 100 people that aplly for those tags. That means that nonresidents get at most35 of them. Now look at the nonresident preference points coloums at the right. There are 2 rows of numbers. Starting at the left on the top line, the number in that slot are the number of residents with 0 points. The next to the right 1 point, the next to the right 2 points, etc. Go to the last slot that has at least 1. Start counting from this number to the left until you get to 35. Now figure out how many points it took to draw. It is easier than it sounds once you figure out the system.

For example, for the following set of numbers:
23 17 0 12 2 0 0
0 0 0 0 000
2+12+17 = 31 so all of these guys were drawn. After them, there are 4 more tags to be drawn, so out of the 23 people with0 points, 4 of them were drawn. So with can say that last year, everyone with1 points or more were drawn and you had a small chance with 0 points.

HOWEVER, as stated above, nonresidents get AT MOST 35 tags. That means you have to look at the resident preference points too. Count backwards also starting from most preference points to least. In my example above, if residents had 80 people applying with 2 or more points, then residents will get 80 tags and it will take at least 2 points for a nonresident to draw. The 65/35 means that nonres. are CAPPED at 35% in the first choice draws, but residents are not. They could get 100% of the tags if they have the most points. Looking at that another way, if there are only 65 nonresidents applying and none of them have preference points, they will still get 65 tags even if all the nonresidents had preference points.

Now, after you have figured out where you are going to hunt and have gotten in the best shape of your life, imagine butchering a full grown elk 5 miles from the nearest road. Can you quarter/debone a cow sized animal. Then how are you going to transport it the five miles back to the car without it getting too hot or covered with dirt? In one sense, the drop camp is better because they usually pack out your elk for you, however, they only check on you every 2-3 days, so what if you kill one and it is 80 degrees (not unheard of ). Again, private land tresspass hunts usually have better accessablitiy when you get one down.

Good luck and watch out, you will get additcted!