Hey Jack, Iv' e never hunted that area, but I was almost there 2 weekends ago on a backpacking trip. We hiked up to Kroenke lake which is between columbia and yale (and a little west). It' s probably 4-5 miles from where you are talking about. Beautiful area! Still nice and green, which is a huge switch from the last few years.

We did see a bunch of elk, maybe 70-80 over the 3 day weekend. I didn' t do a whole lot of scouting though, but I did wake up early each morning and try to find them on the mountain sides grazing. Herd looked in good shape to me, and there were a few really good bulls that I saw.

Good luck, and don' t waste your time trying to fish in Kroenke Lake, it sucked!