Colorado Division of Wildlife will be sympathetic, if its federal lands they will have ZERO recorse when it comes to Federal Lands. They issue the grazing permits for a certain number of animals. Now where I call BS is the Cow/Calf's from several years are counted as one animal. Even though there might be 4 in all reality. Feds want to jump all over the oil and gas industry but will bow down to logging and ranchers. Just wait a couple more years, the road that they built will have a fence and gate across it. Area I have hunted for 15 plus year a rancher tried to gate/fence of the road which they built on public land to section off the grazing area. Which is fine until couple years ago said rancher goes and put a lock on the gate. Turns out, he was trying to sell trespass rights onto FEDERAL Lands. $5000 per Hunter onto land that is yours and mine. Another local that hunts the area called sheriff and the rancher had to remove the lock. But I am sure it will only be a matter of when he tries to pull the same stunt again.
I am sorry that your hunt was impacted by the cows. From the sounds of it you didn't see or harvest an elk? I know bow/Ml is my favorite season. Weather, the rut, along with just the Fall vs. Winter season makes it my favorite.
Now where the issue becomes Division of Wildlife's problem is little more complicated. When the cows eat all the grass up high, then the Elk are forced to find grass lower. So now the White River herd of elk moves into Meeker, in the hay fields. Along with other areas. This in turn pisses the same ranchers off that are abusing the system and causing the elk to move onto the hayfield in the first place. DoW then issues crop damage permits and said rancher gets rid of the problem.
The elk population is approaching where they want it to be at, or else they wouldn't have bumped up the Out of State cow tag price $100. In the past I know a lot of out of state hunters would buy a OTC Bull tag, and pick up a leftover cow tag as a ton of area have them available every year but price keeps going up on that tag.