Originally Posted by
Big Uncle
SCHL4444 - In my experience the normal elk habitat is often up behind the ranches on public land. In the places there I used to elk hunt the elk would graze, water, and sometimes bed on the ranches but usually headed up the mountain to bed. I only know one ranch that lets hunters cross the private land to have easier access to the public land for a fee of $750, but only if they had finished their guided hunts for the year, only if the hunter was someone that they had met in the past, and it is in a max point unit to boot.
This has been my experience as well. Good elk country is often good elk country because it doesn't see a lot of traffic. If you're averse to paying often exorbitant trespass fees as I am, that often means you won't get to it unless you can find a legal and often difficult public access onto that ground the other side of the landowner's lockup, or you hunt wilderness areas. Unfortunately, if you choose the former, be prepared for confrontations with the "guides" using the landowner's property. If you run into them they're not going to like you being back there after they've paid good money to limit the easy access.