There aren't any real "secrets" except for the little hidey holes where elk go after season starts, which no one will reveal to an earnest but unknown guy on the internet if they have any sense. Everybody has maps, satellite programs, GPS. Elk will be where they aren't pressured, where there is feed, water, and security cover. That might be 8 miles into a roadless area on a bench on an awful mountainside, or 1/4 mile off the highway, or in behind a developed subdivision, and especially on big ranches.
Your first hunt is going to be a learning experience. Be mobile and hit different spots until you find elk. Don't get locked into hunting week old sign and hoping elk will come back. Cover ground and pavement and use optics until you find live elk. Then hunt them.
In the late 1990s (320,000 elk in Colorado) there were nearly 9,000 elk in those two units and the overall success was close to 15%.
During the 2015 season, (statewide elk herd, 264,000) 1065 bow hunters who reported they hunted those two units only had a 6% success rate, one of the lowest success rates in the state. The elk herds have been reduced to less than 4700. (CWD, crop damage, etc)
I lived in and hunted unit 18 all during the 1990s and had a 50% success rate but refuse to hunt the units again because of the great influx of bow and ML hunters into the units.. Close and easy access from Denver and for out of state hunters.
Camping is allowed almost anywhere along the roads and many bow hunters have learned to pack in a few miles from the roads and stay in for a week or more.
Extra Cow elk tags (B tags) are still being offed to hunters. I have seen less and less cow elk over the years and have talked to many hunters who never see an elk while hunting.
No doubt there are some elk there but there will also be a lot of hunters as the access is fairly easy to most places.
Even with a lot of dead trees, the forests are thick and hard to see very far to find elk or elk sign. Very few open parks to view animals. With the event of dead trees, the elk have changed their movement patterns to find food and shade.
my best, Paul
Any advice anyone could PM me for this hunt would be greatly appreciated!