Hello all, I just moved back to Washington and am going to try for archery elk this year, if you could please publicly display the GPS coordinates to all your honey holes, myself and hordes of other idiots sure would appreciate it,

Actually I'm not looking for anyone's secret hunting spot, I'm coming into this elk season pretty green for elk hunting and even greener for knowing the area. I figure I will spend this season (and probably many many more) mainly scouting while I hunt (read flounder around the woods) and figure things out.
What I would like to know is East or West? How is access on the westside these days, I have heard and read all sorts of horror stories about weyerhauser locking the gates and charging fee's and now its darn near impossible to access a lot of land that we used to have the ability to hunt.
what area should a newbie head to, to at least see some animals while hunting? I'm not concerned with antlers and would be more than elated to even cleanly miss a cow let alone tag one.
thanks in advance.