I live close to the area also and have only hunted it a few times. To me its just to dam hard to hunt a small concentration of elk with a *censored* ton of people unless you scout the area year round, its far more worth it for me to drive another hour or 2 west to actually hunt an area with a good amount of elk. If I cant do that then I either stay home or go deer hunting. Im glad alot of people hunt there because that keeps them away from the areas I hunt.