Well...unit 52 changes every year. Drought, location of quality feed, pre-season cattle drives, weather, rut variances, locations/pockets of elk, and size/quantity of elk. This year: we covered 3 of my spots, inside the wilderness and out, but we never turned up a decent bull, or even a 260" bull for that matter. We spike camped 2 miles from the main road, and then relocated to another spot which was also 2 miles from a main road. So we def hiked our packs all over the place. With the Sat mid-AM weather, and the Tuesday blizzard, which completely shut down the rut, finding bulls/cows was largely an AM spot and stalk idea or an evening ordeal when they came out of the timber to feed/drink on their classic seeps and green spots deep in the cuts. Numerous spots were completely devoid of elk, and they never are, which was also a bit odd. Other spots had numerous scrub/baby bulls, and like most years, you really have to work hard to punch your tag on a decent bull....or have a gang buster rut, which we have had for the past 2 consecutive seasons....and then unit 52 becomes the easiest hunt in the west. We ended up going 1 for 4, with one buddy who never left his tent due to a fast onset of covid. Yes, we could have gone 3-4 with lesser bulls, and not missing a couple chip shots, but I can't wrap my brain around killing small 4x4's and our misses weren't exactly justifiable, but it does happens. I'm eager to hear how the 1st/2nd rifle season worked out. I think my unit 52 hunts are coming to an end. I've hunted piles of that country, and I have cubby hole spots from one end of the wilderness all the way to Ulguin and back....from the unit 4 border out to Banco Julian, all the way to Bighorn Peak over to Brazos. When the rut is on, that place is fun hunt, but it really only works out perfectly 50% of the time. Out of our 10 seasons, I think we've hit it perfectly 5 times. Meaning: we were knee deep into daily rutting scenarios, calling, and charging bulls. The other 1/2 of the hunts have been too hot (1x), blizzard conditions (2x's), bad post-rut but with good weather conditions (1x), post-rut and poor shooting/execution (1x). Is it worth $4k in landowner vouchers, tags, etc?....I guess, but its a tough call. I think there are other place I need to start exploring.