If you are booked with Tenderfoot I can't imagine you not having a great experience. I've never hunted with them but I hunt by myself out of the same trailhead as one that they hunt out of. I visit with at least some of them every year, mainly on the Friday before first season. Fred is one heck of a nice guy. They always are packing out bulls at the end of the week. If it were me I would do exactly as they say-even out of their drop camps. I seem to see some of the same guides year after year. I'm sure they know elk, and I'm positive they know the area. You are in great hands.
With that said, lots of elk in 54 have permanently moved to private property, in my opinion. It is not unheard of to drive the valley floor in the middle of the summer and see 300-600 elk on the private ranches. It's mostly one ranch.. It is a phenomenon that has increasingly got worse every year for the past 10 or so. If you don't have pack animals, I'm sure there are much better areas. Even with them, you will have to actually hunt for them. The guy going with Tenderfoot will see and most likely get an elk. Those guys are a good outfit. On your own? a whole other story. It used to be a terrific hunt. Now it is so so. I still put in, but mainly because I remember what it used to be, not for what it is now.