I hunted 7 this last year and lucked onto a great piece of property. My Dad and I did ride into public via a trailhead one day. After a short, 4 mile ride, I took off. I saw elk, and even bulls, but I saw boot tracks a half dozen times even though I was hunting away from the trailhead. I probably got 7 miles from the trailhead at one point and still saw boot tracks. And only one bull bugling all day.
The private was off the hook IMO.
And the female biologist for 7, I think outta Casper, misled me last year. I talked to her as the application deadline was approaching. She told me that if I got a tag she's point me to a spot or 2 where I could use my horses to get away from people and into elk. As I remember, the quote went like this, "If you get drawn, I'll point out a few places on public where you won't see anyone else and will be into elk. Others I sent there said they didn't see any other hunters."
3-4 days after the draw, the quote was more like this, "This is my first year on the unit. I did fly it twice this winter and can tell you where I saw elk."
Thankfully my Dad was able to come up with a couple of good ranches, reasonable and we had a good hunt. Thus I applied for 7 again this year, someone has to draw.