Steepn
I actually did not feel like there was a lot of pressure down there from other hunters. I'm not saying that we did not have other people around spotting from a lot of the some vantage points that we were, but I did not have any problems. We covered a lot of country by road and by foot and we never ran into anyone while we were on foot.......so keep that in mind.
We had one bull spooked by a shot from a deer hunter. The hunter was 1\2 a mile away when he shot, but the bull we were moving on did not waste any time hitting the timber. We also started a stalk on a bull early one morning and it became obviouse that there were other hunters moving on the bull as well. They were in a better position than we were, so we back off and chased elk in another drainage. Turned out to be one of the more memorable outings of the hunt.
To sum it up, there will be a lot of people out spotting, but when you start chasing elk there are only 13 other hunters, so the crowds thin quickly once you step off from the two track. There are also a lot of bulls on the San Juan and when the rut is going, there is no place on earth like it. You will have a fantastic hunt. Spend your summer shooting that smoke pole so when you get your chance, you make the most of it. You will not have trouble finding bulls.
As far as size of the bulls goes, I was not down there last year,( but should be one of the general deer hunters on the blues this year). We saw 4 bulls that we judged to be better than the bull I took. two of those were spotted before the hunt opened when the weather was more cooperative. Point is there were not legit 350 class bulls around ever tree, but they were there and there were bigger bulls as well, we just could not get on them. I set my goal for 350 and I let one go on day one, but couldn't let another go on day 5. You will find that your ability to pass on bulls dwindles with every passing day. So make your first priority to enjoy the moment and everything else will work out.
Keep in touch, if we are going to be chasing deer, we will be happy to keep an eye peeled for ya. Heck, we can just blend into the private army you are gonna bring. (personally I think friends and family are what make the hunt so bring 'em all)