I've seen elk in the Cow Creek drainage within the past few weeks. I would also recommend hunting on the south side of the White River and north of Kendall Mountain (there is large sections of BLM). I seen bulls in that area last fall and winter. Most of the elk will head towards Dry Fork of Piceance and north to Kendall PEak as pressure increases. I work in the oil field in this area and things have changed but the elk are still hanging in there and we will see how it shakes out.
I hunt there as well. My tip is to look carefully at the BLM map and get down in the roughest/steepest country you can physically get into, and as close to private property as you can.....then hold out for a 280" bull because getting any elk out of there will just about kill you.....so hold out and hunt hard and you'll be rewarded nicely! Find the look-out points and glass steep draws with mixed dark timber w/o tromping around....then go after one with the right wind. I go solo with a 3 Day pack and don't come out until I've tagged out. Thankfully in the past 3 years, I've tagged out in the first 2 days (then a solid 24hours of packing out on my back!). I drew a 1st season rifle this year. There are 310"+ bulls in there and I'll be hunting a monster this season (a monster for CO BLM I should say)
crcountry