Just look at the number of tags sold for each to get an idea. In the early 2000's I came back from overseas to do an OTC rifle hunt with a buddy. We went to a unit and area that I had never hunted before, and got there a few days early to check it all out. Just looking for a good camping spot was crazy. In some spots there were a dozen or more rigs with horse trailers lined up. Others.......RV's and camps in every nook or pullout off a side road. We eventually went to a totally different area of the unit and found it very vacant. I actually said to my buddy that "there must not be any elk in that area, but I'd rather hunt in solitude regardless". I had an either sex tag and a cow tag and my buddy just had an either sex tag. We hunted solo and I shot a 5-point bull first thing opening morning, and then we got two cows the next day.
The next year we were in there again and it was as crowded as it could get. We camped at the end of a 4wd road where we had solitude the last year, and that morning we counted 27 vehicles along the 1.5 mile stretch. Have no idea what happened or why the difference, but it was ridiculous. I thought to myself "hmmmm I wonder what it's like in here during archery"?
A couple years later I went back for archery.......it was a ghost town, and fantastic hunting. I've hunted there several years since and only once was I disappointed. That disappointment year was pretty crazy. It was like someone was bussing in hunters and there were camps literally everywhere and even right on the shoulders of the main road just getting in there. I left. But then later found out that Huntin' Fool had called out that unit as the best OTC archery unit in the state. Idiots. Interestingly enough, the next year it was almost back to normal, and again great hunting. But there is definitely an ebb and flow with crowds it seems regardless what season you hunt. Overall, you just have to look at the numbers of tags sold for each season to see what is really happening.
