"If you can still-hunt whitetails in the ADK successfully you'll be a natural elk hunter. Just treat them like big whitetails." Brad
That is largely the case, except they are not just big whitetails. Elk are herd animals, and they don't have a tiny one square mile home range. If you blow them out they may go miles and miles. On the other hand, you may be able to catch them...sometimes. Snow is essential to pull that off. First, you can track the to see where they went, but more importantly, when you start to catch up, you can read their behavior. When they start to meander and nibble on grouseberry and the like, they are near ready to bed. Look sharp you may already be in their boudoir.
Having started my own big game hunting career in the Adirondacks, I know what the country is like. Deer were pretty scarce then, it is better now. I adapted my dark timber hunting technique from my tracking and still-hunting North Country technique. When I got out here hunting elk, I was always behind the horse hunters. The elk were not in the meadows, but were in the timber by the time I got there, so I started going deep into the timber, tracking them to bedding areas, and learning where they went. Once you find them and start to get close, that is when "If you can still-hunt whitetails in the ADK successfully" comes into play. And also when you really need the binocs to look for pieces of elk in the timber. I use 8X32 and they are plenty for that and a lot of other glassing. Bright glass is good in the dark timber. I prefer the smaller size - enough other junk hanging off me as it is. If you are looking long, a scope is best.
Your footwear sounds fine to an old ADK hunter. Good early season leather boots, but pacs you may need for cold weather. I am still using my old LL Bean pacs with the airbob soles in snow.
Elk are nothing like whitetails and they are a lot like whitetails. Once you hunt them you will get hooked. After your first trip you will start refining gear.
WyoCoyoteHunter - I think I see why your average shots are longer than mine.
Good luck ADK
The point was, not that they're exactly the same, but if you can still hunt whitetails you can figure out elk.
Me, I don't hunt "herds", I look for individual bulls or small bachelor groups. I prefer to catch them out in the open feeding, but I've also tracked them to their beds and shot them there, both with and without snow... while snow makes it easier, it's by no means impossible to do without snow.
