Depends on where I'm hunting and if I have a bull or cow tag.
1st Season
The elk are not too spooked from archery and blackpowder in most areas, but some areas they can be. So if the elk are there a couple days before they'll usually be in the same area opening day/weekend. If a guy is looking for a mature bull then this is usually (but far from always) the best bet. First season can be warmish--especially the last 15+ years or so, rarely is there tracking snow If they get pushed around, they can be harder to find. Ya' got 5 days to find them. First season is draw only, and for the units that are all limited license, I'm not going to wait around to accumulate that many points when there are other options for a decent bull.
2nd Season
Weather tends to be cooler, but the moon is often out during that time period. Because the 1st season is limited license, the elk often are not yet too spooked, but between archery, blackpowder, and first season, they have a darn good idea what going on, and some have already gone to ground in the hellholes and private land. Better chance of snow but again not like what it used to be. By Tue or Wed in many units a lot of hunters are out of the woods for 2-3 days and that can make for better hunting. One good thing is the elk tend to be in hidey holes on public lands in the dark timber or the hellholes. So now they are more concentrated and a guy can have a better chance of finding elk. As I've said many times on here, most places I've hunted in the west, for every elk we glass out in the open with our high dollar optics, there's 10 more in the timber. But now that the leaves are gone they are easier to spot in the timber
I learned to hunt the elk jungles from the time I started following my dad hunting 55 years ago so I'm perfectly good with it. Some elk hunters seem to never figure it out.
