I'm late to the party but have hunted the west side of West Elk Creek a couple times with an outfitter (Gary Ballard) in a drop camp. I've also hunted Swampy a time or two. The Rock Springs camps are usually full and they hunt all over adjacent area around camp. They do venture up toward Bonfisk but usually stay south - at least when I was there.
Hunting in the gorge will yield elk and some dang nice bulls. But there is no free lunch. I sat on the west rim and watched elk roaming around the gorge one year. I saw over 50 elk and some dang nice bulls. Most have seen the day hunt drill before and are located accordingly.
Two problems readily come to mind: 1. getting out of the canyon with an elk; 2. getting to elk. Have a real good look at the topo map of the area. There is alot of area with quasi-cliffs. You won't be traversing them.
Both problems can be illustrated by a story. The last year I hunted over there, I watched a decent bull directly below me at ~ 1000 yards. I watched him lay down and had his location figured. I called my Dad over to guide me into the area. I got down to within 300 yards of the bull but could not get around an unforeseen stream. Crossing the stream involved dropping off the bank about 6-8 feet and scaling the opposing bank of simialr magnitude. I tried for an hour and couldn't do it. It took me 45 minutes to climb back up the 6-700 yards I came. It was literally like climbing a ladder at 10,000 feet altitude.
The elk are there but require work. Another suggestion I've never shared before - try to get into the very top end of Cow Creek. There are a number of smaller meadows at the top end that sit on the south facing ridge. Dark, steep timber is on the north side and is a 5 second walk over the top. Bulls stay in the timber and pop up over the ridge to eat in those small meadows. Might have seen them do it.
