Goose,
I have no real experience in unit 25 et.al. but ask this question: Do you want to be sitting with only a cow tag when a 300 inch bull pushes a cow in front of you at 20 yards? It is unlikely to happen, but it can. the nice part about the OTC archery tags is they are either sex. So really I would look at it as paying only a little extra for a chance to shoot a bull.
So in unit 25, I have backpacked a lot of it over the summer. It is great/beautiful country. There are 2 things to consider. Do you want to back pack in a couple miles or hunt more from the truck? Realize that packing in will mean fewer public land hunters, but there is also going to be outfitter with camps.
For me I would look at 3 distinct areas in Unit 25... I would look at areas around sweat water lake (likely to be the most crowded), then the areas and the drainages directly south of Sheep Mountain, I would also look closely at Red Dirt Canyon area.
I feel way too many people focus on the forest. What I call the Hollywood effect of elk hunting. The Sweat Water and Sheep mountain areas will look like the country dreams are made of... It is country seen in the Bugle Magazines and on the shows etc. It has good animals and good potential, but there area ton of elk in Colorado that never step foot into "Dark Timber and Aspen" I would venture to bet that there are not nearly then number of hunters who will end up in some of the lower country (BLM) closer to the river.
Good luck. I have not ever hunted the unit, but if I was hunting it, I would head the drainages around Sheep first, then to Sugar loaf 2nd down to river then sweatwater area last. that is more about hunting pressure. Also the area just below turret peak is really cool.
