Tips on hunting the thick stuff?

Hunt with a partner, check the wind direction. In my experience, when bumping animals in the thick pines, elk run forward toward the "next" safe spot BUT deer always seem to hook around and run "back" towards the last safe spot they occupied. I have always had luck with elk by pushing loudly through the timber in an attempt to get them moving into the shooter who was posted up at the opposite end of pines. Once they start moving, each hunter will know. Deer on the other hand require a staggered approach where the downwind guy makes the noise and the upwind guy creeps through at a much slower pace. usually the bonus for the downwind guy is that when he gets to the end he turns upwind and watches for animals that may get pushed out from the upwind guy. Very similar to pheasant hunting in the fact that most shots occur at or near the end of the cover. A few passes through those timber benches and you will have the escape routes pegged which then allows you to set up shooters at specific spots. Good luck!!

I don't have a ton of experience hunting elk as this will only be my 3rd year doing so. Last year we got into some thick pines and after hiking over downfall and everything else for awhile we sat down and just listened. About 10 minutes later my brother spotted some elk down below going back and forth from new growth to old growth. Didn't see a bull but saw cows and calves. We started moving towards them and got to within 40 to 50 yards of some cows. Eventually they must have winded us and took off but I was surprised it wasn't sooner because at that point in the hunt we weren't exactly clean. Like I said we didn't see a bull but it was an awesome experience just watching the cows and calves so close. Like 3arabians said, don't worry too much about the noise because we weren't exactly quiet and after we sat down for a while and kept quiet we spotted them.