I haven't hunted there before at all, sorry. I have seen elk coming up from Lander over South pass. I remember looking at the regs and saw it wasn't general and cursing. They weren't very far off the highway. That would probably be where I started looking (South Pass to the east of the highway). I can't remember what time of year it was. As far as soil goes, it varies a lot, but the benches and higher areas tend to be sandier with some clay, and the river beds tend to be silty. Silt doesn't really gum up or stick too bad, it is the bentonite and clay that generally do that. The Red Desert probably has more bentonite spots, but I would guess they are spotty and could be avoided. They are pretty obvious when you see the spots that don't grow anything and just look like grey toothpaste. I personally rarely use chains because I hate tearing up roads like that. It surely doesn't hurt to have them for sure. Plus I tend to go into the mountains which tend to be rockier and aren't too bad to get around in even with some snow. South pass flats I would say would be sandier in general, but I am sure there are gummy spots to prove me wrong. The Red Desert area (100) was famous for some monsters, but a few years ago the herd got into some feed that killed a lot of them. I am not sure that they have recovered, but I am sure there are some good ones in that area. I don't know a lot about the area, but at least it was some response, sorry about that. Driving through it is a lot of sagebrush and open country with the exception of South Pass with benches, draws, gullies, etc. that are good places to look. There are spots of timber stands, especially the closer you get to some water. As far as migration, I really have no clue, sorry. I think there are elk all through that general area with quite a bit of public land, its just that the land doesn't support a whole lot of animals so they don't give out a whole lot of tags I think.
