July 4th has always been my target date. I believe the elk will be back in the same general area in mid september as they are in the first part of july. It seems to work for me.
I get out probably mid june and then scout for a couple days and mark areas on the map and gps for a later date. I try to find a couple good areas early that way if my area im hunting is getting a lot of pressue ill move to my back ups.