Montana's Gates of the Mountains Wilderness Area?

[Kamikazee]

I've been fortunate enough to have logged some time hunting elk up in the Helena National Forest and have had some good encounters. This year we're planning on taking horses up into the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness Area. This will be my 1st time hunting in this part of the Forest. A few weeks ago we tried backpacking into some of the meadows up high but the lack of water started becoming an issue. Reading up on it in a backpackers book it says the meadows will hold water up until the end of June and then it's hit and miss. My question is can you find water up there during rifle season and is there enough water up there to hold elk? I was just curious if anybody has any experience in this Wilderness Area and if so what is their opinion of it?