All I can say is I"ve had a hard time with cows... hunt only the MZ season a few times because I don't care for hords of folks...
Had cow tags and could have shot legal bulls in CO every trip. Never a cow.
The other thing, I learned a long time ago from a resident is throw out deer hunting... you cannot hunt good areas alone.
YOu move as much as needed as fast as needed, assuming you know how to read and age sign, and you never stop to hunt until you find them. Best I can tell they may not be within miles of any given spot, but when you do find em you go from race gear to full on creep mode till you kill or spook em.
I"ve been very lucky in trailing them in mornings after you cut sign, but now and then I"ve been fooled by thermals and bumped them.
SO if I were ever to hunt elk again, it would be set up to be as mobile as possible, cover an area as quick and hard as I could, from different sides/angles, and then move on if no sign.
