If one shoots the lead cow they take away a lot of knowledge from the herd as to where to travel for migration etc.You might make it easier to kill the other elk in the herd,but you sure don't do much for the integrity of the herd.
There are thousands of elk hunters in CO that still sit on meadows thinking that is where the elk will come to.Now days, most elk leave open meadows before 1st light and don't move back out until dusk. Better succes is figuring out the routes they normally use and then fade back into the timber 100-200 yards
