Man, this is a long thread. Not sure what I write will stand out much, but worth a shot for your consideration. This may not be the focus of the thread, but is a tactic that has helped me gain good harvesting opportunities on a per day basis, rather than a per season basis.
We all scout maps looking for terrain, benches, fingered ridges, water, feed...the whole gambit. Every time I feel skunked by elk in an area where the sign says they're present, I take a look around me and ask "Where
wouldn't I want to go?". It might be a drainage or exposure that's crazy steep, brushy, etc., but it's still in the general area of sign. Granted, this is hunting areas where previous information from others is nil (I hunt the jungles of NW Montana and very few hunters open their mouths about honey holes around here, including myself).
It seems stupid, and 5 times out of 10 I end up thrashing brush in the middle of nowhere with limited sign, racing back to camp in the late afternoon for the truck and a cold beer because of what seemed a wasted day in the field. However I don't consider this a waste of time...at least I know where they aren't. The other 5 out of 10 times have taken me to some crazy good spots and provided plenty of opportunities I otherwise wouldn't have come across. Maps and aerials don't show you that little 20-yard bench in the middle of a 3000-foot, 35/40-degree slope that has water, food, and bedding/security - you know, that slope that you look at and say "there's no way an elk is in that stuff, it doesn't match their habitat". Similarly, that 500-1000 foot hole in the mountain surrounded by cliffs..."why would an elk go there...they're trapped if a predator comes in!". Or that helpless corncob dry maze of second growth clearcut pines/firs adjacent to where the elk "should" be? I just described three of my favorite and most opportunity-productive spots.
You just don't find those spots until you stumble across them, and then the network of elk trails and patterns show themselves. Once you can figure out a pattern, your odds for an encounter go WAY up. I hate to say it, but pre-season summer scouting seems to show "where the elk were" (once you hit the season), not where they are during the hunting season. The only way to find elk during hunting season is to find out where they truly are, not where they'd been. It took me awhile to accept this fact, and it sucks, because it requires "in-The-Season scouting" when you feel you should have your hunt strategy down already...
I changed my tactics after reading a great short story by a local author named Roland Cheek in a book named "The Ghost of Harriet Lou" - a great read if you have the time. He wrote a story called "Angel Basinitis" that was well written and is true to what I'm writing. When many hunters can't find the elk and gain opportunities, they tend to resort to the ol' standby areas that are pleasant to be in.. Angel Basin kind-of-places...not the hell holes that we humans aren't comfortable in. Darn it if that isn't where I usually find elk on public land...
I know this is "needle in the haystack" methodology. I wish I had a better method to go by, but this seems to work in the jungle...