A couple things that are the same for me are ( if they haven't been shot at every daylight hour ), where we hunt the elk are always looking over their shoulder ,for someone to shoot at them , especially when we hunted the 4th season,by the time we get there all that was around were the smart fast ones , unless a storm moved some new animals through.I carry a cow elk call on every hunt. You can sometimes stop elk with a loud cow call but I wouldn't count on it. As far as finding them, I think some bulls and many cows are quite curious if they haven't been shot at during every daylight hour for a couple of months. I ran a cow calling sequence(no bugles) in November of this year and got a bull to answer with a weak bugle. Of course I couldn't find him. The next day I ran the same sequence about 400 yards from where I ran the first sequence. I turned my head to drink out of my hydration tube and when I turned back I saw the biggest bull I have seen in that drainage looking right at me. One more second was all I needed. He was gone before I could get the rifle to my shoulder. I never call in rifle season when I know there are people around.