If you find a good bull in September you can be pretty dang certain there are cows not far away too. Try and find water, bedding and food. All close by some level ground without brush for unobstructed breeding. Combine that with the heavy trail use and you are really close. Pay attention to where you are, where you started and where you are going then you don't have to worry about the GPS not working. Just get out there and hunt!
I like to work areas close to the bedding spots in the AM and closer to the food source in the evening. If the canopy is thick I like to spend my mid days close to the water source. Especially after noon while making every attempt to be in my evening spots by 4:00. Once the thermals switch back to going down hill is when I start noticing the evening shift towards feed.
For elk everything revolves around bedding, wind and thermals. If you know where they sleep make sure you are set up in a correct path that does not take the evening down draft toward the bedding spots. Same goes for mid day when you are working the water. Make sure you can get into those watering spots without the updraft of mid-day taking your scent toward the bedding area. Similarly try to be below their feeding zone at first light. If the updraft shifts early - bug out and try again tomorrow or circle wide enough to keep your scent away.
I am a firm believer that those who see elk and those that don't are those who pay attention to wind and those that don't. Elk will accept a certain amount of noise. Even a certain amount of movement. But let the wind change while in stealth mode and they can become ghosts surprisingly easy!
Your scouting to find elk has pretty much been done. Now it is all about finding each zone
(feed, breed, food, drink, escape, sleep and all transitions in-between) that way you can choose your routes according to wind trends and variations. Once you start seeing the same elk regularly then you need to pay attention to passing of time between sightings. We watched an elk for nearly ten years waiting to draw a tag for him. He slept in the same general spot every single day of each archery season. But his feeding, drinking and breeding routine was on a three day cycle. He worked south to west on day one, west to north day two, and north to east day three. Always returning to his common bedding timber within three hours of sun up. Unfortunately we could not draw a tag in ten years and his bedding ground was eventually logged. That year a muzzy hunter took him just north of his old territory. Wife was finally drawn the year after
The point is that scouting is not just seeing elk. It's trying to identify "that" bull and "that" cow. Then putting the whole puzzle together figuring out "their" routine without allowing them to figure out "your" routine! Don't be surprised if you see "that" bull here on Tuesday and "that other" bull there on Wednesday repeat often. Of course this is difficult to do in high pressure areas where other hunters can alter their habits. But it sounds as though you have a dang good start in finding just the right bull in just the right area for that perfect season! When it comes together you'll be saying to yourself, "Man! That wasn't all that difficult after all."
