Observing Elk Use

[Swede]

I was talking to a good hunting friend this morning about our 2025 hunt. He is basically a good and diligent hunter but was disappointed that he got nothing. Out of the five of us that hunted out of one camp this year I was the only one to get an elk. My friend has a lot of theories about the lack of elk sightings we had from our stands. It's the predators, the moon phase, poor cow bull ratios, etc.
About mid-season he moved to a new area and probably left the best place to try out a location he was really not familiar with. The truth is that few elk are taken early in the season where I hunt. Most start coming around when the rut starts. They are not coming so much for water but following well used trails. They don't hang around but pass by our stands. You must be there at the right time, or you lose.
Know the elk habits makes a world of difference. I was strongly thinking about passing on the first week of the season but enjoy the whole thing too much to pass even though I did not see one elk until the tenth day. For me that was an early kill. It is hard to kill elk that are not there.
I am now questioning if anyone else has observed any elk habits in their hunt area that helps them to fill their tag?

[Lefty]

Years back I had a fellow tell me how some of the old bulls even though he was a herd bull would leave the herd and go hide for the day. I actually watched one bull do that this year and then he was the bull that I got in on when I shot mine. But there were four bulls . On the 25th. The cows were 3/4 of a mile away.