For sure "learning your way around" isthe best use for scouting that is done any substantial amount of time in advance of the season. A day or two before the season, checking around the drainages for sign to indicate thatelk are even in that drainage can be a big help for last minute adjustments, you don't even have to see any elk, just their tracks.

For too many people, their first DIY hunting trip is really just a scouting trip with guns with a lot of hope thrown in.

IMO, the nextbest use for scouting, especially well in advance of the season,would be just the joy of romping around up in ones favorite elk countryand expanding on the adjacent territory or exploring newroutes just a bit.

IMHO, success on the opening morning of the seasonis largely governed by knowing what you are looking for and where you are going and knowing the strategy you are going to execute when you get there.... best if all this is done with military precision and in the pitch blackness of early early morning.