Personally, I mainly look for wilderness areas. This way I don't have to compete with any road hunters, and I know I can walk in just as far or farther than anybody else to find elk. Then I look at the harvest rate stats for the past three years or so just to get a feel for what is or was there. Then I narrow it down further by looking at topo maps, and google earth, and finally talking to wildlife officials, and or DNR, and even locals.