Elk scouting success. So I think

I went for about an 8 mile hike, there and back, scouting for elk. At about 2 miles from the trial head I started to see several sets of deer tracks and elk tracks, even found 3 old elk rubs. After the trail went from a decent logging road to a single track horse trail at best, about 2.75 to 3 miles back, I started to loose the trail, but picked up more elk sign. So I found a neat bench connecting two thick north facing gullies, thick with tall timber, and a maze of small south facing meadows. When the wind gusted up one of the gullies I got a smell of this very musty, gamey smell I assume is elk. This pushed me to pursue father off the trails and along this pencil ridge to a bench. The bench sits about 7100', 1000' feet short of the Mtn. that it makes up the other side. the top meadow on this bench was full with beds and scat, I found what looked like a horse trail coming up from one of the timber gullies and followed it up a little bit more thinking it was another hiking trail I could use to get father back to my e-scouted spots. But I was stopped by two wallows on this bench. The main one was dug about 1 to 2 feet into the up hill side of the bench the smaller one was more of just a puddle. When I found this I was ecstatic, the sign was a lot more than I anticipated, even though I talked to a mtn. biker who said he sees elk and deer up there quite regularly until October. However, with all the beds on the bench, would it be smart to hike up to that wallow early in the morning? Or to not risk bumping elk in the dark should I stage up early lower on the trail and wait until shooting light to navigate the meadow/timber edge and hunt my way to the wallow?

You have to play the thermals. Thermals usually are coming down until mid morning. If you're above the animals trying to ambush at the wallow the thermals are running down right to the animals. Want to be below the animals in the morning, listen to them and let them tell you where they are and how you attack depends on wind. Keep that puffer in your hand at all times.

The pesky wind. I didnt like today how the wind would swirl bad lower on the bench. It didnt seem as bad on the bench. I was doing some reading, but can not seem to read anything explaining why the beds would be in the middle of the meadow. I know they are probably bedding mid day down one of the gullies so are these meadow beds used at night?

Quite often I've watched elk move up from creek beds in the morning and work their way to grass on the higher benches and then simply move to good security in the trees next to the grass where they would have security while they lay down and chew their cud. After a couple of hours of chewing their cud they'd carefully move to the edge of the grass and graze and then move back to the trees and lay chewing their cud again. They'd keep this up until a little before sunset when they'd either move to the water or the open grass. If it were me I'd find a good spot above a creek, along a well used trail (with recent tracks), and setup an ambush until around 10AM, then I'd still-hunt my way up toward the grass and keep a sharp eye out for elk that are laying in heavy cover. I'd move to a good spot that is between the water and the grass but close enough to the grass to see in to the trees along the edges and wait out the rest of the day.

feed...bedding area at first hint of light....feed again nearby 2pmish till dusk back down to feed.

People say that elk can't see red or green light very well so if you are going in there well before shooting light I'd say staying downwind and using a red or green light to hike in there should give you a good chance of not spooking them too early.

My plan, thus far, is to start out early in the morning, before daylight, slowly walking up the closed logging road. I was going to snake my way up the logging road and start at first light just below the bench on the logging road trying to catch any bulls coming up from the lower meadows and overgrown logging cuts, I also saw some deer tracks coming up that way from the ag fields so maybe I will get a crack at one of them if the elk don't show up. If I don't get any bulls bugling at first light working their way up then I will hunt my way up and around the bench to where I can glass down onto the wallow and some small meadows that meet dark timber. At what point I can just glass and wait out the mid day wind swirl well above the elk until coming back down to sit at the wallow or edge of the dark timber in the mid afternoon.

I just hope I don't run into other hunters. The spot is not one that shows up well on google due to logging activity that ended in the last year or two and the walk fairly easy, but long, about 3 to 4 miles from where you can park your truck.

Just be prepared with a back up plan,its going to happen on public land.