reminds me of a hunt I was on many years ago by lowman idaho.
when driving there the highway follows the river , with the river being the unit boundary . bull elk was open in both units
(33 and 34 if my muddled memory is correct )I had a tag for 33.
anyhow while driving there I spotted a bull elk bedded down across the river on this little bench. he was only in view from the highway for a split second and the you couldn't see him any more. we turned around and glassed him for a moment . chuckling about all the hunters driving right by him, before continuing on to our own hunt .
A few days later when heading home , we stopped again and he was still there . he had found a nice little hidey hole in plain site. most never saw him and those few who did , didn't know how or weren't willing to put forth the effort to get across to him.
it would have been some effort to cross that river as it was raging pretty good but not impossible.
I think this happens a lot .the animals that grow old simply bed down were no hunters think they would ever be.
seek and you will find .but there are many places , no one thinks to seek.
I also have many times been glassing from afar and watched hunters following down a tree lined ridge, follow down one side of the trees ,while a buck went up past them on the other side, with the hunter never even realizing he was within 30 feet of a buck . lol.
I doubt most hunters realize how often such things have happened to them without them ever knowing it.
I think I enjoy watching those little things play out more then I enjoy killing the game.
one last thought it also pays to get to know a unit and the games escape routes . by doing so . hunting pressure becomes an ally instead of an enemy.
I have a unit where I hunt cow elk where all I have to do is hike 200 yards from the highway, sit down and wait for the herd to be pushed right to me . IT won't work every day but it will work every season.
when younger I was into hunt harder , now with age my body is showing it's limits from my bad choices , so these days I choose to hunt smarter .
funny thing is I kill more now ,with less effort .