One great article I read (can't remember where now) talked about scouting at night, driving to a spot, parking the car for 15 to 30 min, bugling, listen for a reply, move to another spot a mile or 2 away, rinse and repeat till you find some bulls. He said bulls will answer much more often in the middle of the night, and there is no doubt if it's an elk or another hunter.
I've never tried it but it sounds like a solid idea. If I was hunting a new area on a trip, couldn't pre-scout etc, I would definitely try that to get into an active elk area from day one.