We were having a bit of a hard time in the areas that were sparce with pines finding sign too. We did find a ton of it in some pretty isolated places like thicker dark timber and in 1 really nice open meadow/draw surrounded by aspens. This place was topped out with a pretty open flat and ran down hill to a place where they could easily escape. On all accounts we had to be just under a mile from the road as the crow flies. Are you using a GPS to mark good areas?