If your relative can't help and if he doesn't live litereally in the middle of the elk, then I don't know how much weight you give that location.
There is a fair amount of elk near McCall, as there are a fair amount in other parts of the state. There is a lot of pressure there though, and the country is fairly thick as was mentioned.
Wherever you head, give yourself a chance to get to know a place over a few years and then it will click.
I landed here in 2004, and only saw one live elk my first year. Killed a decent bull the next year and have seen literally a hundred or more elk each year since. Not that I kill elk every year, because there is a big difference in seeing and killing them.
+1 on the draw and consider a cow tag, unless you put more emphasis on horns than meat, which I totally understand....