"Guides" are expensive, and if your inviting them to join your camp as a fellow hunter, don't call them a guide or they'll have to have a license!lol Finding someone to trade a hunt with is a great idea. Once you know your area, you may find people on this site, monstermuleys, and others would be willing to give you some general guidelines as to where to go. Horses and a trailer can generally be rented if you plan in advance. Elk can be packed with decent pack frames, but if you get a couple or three down at once... you'll still want the horses, unless they're down close toa road and that only happens to other people. Most of us have a ridge or two and some nasty steep timper to get our elk out of.