I do hunt Washington. Idaho will be after our season closes in mid-September. Yes, you have to choose your weapon. I exclusively bowhunt. Not only do you have to choose your weapon, you have to pick whether you want to hunt elk on the east or west side of the Cascades. The east side is "spike only" or "spike or cow only" depending on weapon and unit, while the west side is "cow, or 3-pt or better" or "3-pt or better" depending on weapon and unit. Depending on which unit you put in for, draw odds are pretty tough, but you can purchase OTC tags and still get to hunt other units. As far as the Blues go, yes there are some really nice bulls. Poaching has knocked them for a serious loop in the last few years, so draw odds are HUGE if you are even allowed to draw for a particular area. Asfar as I know, residents and non-residents have the same chance of being drawn, but WA works on a point system. You bank a point each year you don't get drawn, so the next year your odds increase exponentially. Most of the time I'd swear WDFW wants to do whatever they can to save animals from hunters. Hope this helps, and I didn't take it the wrong way.