Dave:
Elk is the only big game I hunt as the deer meat in Arizona is not to my liking. I love eastern whitetail but desert Mule deer is too gamey for me. The elk are easier to find and the meat is great if you can get drawn for the hunt. Once one is down the real work starts. I hunt alone and a big elk is a lot of work. That first cow required me to be up to my shoulders in the belly cavity to try to reach the heart which I could not do. The gut pile was bigger than most big deer and getting the cow on my trailer took two hours and finally with help from a couple of passing hunters. I have worked out a program that requires two vehicles and a trailer some pulleys and a lot of rope to get the elk loaded. Missed my elk this year as the closest one was 140 yards ranged and my Omega has not been shooting that distance well with the present bullets so I passed. That is where the new White Thunderbolt is supposed to come into the picture if Doc ever finds a barrel for it. Had a cow tag and as luck would have it a big bull walked within a few feet of me on the last day of the hunt. I don't get to shoot as much as you do so the longer distance shots are not in my confidence range at this time. As noted the big animals do not go down easy and a bad shot on one is not anything I want to deal with.