Again...all I can say is WOW!

Thank you all so much for your words of encouragement and all of your advice. By and large, this is just the type of information that I was looking for.

I would just like to PERSONALLY THANK ElKampMaster for calling my house last Thursday night. We had a very, very good conversation. I hope someday I' ll be able to further the chain of knowledge by passing along my very own firsthand experiences. ElKamp...thank you.

Response to some other questions/issues:

Getting in shape...
This is another of my chief concerns...altitude sickness. I' ve never been in the mountains doing any type of strenuous activity. I' m in decent shape, but nothing like I have to be before October. One training method that I' ve read about is to find the nearest hill, put on a backpack loaded with 20 lbs of rocks and then tie a bandana over your mouth...hike up the hill about 10 times and this would give you some idea of what' s in store both from a physical standpoint and from a lack of oxygen standpoint.

txbowjunkie -
Thanks for the advice. My buddy and I have no preconcieved notions about laying down a monster. I think our strategy is for one of us to drop the first cow that we have a shot at. Then, we' ll go for horns.

Robert Scott -
Wool. I have to remember that...I keep reading about it and I need to go get some.

BeaverJack-
I hear what you' re saying re: comfort. that makes sense. We weren' t really planning for much in the way of comfort, but you' re right, if a person isn' t comfortable, then he/she ain' t gonna have as enjoyable an experience. I' ve got a rollup foam pad, but I" ve heard that those inflatable ones are very nice.

elknut-
I' m still bringing the bugle man. THanks.

121553-
Well, we' re planning on packing out any meat by ourselves. We each have external pack frames and we think we' re gonna try that Alaskan Method of skinning and boning the meat. Then we' ll pack them in game bags and head out. We figure 2 trips each should do the trick. As for leaving the meat over night, I talked to ElKamp about that on Thurs night. If we have, we have to. He said to make sure we use some logs or sticks to prop up the animal...he mentioned that if we don' t, the backstraps and other meat that' s laying on the ground has a good chance of spoiling. Other than that, no plans.

As ElKamp told me... the first day will be the longest. Hunt hard and hunt long!

Again, thanks for all your advice.

Big TK