Well Crowe, I can tell by your questions your a very inexperienced Elk hunter. My friend your in for a whole new world of bowhunting. This will be the toughest form of hunting you've ever encountered in your life. Forget all those deer techniques. Mountain Elk hunting is nothing like it. Starting out green on a DIY, you'll definitly have your work cut out for you. How many days are you planning on going west? You'll need a couple extra days just to locate your base camp spot & setup. Its very important to set it up where you can walk to the action. Unless you plan on getting horses. Which isn't a bad idea, also its a big plus for packing out any game. You'll need to know how to quarter out a Elk, and pack it out. Plus you'll need to get climate adjusted depending on how high up you are. If you know anyone whose been on a DIY, you'd be alot better off to have that experience with you. I'd get in touch with the states game department for info. If this is a Colorado Hunt as I presume, they have some great info.