I completely concur with the idea of a self guided hunt. Personally, I am not a fan of any guided hunts, I'm not against guided hunts, I just feel if you kill it, you should hunt it yourself. Yes, a drop camp can be fun and rewarding if you know how to hunt elk. It sounds like a couple of your party can do just that. Finally, I still firmly believe that drop camp area's are not as productive as the guided area's, that just common sense. That doesn't mean there are no elk in that area. I think the big issue is your elk hunting expierence. When I first moved to Montana from the midwest, I could not have possibly been successful in a drop camp, I knew nothing of elk. After 13 years of elk hunting I have gone from knowing nothing, to knowing very little.