You might want to buy a bow, as well! IMHO I feel I have a better chance at harvesting any elk, be it cow or big bull in an early september general archery season over a mid to late rifle season. Also it would help if you could be more specific about what you need to learn. To start off first you need know, or have access to knowledge, of a location with a healthy huntable elk herd. After you have a population of elk located in a general area you need to spend a lot of time scouting and learning their day to day habits, as well as learning the lay of the land. For instance where do they like to feed, where are the boggs/wallows, where is their bedding area which is where they spend the majority of the day in the early season. And on and on. As far as calling goes there are some excellent videos on the how to's by both Carlton, and Primos calls. There are also countless books and magazine articles on this subject as well. A fellow board member here that goes by elknut1 takes this info a step further and breaks it down to a play by play with the calls. Teaching his fellow hunters, what does an elk mean with the different sounds they make and what should we say back to them. But before you can do that, first you have to sound like an elk. The good thing is that you have time until next season, be it archery or rifle, to practice and learn to sound like an elk. Keep in mind, you will not master it over night. It takes time, patience and dedication to be a do-it-yourselfer. I myself have grew up in elk country and hunted elk since I was 12. I'am 30 now and feel very lucky and forntunate to have 11 elk under my belt. Half with rifle, half with archery. Now with my success in past hunts, in no way do I consider myself an elk expert! Fact is there are very few true elk experts that could hunt them with all weapons, in all seasons (different times of the year) and all differnt conditions and terain and be successful 100% of the time. There is a reason that the general sucess rates are only 10 to 15% at best. An example,, I am best at a hunting them in the early bow season. On a mid to late season hunt my chances arn't neer as good. I haven't put in the time and efforts to learn their winter range, and habits for that time of year. I compare learning to elk hunt is like trying to take a drink of water from a fire hydrant and not spill any water. You are going to spill water make mistakes but for most of us, that is half the fun of it. Of course you can hire a good outfitter and it will jump start you elk hunting career. Not my personal style, I am a do-it-yourselfer, but for some they are the best choice. Only you can answer that and we are sure here to help you out along the way! idahoelkinstructor