My suggestion is get into it for the long haul.
Find a unit where you can draw a late season leftover tag or draw with no points, but one that offers early season tags that require a point or two. Unit 49 used to be that way but there are many others. 74 perhaps.
As first time elk hunters you would have the odds stacked against you anyway even in one of the better units. Statewide success fluctuates around 25% but if you take out the guided and ranch hunters it drops to more like 1 in 7.
During those late seasons you will have less pressure from other hunters and will find areas that you will have to yourselves. You'll have the chance to learn the terrain and learn the elk patterns in that area and see where others have had success. After a year or two, (some places three), you will have the points to draw a more coveted early season tag. By then you will know the area, and your party will be a serious threat to elk at that point.
That fact that any points are required usually limits the crowding also.
Way too much emphasis is placed on simply punching a tag and way too many say they aren't there to just camp, but really - paying your dues to learn an area is a big part of it. A lot of success is predicated on being familiar with an area and understanding how elk use that specific terrain.
