"You do need to be in good shape to hunt the public land in Colorado that holds my camp. Set up camp at 9/11k ft ele from 500 a ft ele just days before.... 21% oxygen vs 17% with no excersize prep and the mountains WILL punish your body and soul." ++

If you can pull together an appropriate camp, and appropriate clothes for variable weather, you are probably equipped to make a stab at elk hunting. Until you have tried it once yourself, best to not try to bring the kids - you don't say how old - but unless you are all really experienced wilderness campers, work a few of the bugs out yourself before you add kids and additional complications into what can be challenging weather and logistics the first time or two. It can be hot or what for you will be really cold. Maybe freezing, maybe -20 degrees over a season. You need good boots that will stand up to the terrain, and if cold you need boots that will keep your feet warm enough. These may be 2 different pair. Don't neglect several pairs of gloves. If it is wet or snow you will want dry spares to swap out. Under these conditions, the supplies for kids may be more challenging.

But seriously, if you are in TX, the elevation will probably be an issue for a few days. Getting to elevation a couple days before the season opens will be beneficial. Yes, I know, I lived on the Gulf Coast a few years and came bsck north to elk hunt. I trained on stadium stairs with a pack full of weight plates. I was younger and pretty tough then, and it was still tough going making the transition from basically flat and a hundred feet above sea level to 10-11,000 feet and steep terrain. Yes it was DIY, that is what I still do.

There is no substitute for acclimatization. After TX, I lived at 8,400 feet. What a difference, but I still felt it a bit at 13,000 feet.

In most places you will hunt stuff that is up and down and up and down. Maybe not ridiculously steep, but usually a lot of elevation gain and loss each day. You can get into rugged and very steep, or maybe more gentle in some places, but while you are busting your lungs trying to catch elk, they simply don't care. They live there and it is normal for them.

After a while, you will learn how to find them, but you have to be there, put in your time, pay attention, and learn. But as Buzz pointed out, "time waits for nobody". If you never start, you will never hunt elk.

We are all full of advice...

Good luck and good hunting.