Unless a guy just wants to hunt out of a pampered camp, there is no need to spend thousands of dollars on camping and cooking stuff, though if kids are in the picture as the OP indicated that may change things. I have had no issue killing average bulls on public ground/general tags without a tent, stove or a lot of other gear often deemed as "necessary". A guy just has to have the right mentality.
the guided hunt suggestion above has some merit, just to get an idea of what to do especially concerning how to break an elk down. Horseback hunts are nice but I don't think it would translate well into learning how to backpack hunt very well other than how to find elk. As stated earlier, it may be cheaper to do this in the long run vs taking several years of burned non-resident tags and effort.
