Ok.... getting back to the OP problem of being overwhelmed... What ND2506AI is saying, is he practically needs an attorney to counsel him to get through all the regulations that it takes just to get a tag....
I know his pain.... But he has to just get over it.... do your research, read the regs... do more research. and just buy a tag.
Once you get a tag... get on the ground... tag in pocket with gun in hand. You will be on your way. Next year, you will know more.... and the year after that... you will improve your game.... You will understand how to play the game of building preference points while still hunting elk every year... Play off three or four different states, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and New Mexico or Idaho.
My success rate on filling elk tags is just short of 70%, all on public land... that 30% that went unfilled was all in the early years... Go every year... improve your game every year... upgrade your camp... upgrade your pack out system. Get better tags. Get better boots. I don't have an ATV, I don't have horses... I don't have Llamas.. Everything I have and use to hunt elk fits in an 8' truck box... including the dead elk on my way home.
What I am telling you ND2506AI is just go... just go once.
As far as this nonsense Llama Bob is spouting... I can, no buslls!t now... On a well traveled, Forest Service Road in Colorado... during the 3erd season... and 4th season.. sit on the side of the road at the end of the day and glass up one bull for sure... and some times 3-4 bulls on the same hill... And I can do it from a Forest Service road. In the same place every year.
