My experience is limited to Steve Chappell. I contacted him when I had 23 or 24 Elk points in Az. He wouldn’t sign me up because he said he wouldn’t make any money. So they are selective with who they sign up, and it only makes business sense to do that. I echo the cautions above, there are...
Your thinking is correct. As was said before don’t wait for years to draw a tag and bank on that as “The elk hunt experience”. There is a steep learning curve to being consistently successful in elk hunting, and any time you can spend in the mountains chasing elk continues the education. So then...
I have an Athlon Ares. and I am very happy with it. Compared it side by side on a coues hunt, With a Leupold 12-40x60 non HD. The Leupold had a little warmer color, but the Ares was slightly sharper. As others have said. Schmalts will have the best prices.
Great gun. A pain to clean but they shoot good. I still shoot a Knight Bighorn, which is a longer barreled version of the Wolverine. It’s been too accurate for me to upgrade to another one.
I bought an Athlon Aries 15-45x65 nice little scope. Not high end but does what I need it to do. I Upgraded from a low end Vortex, there is a big difference in clarity. Try Schmalts on the forum here for the best pricing. But it is some more than what you are wanting to spend.
People I know have used both. But they prefer the lead bullets for elk. They claim to have had bad performance from the solid copper ones. ???? But I love Barnes TEZ bullets and not sure why these would perform any different.