I'll be looking for part 2!! I too hope to draw a Nebraska Elk tag someday too.... Can't imagine what an empty, just punched in the gut feeling that was to hear back from the outfitter that he was booked!
I had my egr blocked off, dpf removed and a single eco/tow tune (efi live) on my 08 regular cab 2500 Dmax, went from 18mpg highway driving to 18mpg.... didn't change a thing and wasn't cheap.... my whole reason for deleting was economy and well that didnt workout but it woke it up a lot
https://maps.outdoornebraska.gov/PublicAccessAtlas/
Have you looked here? There's a decent amount of opportunities, plenty of deer away from the river, the south east corner area has a good population of deer. A lot of crp and ofw, wma ground open.