You just said what i have been saying for awhile, i am also from michigan and sick of tree stands and whitetails, i constantly try to talk my wife and kids into moving west, its hard to find guys to go with that want to hunt hard.
You will love shooting any Elite, I can vouch for the warrenty as i dropped my GT500 and splintered the limb, i emailed elite on a sunday afternoon about it and got a reply sunday evening and had a new set of limbs at my house in 3 days covered under warrenty.
Gander Mountain has the sea to summit cotton/silk blend clearanced out for $36, normally $60. Should i hold off for a full silk or get this. I have never used one so im not sure.
I have been using Wac'em broadheads and havent shot anything that flies better at 300+ fps. They are also very sharp and are all steel with a coc type head,
Evan, thats a great pic of how the release should be on the finger, if most guys that dont like them would shorten them up like that so they can use there back more instead of the tip of the finger it would change there mind.
this might have been posted already but Lathrop & sons is having a awsome sale o there Alaska GTX boots, $244, that is a steal on them, i only wish i needed a pair. here is the link
http://www.lathropandsons.com/hanwag-boots/alaska-gtx-hanwag-boots.html