Grant K
FNG
I'll echo the people saying just go, if it was me I'd do a truck camp to start, buy an OTC elk tag while you still can and just go, you will learn 20x more from a week in the field that you can off the internet...
if you're dead set on backpack hunting learn to be comfortable backpacking by just going backpacking in the summer first, you will shake out what you need and what you don't, and if you are comfortable just existing in the wilderness then hunting is easy... I see tons of people that think they are hardcore backcountry hunters who are so uncomfortable in the woods that they just sit in their fancy teepee and run the stove the whole hunt, never getting out and hunting because they might get cold, or wet... learn to be comfortable in the wilderness, then buy whatever tags you can and go, learning to figure out new areas on the fly is a skill bes learned by doing.
if you're dead set on backpack hunting learn to be comfortable backpacking by just going backpacking in the summer first, you will shake out what you need and what you don't, and if you are comfortable just existing in the wilderness then hunting is easy... I see tons of people that think they are hardcore backcountry hunters who are so uncomfortable in the woods that they just sit in their fancy teepee and run the stove the whole hunt, never getting out and hunting because they might get cold, or wet... learn to be comfortable in the wilderness, then buy whatever tags you can and go, learning to figure out new areas on the fly is a skill bes learned by doing.