All of my elk were 35 yards or less. Max yourself at 50, at 65 lbs pull you will not have the kinetic energy for good penetration, plus its often windy as hell in the mourning when you have your best shot at a bull. What ever you do plan your trip around full moon, during full moon they feed all night and bed down before dawn and you dont have much of a chance. Our hunts were all unguided on public land in Wyoming, best way to go. One thing that is hard to get used to is judging distance on elk, it is easy to forget they are so much bigger then deer, you will not often have time to use a range finder, nice to have one with you but dont plan on using it when your "in the moment". Make or buy a life size cutout and put your target in front of it for practice at different distances. Success rate is very small for elk bow-hunting, go with the attitude that your gonna have a great trip whether you kill one or not. Try to budget your trip so you can go a couple years in a row. Calling is key, cow call is far more important the bull calling, you just bull call to locate them or piss them off, cow call is the money shot.