Glad to be a part of the site. As stated in the title, I'm from eastern Ohio. grew up hunting whitetail and small game. I've been saying "one day I'm going to go out west and hunt elk in the mountains" since I was a teenager. Well, a few weeks ago I stumbled on the Hunt Talk podcast after hearing Randy on the Wired to Hunt podcast and decided that "one day" will never come if I don't get off my butt and make it happen. So, I decided that I'm heading west in 2018 for an OTC DIY elk hunt. Hopefully I can convince a friend to go strap a bunch of weight on their back, and hike way back in the mountains, and then hike our guts out for the possible opportunity to see an Elk, and if we're REALLY lucky to have to pack hundreds of pounds of said Elk out of the mountains... Should be easy right? If not I guess I'll go solo.