I just got back. Had a great time and was on elk. I brought my saddle but left it in the truck because I didn’t want the extra weight. Figured if I needed it bad enough, I could come back down and get it. I think it would have been useful. I did a lot of natural ground blind hunting and wished I was up high. But the problem with being in a stand elk hunting public ground is everyone else is walking. Got walked on several times. Had to pack out and move to another area because the amount of people walking jumping elk made it impossible to pattern them and sit and weight. It was very frustrating. We were hunting with longbows and would have had several shots with guns and a few with compounds. We should have got shots the 1st day, but after we figured them out we waited a day and hunted a different spot we thought they would be and got walked on by hunters. The elk moved like predicted on the other spot so we set up on them the next day and a guy walks up the elk trail. Fresh sign was gone after 3 days and we relocated. Searched a few mountains for a couple days then found them again but we were out of time. Can’t wait to go again next year. Hope to be better st calling so we can hint elk as intended. I did get a bull to bugle back and forth. My buddy got to about 50 yards on him and his herd before he got busted. It was awesome but we need a lot of work calling so we got quiet and tried to just hunt them like deer before educating every elk out there.