Recommended Guide Service to Educate New Hunter - ELK

I'm looking for a recommendation on outfitters/ guide service in Colorado/ Wyoming / Montana. I'm a new-ish Elk hunter (~3 yrs) and want to reduce the learning curve. I've done Rifle and Archery. I'm hoping to find a guide that would be great to learn from. I don't need to get a trophy elk, I'm after the hunting knowledge. It is hard to justify the time and money to come home empty handed the first 5-7 years (seems to be the average) of hunting. No one in my family hunted, so I've been self educated. I can hike/ backpack no problem and stay in shape all year round, so long hikes with packs loaded are OK. I've done all OTC public land hunts so far.

I know these services are not cheap, but $15- $20k for an elk hunt won't work.

I'd appreciate any insight or experiences you all have.

thanks!

I'd look into a cow elk hunt on the western slope. They are usually under $2500, and if you find a decent guide in the NW corner, it has the highest elk density in the state. Try something near Craig, depending on what the draw looks like. I know from looking at maps for that area it can be tricky to get on public lands that are not packed with other people. There are landlocked BLM parcels, state lands that are leased by outfitters and others that are too rugged even for elk to be in, looking like they used to be prime sheep or goat terrain. I did what was supposed to be a guided cow elk hunt, that turned into a semi guided hunt because the guy assigned to the three of us showed up each morning smelling of alcohol and just dropped each of us off at different stands and then went back to his bunk to sleep each day. So I really can't recommend that particular outfitter to anyone.

I world recommend to make sure the hunt takes place on public land. Guides who only hunt on private land will teach you how to shoot an elk in a resident herd that does not feel threatened. Using a guide on private lands to learn how to hunt means the only way you will know how to hunt in on private guided hunts which will not help you next year or any other year unless you are paying a guide to access those private lands.
Compare this to pheasant hunting on a game farm where you will see and get a shot at released pheasants vs hunting somewhere in eastern Colorado on public lands and hoping to see a pheasant let alone get a shot.