Here's why the quintessential western hunting trip involves livestock.
Let's assume that the killin' part of your hunt is successful, and your elk corpse is only 3 miles away from and only 1000 feet below the road, and there's no canyons or ridges in the way (btw this is exactly where I 'found' elk on the last evening of my hunt in 16B two years ago). Now lets reduce that elk and move 300 pounds of meat and antlers (plus camping equipment) from the kill site up to the coolers before it turns into compost.
Instead of trying to do that alone, I would like the reassuring and entertaining company of pack animals, either the four-legged kind or the two-legged kind. But how much can each kind carry and thus how many pack-critter-trips will it take, and how long will it take?
My figuring suggests 3 to 4 horses or mules for a single trip (one hunter only) or the same number of young, strong, and foolish two-legged pack animals taking 2 or 3 trips.
BTW, water is generally not far, horizontally, but can be pretty far vertically...
If you must go back packing, the Gila is a fabulous place all year long and you don't have carry a rifle or bow and a ton of meat or make multiple trips along the same track to have pleasant trip.
Do you have enough strong-backed buddies, own livestock, or are you willing to hire an outfitter?
RS