Forget the misery-mongers. People were making bows since before writing was invented.
Now it's too much for a novice eh?
A bow powerful enough for a clean drop of an elk isn't novice territory though.
You need a powerful bow, and you need to know how to use it. You also need to know how to get close enough to the elk to get a good shot without it running off injured.
Ethical hunting is important. Having injured animals running around and dying a miserable death is no good for the animals and no good for people who go hunting.
That means getting a lot of learning done and a lot of practice in both hunting technques and in shooting.

You don't actually need a lot of woodworking skills to make a good bow, but you do need a lot of patience and a lot of care and a lot of measurements to make sure you get a bow that works well and fires an arrow where you want it to go.
First thing is wood. You can make a good longbow from oak, beech, yew, and many other woods. The condition of the wood is important. It has to be well cured and properly done or it will not make a good bow.
You need a saw and a spokeshave for shaping the wood, and a good sharp and strong scraper and a few sanding blocks. For the nocks where you fix the bowstring there are two ways to go. For deep nocks on the sides of the bow you need a slotting drill or just drill an end hole and carefully saw down to it with a fine tooth saw, or use a round wood rasp which is slower and awkward to make a good straight slot unless you work very carefully and patiently.
For nocks on the face or back of the bow and indented only a little on the sides, you just need a round wood rasp or a course file and finish with some sandpaper wound round a rod.
For measurements you need a vernier caliper and a long rule or a steel tape.
For finishing the bow you need some good quality varnish like yacht varnish. Apply several coats, sanding it down smoothly with very fine sandpaper between each coat until a deep layer of varnish is built up.
You will then want some tape for the grip and some arrows.
Never use arrows that are too short for the bow. That is very dangerous. Arrows must have good clearance at the front so for a 26" draw bow use 28" or longer arrows.
Here is a good site about bows and how to make them, written simply with no big technical stuff.
http://wickedhowtos.com/index.php/2007/08/26/how-to-build-a-long-bow/ . . . . . . .
http://www.questions-answered.org/how-to-make-a-longbow/?page_id=2 . . . . . ..
There are dozens of bow-making sites and videos on the internet.
Here is one...you will quickly find many more with a simple search...Bow making.
http://videos.wittysparks.com/id/72057659271553484/ . . . . . .
Have fun, stay safe, and shoot safe. Remember the ehics of hunting and never go for a quarry that is too much for the bow or too distant for a good clean shot.