Can I loot Black Dire pelt out of order for SHM epic?

[Fenna]

Hi, never did an epic, but I'd like to get the boots and shield upgrade for starting the quest and they seem "fairly" easy, i.e. no raids needed.

My question is, can I head to mistmoore and try to find a group killing there and get that black dire pelt?

I suppose that my follow up question is, do people kill him? He appears to be pretty beefy from the description https://wiki.project1999.com/Black_Dire . I fought at MM castle entrance in my late 30s and I don't think we could have taken such a hard hitter.

Thanks for the help!

Fenna, 43 Barbarian Shaman