I load for 3 30-06's today and have killed one cow elk with an old tang safety Ruger that was my Dad's gun just so his rifle got to do something he never did. But my 7mm RM and lately 300 Weatherby are just more capable rifles for elk. The flatter trajectory and greater damage done to animals past about 250 yards just make more sense where I hunt most of the time. Like a bunch of folks I'll pay over $1,000 in NR tags this year and have only a little over a week to hunt elk on public land most years.
I've averaged an elk a year for the last 15 tries but am on a bull drought the last 3 and keep telling myself cows taste better. Most of our hunting areas are steep or near the public/private line or both. Anchoring the elk is a big deal and I feel like the Weatherby with a 180 grain TTSX is better at that than an 06.
I've shot them from 11-550 yards and only once would I have passed with th 30-06, not a huge sample size but I really like elk burgers and roasts and steak and I'm not willing to give them up for a year because my rifle won't handle a longer shot or a tough shot angle.
If you hunt on the flats of a big private ranch and live in elk country stick with a deer rifle. If you drove through the night and paid NR prices the little extra practice time and recoil are probably worth it. That 300 yard limit sounds good until your only legal animal of the trip is at 415 yards.
