if your hunting in bear country most elk hunters prefer bigger rifles like 300 win. mag,338 win mag 300 weatherby guns that will take care of a bear problem.but you are hunting Colorado won`t have that bigger bear problem so any legal rifle will work but a bigger rifle can kill an animal quicker, might help if there are a lot of hunters around that just might try and claim your wounded animal you shot with a smaller gun,like has been said elk hunting isn`t cheap so do you really want to use a smaller rifle? I like a rifle that has plenty knock down power and can shoot 500 yards too with good accuracy,you don`t always get a close easy shot and I like elk meat so i will always use a bigger rifle. good luck with your 6.5 creedmoor,Pete53
