I'm with you PaulS, the 30-06 is a proven performer. And no matter where you go, you can always find ammo. Even today, the 30-06 is better than what it was ten years ago what with the new ammo now available. Long time ago, I bought the 30-06 to do it all, my one gun battery. Now, I spend too much time deciding on which gun to take on a hunt I thought life was suppose to get easier once you retire
Keep it coming...

Me too george...Retired and added another horse (pregnant) and 7 acres. Still have only 2 rifles if you don't count the marade of .22 rifles. I think the more time on our hands we tend to add other things to do...In my case if I don't find something to do wifie-poo does...

george20042007 wrote:

I'm with you PaulS, the 30-06 is a proven performer. And no matter where you go, you can always find ammo. Even today, the 30-06 is better than what it was ten years ago what with the new ammo now available. Long time ago, I bought the 30-06 to do it all, my one gun battery. Now, I spend too much time deciding on which gun to take on a hunt I thought life was suppose to get easier once you retire Keep it coming...

I gotta agree with you George, it was a lot simpler years ago when all I had was my 30-06 for big game hunting.

Come on you guys, your missing the point here. If you go around spreading rumors that you only need one gun to hunt all the big game animals in North America your screwing with a lot of guys who has their wives believing that they need another rifle to hunt this and a different one to hunt that. My God you guys if some of our wives see this type of thing in writing some of us could be in big trouble. And as fellow hunters surely you understand that we need to keep this type of talk to a minimum, and not promote this... this... unfounded RUMOR any more. Geeeze! you guys.

Shipster,

Thats funny! I'm not married yet so I don't got to worry about the "wife" reading something like what I'm about to post.

But seriously I only see 5 guns that I "need" and I already got 2 of them. I prefer owning many tools instead but everyone is different in what they'd rather keep around and play with I'd venture to guess.

Dimitri

Big "D"...One never has too many guns. In fact, 5 is but a pitance...

Bushmaster,

I know there is no such thing as too many guns. And what I said doesnt mean I wont go out and buy more for "redundancy".

Just need to prioritize things for now, I've got plenty of time to get a large collection (atleast a good 50 more years) and grow out of my 8 gun safe, which has room for 6 more guns as of now.

Dimitri

Dimitri, I'm on my third 12 gun safe and I'm working on filling that one up as well. After I fill that one up I'll get another one. To me guns are better then collecting fine wine, I can take them out for a taste every now and then and they still grow in value. So the more the better.

Don't get locked up too much on any specific caliber because of performance. There are tons of options and the important thing is that you purchase a gun that you are comfortable shooting and you can shoot accurately with. 7mm Rem Mag, 7mm WSM, 30-06, 300 WSM, 300 Win Mag, 325 WSM, 338 Win Mag. Anyone of those cartridges will handle anything on this continent with a well placed shot. You'll be able to get the WSMs in a lighter rifle, so if you plan on hiking a lot...those are good choices. 30-06 ammo you'll be able to find anywhere and for cheap. 338 will make you hate the firing range. Don't take any shots over 300yds and you'll be fine with any of these rifles sighted in for dead on at 200.

Welcome to the forums Stablebuck

Dimitri

it's good to be here :-)

Welcome stablebuck ............. have fun.

I am a .30-06 fan myself, I have taken elk with a .270, .308 and 7mm as well. I live in some pretty good elk country and talking with the "old timers" who still hunt, most of them have switched over to .300. Dallan sums it up pretty well, what are you gunnin' for? The majority of the areas for elk will be in moderate to heavy timber, you will want some slam to get through if you hunt most Colorado areas. A .30-06 is a good all around rifle as PaulS states, it would be a rifle you could use for multiple hunts in various regions and terrain for multitudes of large game. Once you settle in on a rifle that is good for your needs, Dallan hits it home again regarding bullet choice. There are some exceptional premium bullets out there, if you load your own than you probably already have a line in mind, but if you are using factory loads they have some pretty good hunting varieties out there - for elk and a .30-06 I would look towards the heavier bullets - no less than 180gr...lean more towards 200gr for this caliber. I personally use a 185gr Barnes Triple Shock loaded up with IMR 4350 - before that I ran only partitions - this particular rifle shoots the Barnes better, I have others that don't. This is only one man's opinion - you are doing the right thing - research. Good luck!

Wapiti,
I saw a video clip on the CO DOW website of a wolf near Walden, which isn't terribly far from Craig. Seen anything out there?

I have heard rumblings of wolves, but they have all been North of the border in Wyoming or over towards the front range towards Ft. Collins. Wouldn't surprise me to hear it around Walden. Not sure it would be in the wolves' best interest to head over this way, with all of the sheep ranchers out here, I am thinking they would muffle the sightings and just deal with them quietly. I will have to check out that article, as I would find it interesting, thanks for the heads up.