Tommyboy,
Where you from? Anywhere near the VA state line? Are they still holding the lottery for elk permits?

A few of those elk that were released in the Pike County area have migrated here, and I know of one of them being taken. They have now closed elk hunting to residents of my county in an attempt to allow the population to grow.

 

I live in martin CO about 10 mins from pike CO. I put in for the elk draw A couple month's ago but I dont know if the draw is still going on. your wall-mart might be able to tell you but sence your in VA I dont know if they would have anything to do with it.

 

I'm not interested in hunting them yet, I just want to see one or hear it bugle. Maybe in a few years the population will be high enough so that they will be more abundant. I've seen some sign but never actually seen an elk yet.

Have you ever ridden Top of the World, Buffalo Creek, or Quicksand? I went down there once and had a ball, I've heard they're now issuing riding permits so that we don't have to ride for "free". Do you know anything about that?

Have you ever been on the Pine Mt. Trail? It starts in Elkhorn and goes to Pound Gap in VA. If you haven't and you're interested yell at me one weekend that its warm and I'll try to take you. Its a beutiful area and we're in the process of attempting to have congress make it officially open to OHVs. OHVs have been what kept that trail open for decades now the greenies are trying to take it from us. A lot of those trails wouldn't even exist if it weren't for Jeeps and ATVs but now that the tree huggers have found it they think they should be able to lay claim to it, its too pretty for us ATVers we'll just mess it up (freeking idiots!).

 

TOMMY BOY,
My son has the RUM-300 it's a nice gun but the important thing isn't so much knock down power as it is shot placement. I hunt with a handgun which is really anemic when compared to the ultra mag but I harvest deer every year and most of the time with one shot. My son shot a big buck yesterday and yes it knocked it right down and before my son could get to it, the thing got up and ran away! He obviously didn't hit it good. My son bought this gun on the advice of his father-in-law even though this jerk knew my son was recoil sensitive with the 30-06 semi-auto he had. I tried to tell him if he was flinching with the semi the combination of the mag caliber and bolt action gun would magnify his problem. His father-in-law also told him to get rid of the semi-auto stating that their in accurate and jam constantly. I told my son that his father-in-law probably used too much gun oil or didn't keep his chamber clean thats what a chamber brush is for. I worked up loads for my sons gun that would group 1inch at 100yds off the bench. I thought that would change his mind but it didn't and he has lost 3 deer in two seasons with the RUM. My son would tell me ,Dad I'll be able to shoot deer at 400 yds. and I told him there's so many variables that just because he has a gun that will do it doesn't mean the shooter can. I told him he needed to get out there and practice and he owed it to the animal to put it down without suffering. One more point you might want to consider. The 30-06 and 308 are great game getters and they're alot kinder to your shoulder as well as your pocket book. I know in these parts you can purchase those calibers in almost any general store and can buy them on sale for 9 to 10 bucks vs 24 bucks a box for the RUM.
well, I could keep going but I'll let someone else have their say. Good luck!
Jack

 

tommyboy, I have to agree 100% with MuddHound and Jack. The 300 RUM is a LOT of gun for deer. You'll pay for it in ammo and recoil, and maybe loss of accuracy if you start flinching. Depending on which bullet you shoot and the yardage your deer shows up at, your bullet may just pass right through without expanding, or it may hit a bone and blow up a big part of your deer. I'd recommend sticking with a medium calibre, some excellent ones were mentioned earlier.
Personally, I hunt dall sheep, caribou, and moose (everything from a couple hundred pounds to a couple thousand pounds!) with my 30-06. The only time I feel under-gunned and might want that 300 mag would be if I had to stop a charging grizzly.
Just my 2 cents, everybody's situation is different, but i hope it helps.