There doesn't appear to be any SPECIFIC point to this thread, other than to say whatever you want to say about the .30-06, so that is how I'm going to play it.
I did not get into hunting big game until my father died and left me his guns when I was about 48 years old. I had pheasant hunted in Illinois growing up on a farm, but hadn't done that for many years. With the guns -- .25-06 and a .30-06 -- I started deer hunting. I elk hunted in Colorado in 2006, 2009 (first elk, 4 point bull), and will return again this October for elk first rifle season. Love it. I remember as a kid, however, reading hunting magazines and books and developing the distinct judgment that the .30-06 was an old fuddy-duddy, over-the-hill cartridge now shuffling along unsteadily in the dusty wake of more modern and excellent cartridges.
That is so funny, because now I have largely convinced myself that the .30-06 is pretty close to being a perfect cartridge. It doesn't shoot as flat as other cartridges. Point recognized and granted. But this probably is not an issue until you are shooting over 300 yards. How many among us has any business shooting over 300 yards? Can you reliably put 3 shots in a paper plate shooting from a field position -- not a bench -- at a uncertain distance of 300 yards (could be 280 yards, could be 330 yards)? It doesn't shoot as heavy bullets or deliver as much energy as some other cartridges. Again, point granted, but to what extent does this have a practical importance when hunting elk, moose, black bear, and smaller game at ethical ranges -- for the average hunter? Does a .338 Winchester magnum shooting a 250 grain bullet kill an elk deader at 200 yards than a 180 grain bullet shot from a .30-06? You get the picture. So, it is funny that what I once disparaged I now appreciate.
I like to use my .25-06 for deer of pronghorn. I have a hankering for a .338 winchester magnum . . . just because I have hankering for one. I have two .30-06 rifles. One is a Springfield sporterized by my father that looks and shoots very sweetly. Another is a Remington ADL with a synthetic stock bought cheap at a grand opening of a Bass Pro Shop. The ADL is my back-up rifle on all hunts. If the primary rifle gets banged up and I'm 1200 miles from home on a hunt, the ADL can fill the bill. If it is raining outside and I don't want to take my pretty wood stocked rifles out, the ADL gets the call. Because it is chambered in .30-06, it is not a niche rifle and can be used for any hunting I'm going to do (I'm not a grizzly bear hunter or brown bear hunter). I put a good scope on the ADL -- nearly twice as expensive as the rifle -- because while a cheap rifle can shoot straight and true, you still need a good sighting system to get you there.
Anyway, I'm a fan of the .30-06, though I'm also happy there are other rifles. I'm not a mono-gun-mous shooter.
