[fabsroman]

Welcome to the board VickyJo.

If you can leave elk out of the equation for a while, a .25-06 might be the right cartridge for you as a beginner and for killing antelope and deer. It has a little less recoil than the .270 and .30-06, and I would guess the .308 and 7mm. I haven't hunted elk yet, but if I did I would take my .300 Win Mag. That cartridge isn't one that a new shooter should try. I have had a couple of guys shoot my .300 Win Mag, which has a 2 lb trigger on it. Now, I weigh about 150 lbs. and can handle the recoil to a certain degree because I have increased the weight of the rifle and I know when it is going to fire. These guys that were shooting that rifle were in the 200+ lb category and when the trigger caught them by surprise, they ended up taking a step or two backwards.

New shooters should shoot smaller cartridges until they work themselves up to the larger ones. Have you done any shooting before? If so, what rifle cartridges have you shot or what shotgun gauges have you shot?

Best way to figure out how much recoil you are comfortable with is to shoot some of these guns. Borrow them from friends, fire off a round or two, and see if you like the amount of recoil.

By the way, if you are dead set on hunting elk, you can probably still accomplish a clean kill with a .25-06 with a premium bullet like a Barnes X, Barnes XXX, Winchester Failsafe, Nosler Partition, etc. Personally, I believe in bullet placement over the firepower of the gun. You can be shooting a canon, but if you can't hit your target you might as well stay home.