Western elk hunting can be a very wide range of shooting distances and cover circumstances. Everything from point blank to too far, and wide open to shooting through gaps in rocks or trees.
Depending on if you already have a place to go, ask them what they recommend in terms of variable versus fixed and what power they would use for their hunt.
If you don't have a good idea of where that will be when the time comes, and you can't predict the circumstances, then go with a good variable. If you balance between what you spent on the guns, clothes, travel, tags, etc., it doesn't make sense to go cheap on the scope.
If you have good vision skills, you won't need very high mag, but that doesn't mean you might not find yourself someplace with enough time to crank up magnification before you shoot. If you have something like a typical 3.5-10X, you would be fine. More than that is okay too, but as you know that adds to the price tag.
Some years are a fast short shot in heavy cover at close quarters, other years are a peek-a-boo shot between obstructions at over 400 yards. With a variable, you can make both of those scenarios work.
Some years you are sorting through hundreds of elk in a migration, and other years you are scratching for a chance at an elk from a resident herd. The later the season you hunt, the more skittish and shy the elk become. Any scope will do on a 200 yard broadside shot against a snow background, but some years are like hunting in summer foliage and the elk know it.
Get the most reliable scope you can afford and learn to shoot it fast under pressure from hasty positions and you will greatly increase your odds. It can be very difficult to sort out elk in tight cover in terms of cows, spikes, and legal bulls. That puts demands on the scope, your vision, skills, and ethics. For many folks I have helped, the whole season amounted to a 15 second opportunity.
Western elk live and die on fence lines. Some say it is easy to kill an elk, I say it isn't because you need to kill it quick enough to avoid boundary issues. I have hunted some of the same grounds over 33 years straight and over those years I have sat with several hunters per season in addition to hunting my own tags. The majority of the folks I have helped were outright rookies or low experience.
I didn't keep a journal but I wish I had. I can tell you of the failed opportunities that not knowing how to run their scope or run it fast enough is a major cause of going home empty. The vast majority of time, there isn't enough time to set up and play with elevation or windage knobs. You can find time to swing a magnification most of the time. Learn to use the reticle quickly. About one time in five, you will have time to dial scope knobs in my experience, which is a way to advocate for learning how to shoot hold over for distance and wind. Pay as much attention to the reticle system as anything else.
There is nothing like helping someone earn their first elk. It keeps me alive and looking forward to elk season every year. I'm looking forward to hearing what scope you pick and the story of your first elk.
