meat. Elk eat grass, deer eat mostly browze, meaning twig tips, etc. An elk can be 400 lbs of meat, worth about $6 a lb, so it's a much more serious item for hunters. It's not worth the out of state license and travel expenses, on top of a guided hunt and the cost of prepping the meat,but it's worth a local boy's looking around a bit, pre season, and being where he should be, on opening day.
Such being the case, a $100 worth of scoped Nagant will suffice, 90+% of the time.