Any suggestions for a .30-06?

Brewer12345;

I'll also suggest a Tikka T3 or T3x, they can be found used. That should easily allow you to get a good scope & mounts for under your budget figure. I have several Tikka's, the actions are smooth, & all are very nicely accurate, including the .30-06. The synthetic stocked models are light, and as was noted earlier, that will most certainly help when you are in the high country. Also, don't just get a sling, get a good 1.25" leather sling & learn how to use it. That will be lighter & far handier than a bipod. A Turner Saddlery 1907 pattern military sling would be my suggestion.

Elk are not armor plated, they are nothing more than big, to very big, deer. Shot placement means far more than any other single factor in taking one of them. You don't need exotic high priced ammunition either. At 300 yards, a good 150 grain bullet driven somewhere in the 2900 fps range muzzle velocity will do the job. Range practice and aerobic gym time will do far more to make your hunt successful than your buddies might think.
And, by the way, I'm in Outer Montana, my bed is over a mile above sea level, and I have a fair amount of experience hunting under the conditions you'll be facing. As a personal note, any number of quality made firearms can do the job for you, but I do not, nor do I wish to hunt with, a Savage.

900F

Hunting is fairly low bar in terms of rifle performance, particularly when shooting a large animal such as an elk out to 300 yards. A $400 rifle and $100 scope will most likely be enough to get the job done and you'll probably have a tough time finding a rifle/scope package for $500 that wouldn't. So given your budget of $1,000 or less, and you said "ideally well under a thousand bucks" you need to identify the important criteria that will give you a better chance of success, not just this year but moving forward. If I were you, I'd pick the optic first and then figure out how much money you really want to spend on the rifle. There are numerous $400 to $800 rifles available that will work but if your scope goes belly up or is average to begin with it won't matter if you have a $400 rifle or a $4,000 rifle. Pick a good scope and a decent rifle. A Leupold VX-2 or VX-3i 3-9x40mm or 3.5-10x40mm for $250 to $300 would be a good start. You can maximize performance and minimize cost by not buying the stuff that doesn't matter which includes excessive magnification, oversized objectives, fancy turrets, adjustable parallax, 30mm tubes, etc.

As for the rifle, I won't consider a rifle for hunting if the bolt can't be locked closed but that might not be important to you. Do you want stainless or carbon, wood or synthetic. You mentioned a wood stock but as jmr40 stated, you'll get better performance with a synthetic stock. Are you ok lugging around an 8lb rifle/scope combination or would you rather be in the 6lb range? You want the rifle to shoot close to the same POA day after day, week after week, clean bore, fouled bore, rain or shine. This is a tall order for a budget production rifle but you can always have the barreled action bedded to improve consistency if your choice is unpredictable out of the box. If you were to go to the upper end of your budget, you could end up with a very nice rifle/scope package such as a Tikka T3 Light in .30-06 Sprg with a Leupold VX-2, rings and a sling.

I already have a number of hunting rifles that I use for deer and elk, but if I were going to put together a $1,000 package as a "loaner" for friends or family wishing to come up to MT to hunt I'd buy a Kimber 84L Hunter in .30-06 Sprg and a Leupold VX-2 mounted in Talley lightweight rings. The rifle/scope would weigh about 6-1/2lb, would be all stainless, would come with a CRF action, excellent single-stage trigger, 3-position safety, 3-round detachable magazine and easily be capable of sub moa performance with excellent factory hunting ammunition. I shot these two groups using Federal Vital-Shok Trophy Copper 165gr and 180gr ammuntion. These were the first two "official" groups from a coworker's Kimber 84L Hunter in .30-06 Sprg that I shot about a month ago.

Federal Premium 165gr Vital-Shok Trophy Copper


Federal Premium 180gr Vital-Shok Trophy Copper

"....35 Rem is not going to cut it..." What makes you say that? Sighted in at 150, a 150 grain bullet will drop 13.7" at 250, 27.1" at 300. The same 150 out of an '06, is flatter, of course, drops 10.2 at 300, but that doesn't mean your .35 is no good.
"I want one." is a reason to buy another rifle though. Probably the best bang for the buck is a Savage. Which one doesn't matter much. And 'used' isn't a cuss word when it comes to hunting rifles. Not the right time of year though.
"...downloaded stuff for deer..." Just work up a load using 165 grain hunting bullets and forget about downloading. A 165, that the '06 loves(IMR4064), will kill any game in North America.
"...Needing a gun for 15 min is justification..." Why's it take you 15 minutes to say, "I want one."? snicker.

Tikka gets a serious amount of love on this forum and every other forum I'm aware of. I've shot a few and sold a bunch. They are excellent rifles, very well made and seriously accurate. I'm all about triggers. Tikka triggers are incredible.

I don't care for small ejection ports. The T3 has a tiny one and the T3x port is larger but still too small for me. Tikka's have DBMs. I don't care for them. Synthetic stocked Tikka's are too light, even with a good recoil pad, in 30-06, for me. I've got a bad shoulder and the recoil is too much for me.

The Weatherby Vanguard(which doesn't get the love) has an ejection port that is much larger. You can get one with a DBM but most models have a hinged floor plate. Their triggers are outstanding, they are very accurate, Tikka and Weatherby both have sub-MOA guarantees. Vanguards are not light rifles. You can get a Vanguard package with a VX-2 3-9x40 for under a $1,000.00. I have a Vanguard 30-06 with a VX-2 3-9x40(bought separately) that I wouldn't hesitate to take elk hunting.

The point being there are many choices in rifles today at good prices. OP should be able to find what he is looking for that checks all or almost all of his boxes for under a grand.

I'd get a Remington 7600 carbine and put a Leupold 2.5-8X on it.
(got the scope.....looking for the rifle LOL).

Forget wood. Wood can do weird things in weather conditions like swell or flex. Also more brittle. I would go with a Ruger American- street price around $400 new. They are very accurate, easy to take off safe, and have an aluminum bedding block in the stock. Also fed by box mag. For a scope I would shop Vortex. Great quality for the price, and a lifetime warranty.

Would not turn my nose up at a pre cerberus 7 mag Rem 700.
Heavy bullets cranked, is what it was designed for.
Blast, but recoil not bad IMHO (BDL stocks fit me well).
Had one, dumped it to get a .300 winmag. Liked it too, but got rid of it to get a .338 win mag (never did).

Buddy got a Classic in .35 Whelen. That was a hoot!
250 grainers at close to .338 winmag V (had to use a filler to keep std dev down- forget what propellant he was running).

That'd be a good elk round.............and an '06 of sorts LOL

As for a prev reply of never hunting with a Savage..................I do think the new stuff to be rather bland, even if they work well. They feel clunky to me.
I wouldn't make such a great trip and use such a boring rifle.

So count me out on any budget guns.

Savage...............a 99F in .300 Savage would be kinda cool (if the trigger was decent of course).

Style does count for something.

Savage 116 weather warrior in 30- 06 with accustock and accutrigger is what I bought specifically for elk when I lived in colorado. Accuracy that is as good as you can practically use or need, and the stainless and synthetic stock that can take everything elk country can throw at it.

My first elk season I used a nice old k98 mauser. After all of the brush and rock climbing from one season the stock looked like it had been through another war. I decided I wasn't going to do that to a nice wood stocked rifle again. Elk hunting is rough on gear, but there is nothing else like it. My most favorite type of hunting by a long shot.

I wandered into a gun shop that was selling out all of its stock and going out of business. For $679 I brought home a Tikka "Forester" (wood stocked) .30-'06, thinking I'd probably trade it or sell it eventually. That was in 2013, and it's still in my safe. It is simply a wonderfully shooting rifle. Easily a 1 MOA rifle with my hand loads. Maybe I just got a good one, I don't know, but I hear other owners like theirs just as much. It's a very light rifle and it has some recoil, so my sole modification was the addition of a LimbSaver recoil pad.... in addition to the Zeiss Conquest scope. The stock is fairly plain, but nicely checkered. It's perfect for hauling around in the woods if you're a hunter.

Edit: the model of the rifle is actually a "T3 Forest"