Your thinking is correct. As was said before don’t wait for years to draw a tag and bank on that as “The elk hunt experience”. There is a steep learning curve to being consistently successful in elk hunting, and any time you can spend in the mountains chasing elk continues the education. So then...
I have an Athlon Ares. and I am very happy with it. Compared it side by side on a coues hunt, With a Leupold 12-40x60 non HD. The Leupold had a little warmer color, but the Ares was slightly sharper. As others have said. Schmalts will have the best prices.
Great gun. A pain to clean but they shoot good. I still shoot a Knight Bighorn, which is a longer barreled version of the Wolverine. It’s been too accurate for me to upgrade to another one.
I bought an Athlon Aries 15-45x65 nice little scope. Not high end but does what I need it to do. I Upgraded from a low end Vortex, there is a big difference in clarity. Try Schmalts on the forum here for the best pricing. But it is some more than what you are wanting to spend.
People I know have used both. But they prefer the lead bullets for elk. They claim to have had bad performance from the solid copper ones. ???? But I love Barnes TEZ bullets and not sure why these would perform any different.