I have always set up so that I have a 300 yard circle ranged in advance and had my rifle sighted in so that everything in that zone was point and shoot without having to think. Not thinking just shooting works better and faster for me. Most any solid field rest will allow me to be accurate at 300 yards with no additional preparation required - no need for pack, sticks, bipod or laying on my belly to put 3 into a pie plate sometimes they stay inside a cigarette pack.
Many hundreds or thousands of practice rounds is about right for 300 yard accuracy in high adrenaline hunting situations. If you practice at longer ranges and know your equipment shots at 500 yards on calm or at most breezy days are pretty routine but are never Point and shoot without thinking. We practice out to 800 yards every year and at that distance a pie plate is in trouble but not a guaranteed hit by any means.
As a less experienced elk hunter with less practice and not as capable rangefinder and scope I passed on a few bulls and that drove me to get better tools and practice with them. My limits today are almost double what I felt good with 20 years ago. But my goals haven't changed - I still want to get within 300 yards and not have to think just shoot.
