I've never taken a Texas Heart Shot (THS) and hope I never do, but part of why it's effective, and they say it's very effective, is that the liver is a vital organ, one, and that the sheer, pathetic, overwhelming trauma of being shot up the a$$ with a high-powered rifle tends to make the shoot-ee give up and lay down, two. Imagine the punch in the gut THAT must be. It's not supposed to be pleasant for the shooter either, involving very sick animals in a lot of pain, and a very messy cleanup job afterwards possibly to include ruined tenderloins. But they go down.
All that said, if I can visualize a straight path to the vitals I would take the shot with my .338... possibly even to include the THS. Call it what you will, elk hunting is very hard work... VERY hard work... and for many of us a low-percentage affair bordering on insane obsession. When you finally get a shot at an animal it'd be a shame to have to pass it up for lack of gun, of all things.
-jeff
