the most perfect round ever invented buy man for the true sports is the old and very reliable .308 winchester. there is no north american animal anywhere that cannaot be dispatched with one well placed bullet in 168gr boned core. and if your only hunting animals from elk and smaller (wt deer, muley, antelope, or pig) there really is no justificatiion for anything larger than a .308. anything larger is over kill ont he meat of an animal and overkill on your shoulder. remember if you really are a meat hunter, you need a bullet capable of reaching out to two hundred yards, MAX, and delivering enough energy to kill quikly with out creating a lot of "blood shot". as an ex pro- meat hunter/ poacher i have use almost every caliber to kill deer and other various game, and i ALWAYS come back to the .308, it does everything the.30-06 does, but with 1/3 less recoil. shoot straight.
