You might want to read this blog, just for entertainment value.

Among other things the guy "quotes" P.O. Ackley (who I don't believe ever shot an elk, and possibly not a deer, in his life) about the number of foot-pounds required to kill an elk.

The numbers don't come from Ackley himself, but from a chapter in his 1962 book HANDBOOK FOR SHOOTERS AND RELOADERS. The authority quoted is Paul Von Furstenberg, who according to Ackley "has had wide experience hunting big game and is an accomplished ballistics engineer." Von Rosenberg, however, admits that he had taken "just 50 head of big game, and witnessed about 30 more being taken by hunting companions." His 50 head "include deer, elk, antelope, goat and bear."

From this Von Rosenberg does some calculating and lists minimum, adequate and preferred foot-pounds for taking various kinds of big game, though he never mentions bullet construction except for full-metal-jacket and expanding types.

Our blogger evidently has great faith in these numbers. Or maybe it's one the people who post on his blog. He doesn't really differentiate.

“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.”
John Steinbeck