Dead is certainly dead and a bunch of necropsy results might be enlightening but in my small sample of less than 20 elk killed or witnessed between a 30-06, 7mm RM, 300 Win mag and 300 Weatherby the most powerful weapon has produced the shortest distance travelled after the animal was hit. Right now a 75 yard flip and roll is the longest trailing job with the Weatherby.
I have a filmed hunt of a friend killing an enormous bull elk on a big ranch in Utah with a 308 Norma mag at about 400 yards. It absorbed 4 fatal shots before it died and covered 300 yards walking and trotting after the first hit. It did indeed die on the ridge right before it reached a deep canyon that would have added 1/2 a day to the retrieval. Would a 270 have stopped it as soon or sooner - who knows but my friend has an identical 270 rifle that stayed home because he wanted the extra oomph. If all I had was a 270 I'd sure use it but for elk I'd always go with the Norma. I don't think it would matter one bit on a deer out to 500 yards or so.
