I have witnessed two cow elk shot with 7-08's.
Friends daughter with 140gr NP @ 2750fps=dead elk Weatherby youth rifle with 20" barrel.
Another friends wife with 154gr Hornady @ 2600 fps= dead elk Winchester classic compact with 20' barrel.
It's the where, more than the with what.
P
More precisely, it's where the bullet ends up at. Sometimes a bullet has to make the trip through parts of the back half to reach the front half, hence a good elk bullet should be a stout bullet.............
When it comes to elk I have more faith in a 100gr Partition out of one of my 243's than a conventional C&C bullet out of any of my 30-06's............
