I agree with many of the posts above. It's the man, not the weapon and load that is doing the hunting. A good hunter who can do what is needed physically can kill elk with iron sighted guns and do it nearly every year.
In hunting it's 98% the man and 2% the gun.
I know a man personally who told me he was building a "long range rifle" and would not need to get far from his vehicle. And one year he made a long shot when I was with him. It was not "stupid long", but a bit over 700 yards...........UPHILL from the road.
I smiled and said, "OK, go get him" .
Now 700 yards is not even 1/2 mile. I thought he was going to have a heart attack hiking up to the elk carrying nothing but a butt pack and that huge 15 + pound rifle and scope. Then he was hit by the fact that a good bull will weight about 700 pound dressed out. And all that 700 pounds had to get down to the road. Many times you have to take them UP hill. He looked like he was dying, and I almost felt bad telling him he was lucky. It was not the usual mile or more, and NONE of it was uphill.
Well he did it, although we were finishing up by flash light on the last trip up and down with the back-boards. The shot was made around mid day.
That was his 1st and last elk.
He is quite lazy and will not get into shape, so hunting antelope on flatter ground is now what he likes to do. He shoots that rifle quite well from the bench, but so far I have seen him miss about 50% of the antelope he's fired at too.
