I've hunted elk with a .44 Mag Ruger Super Redhawk revolver, a Browning B92 carbine, Marlin in .30-30, .375 .Winchester and .45-70. Effective range increased in that order. I've also used a .257 Roberts, which increased effective range even further.
While short range weapons were fine in the woods, they are far less useful where shot opportunities could be out to as far as I'd be willing to shoot under perfect conditions (600 yards, the limit of my regular practice). For those shots I prefer 7mm RM, .30-06, .300WM or 338WM. They work at close range, too.
I've spent a lot of time in southwest Missouri (Stockton and Springfield area). Lots of places where long shots would be rare but lots of others where they could be common. Kind of depends on whose land you would be hunting and time of year (leaves on the trees or no). Here in Colorado and when we hunt Wyoming for antelope we need to plan for opportunities where you find them, short or long. For me that means planning for the long shot and hoping for a short one.
Nothing wrong with a small caliber with fast high S.D., high B.C. bullets for hunting Missouri. I was shooting my .243 at 600 yards yesterday with 95g SST bullets. They work fine on antelope and, although I would probably switch to a 95g Barnes LRX for whitetail. That would cover anything from 0-500 yards, even for a record Missouri whitetail.
Nothing wrong with a .308/120g TTSX - that's is what Daughter #1 used for elk until she got a .270. In terms of retained velocity and energy, the .308/130 TTSX will do at 600 what the .243/95g LRX will do at 500. The .270 with a 150g ABLR stretches that out to 800-1000 yards depending on whether you look at velocity or energy.
No wrong answers, just personal preference.
