I'm reading "The Wilderness Hunter" by Theodore Roosevelt at the moment, in which he describes several elk hunts in the Rocky Mountains. He mostly describes shots from 30 to 150yds and also states that he would usually shoot until the elk was down. On an elk hunt he would usually expend 2.5 cartridges per elk killed. In all of these hunts he used a Winchester 1876 centennnial in caliber .45-75, which produces around 1600 ft/lbs of muzzle energy. After reading the book, I'd personally want a bit more energy, especially at longer ranges.
