Regarding just how tiny of cartridge a hunter can possibly get by with…
The bull, whose rack is hanging over one of my benches was shot with a 338 Win Mag and 250 grain partitions. That bull was walking into the thick dog hair when I pulled the trigger at dawn; he made it about 25 steps. That bullet entered the Texas heart hole and ended up in the neck. That bull was the largest bodied old bull the butcher in Belle Fourche ever saw and he had been a butcher for about 60 years. It had been kicked out of the heard by a younger bull. Carrying it to the butcher, it was hanging out over the down tail gate on an 8 foot box pickup. All the meat was made into hamburger per the butchers strong recommendation.
Yes, I know a guy who killed an elk with a 25-35. He was pretty sure that was the perfect elk cartridge - didn’t ruin any meat.
I know a guy, since passed, who killed 18 bull moose with an Interarms MKX. The MKX was chambered for the 243 Winchester which he always fed whatever was cheapest jn 100gr loadings. These were Alaska Yukon bulls too, roughly twice the size of big bull elk.
I also have killed a bull elk with a shot up the rearend. I missed the Oring and hit the hip socket. But the 130 Nosler out of my 270 made it all the way up to exit behind the shoulder. He didn’t even make it 25 inches as he fell straight down.
Shoot what you can hit them with, use good bullets, and go kill stuff.
