Being fortunate to hunt elk for over two decades, I have been a part of the post mortem of over 50 elk, of which 90% were cows. Like many, I began with magnum calibers because authors and fellow hunters said it was necessary. This meant I hauled out either a 300 Win Mag, a 300 WSM or a 338 Win Mag.. But after watching other cows goto to the meat shed from hunters using 308's and 270' with cup and core bullets, I began to change my mind. After my own streak of 19 cows and 3 bulls, I am convinced that a reasonably constructed bullet, well placed will do the job. Personally I hand loaded most everything with a Partition and cannot fault its performance at all. The last bull was taken quickly with a 6.5 CM using a 143 gr ELD-X at 115 yards. This year I plan to use a 7x57 with a 140/150 grain Partition. As often repeated here, success comes with proper placement. But use what you are confident with as a mountain rodeo is never a good thing.
Personally I think an exit wound is optimal as it provides for two sources of blood evidence. The quicker the animal loses blood pressure the better. The goal should be a quick clean kill to ensure fast recovery and optimal meat condition.
