I agree with Dober in that the .25-06 doesn't necessarily HAVE to make a mess. About 2 weeks ago I shot 2 badgers within 24 hours. I shot both of them with a 100gr CL going 3300 fps. The first was a female that provided me with a frontal shot as she was staring at me from 40 yards away. When I fired she flipped over onto her back and didn't even flinch. There was a small bullet hole at the base of the neck and no exit.
The next was a larger male, who was about 30 yards away and quartering away from me. I shot him at the onside point of the shoulder, with the bullet angling forward towards the head. There was a .257" hole in the shoulder and about a 1.5 caliber sized hole under the offside eye-socket.
I'm sure that if had used a 75gr Vmax on that second badger I would have blown his head clean off.
It's all about bullet choice and placement when using the .25-06 on large varmints (and that pretty much covers every cartridge and every quarry, too
).
