Sitting here at my PC, it's easy to say I'd pass up a less than ideal shot...but after eager anticipation, costly travel and enduring the better part of a week in a frozen elk camp at 8500', many an ethical compass may be tempted to sway a little should "Mr. 400" present only a Texas heart-shot pose at an intermediate range such as 250 yards.
I often read something similar to this when someone is explaining his preference for a boomer cartridge, be it for elk or even deer.
Here's my question: Wouldn't a 30-06 with a good bullet be plenty to bust up the back end running gear of Mr. 400?
Honest question BTW, never popped an elk myself.
I have known it to work in that application, but have never done it myself.....To be honest I'd be unlikely to try it with anything on an unwounded bull.Wounded,anything goes,and if a cartridge/bullet combo is capable of breaking shoulders when you shoot them through the "correct end" of the animal,it makes sense that the same combo should be capable of breaking a hip or two......sort of a sloppy end for a grand animal IMHO,but sometimes circumstances dictate undesireable actions.
In the one instance I know of, a 30/06 with 165 Partition broke the hips of a running spike....shooting full length of an elk is another story altogether and if a guy is inclined to take those kind of shots,I would think only the larger calibers and stoutest bullets should be used.I have(once) driven a 200 gr Partition from forward of the right hip of a big bull to the off-side shoulder,breaking it in the process...the bull was staggered by the first shot and I was able to finish him quickly......that's as far as I would want to stretch things myself.....
On the issue of a 30/06 being insufficient,I find it kind of interesting that some would find the cartridge inadequate for a 700 pound animal,when guys like Phil Shoemaker and others have depended on the cartridge to roust out wounded brown bears....elk seem to elicite this kind of enthusiasm....
