30 cal + holes don't mean there'll be blood trails especially on elk. The last elk I saw shot with a 243 was at 210 yds, blood shot out his nose and mouth like coming from a garden hose, he didn't make 15 yds. Saw a cow elk hit at 219 yds with 270 gr 375 H&H there wasn't a spot of blood on the outside of her, she went 50 yds before falling over. Saw a spike elk hit with 154 gr 7x57 at 150 yds , there was a hole thru both shoulders and he almost beat his shadow to the ground. The bull I shot this year with the 405 at 151 yds didn't have any blood on his hair either. Little raghorn bull hit with 350 gr bullets from a hot loaded 45-70 , not enough blood outside to matter. Saw 3 cow elk shot this past week , 1 with an 06 and premium bullets, the other 2 with 300 something or nothers, there was blood everywhere, mostly on account of the vast amount of bullet holes in them.
Like BigStick said it don't matter a whole lot what you hit em with, it's more about putting the bullet where it'll do the most good.
