I love my 25-06, and I know, sure, it will kill elk at 200 yards fairly easily with a good marksman. But...I also know that I have a 7mm Rem. Mag that will do more damage and have bullets built for that kind of job (plus bullets less than .26 are illegal in NE for elk). I would suggest at least a280 (7mm-06 basically) for a good elk rifle. All the better, I'm a fan of the 7mm Rem Mag, and even a 300 Win mag would be nice for elk. They're tough critters and can go a long ways if you haven't fully disabled them.