Personally I would choose the 30'06 and buy a Leupold Variex III scope wiht a Boone and Crocket reticle and limit my shooting to 500 yards.
I have harvested a 5x5 bull elk with my 270, 150 grain partitions. One shot in the ribs and he didn't go far. Out here in Alberta, the 270 is by far the most popular big game cartridge for all game, and the general concensus is that elk are tough, and sometimes take a number of rounds to finish off.. And in many cases that number of rounds are not limited to standard cartridges, but include magnums. I think ther was a post on here where somebody shot an elk 6 times with a 338 mag.. Please correct me if I am wrong. So hedging your bets with the strongest caliber you can shoot accurately is sage advice from the members on this board.
great post
When you talk about marksmanship and proficiency tests on this forum, everybody understand your context and sentiment. But that kind of testing is also what the anti gun / anti hunting crowd would like to see. Once the test is in place, they just raise the standard till nobody can pass. And don't be calling the 25-06 a pop gun![:@]
Wow , should I watch out for black helicopters too or do you have more conspiracy theories ? For elk at 600 yards the 25-06 is a pop gun. I consider anyone using it at that range on Elkto be a bit of a @@@@@a@@ .Now it wouldn't bother me if used on Coyotes or Wolves(when they become legal game) Shooting a light gun isnt equivalent to ultralight fishing and orcatch and release.