ELKampMaster,
Excellent post. I couldn' t agree more about every point you make. Although I don' t have any experience with hunting elk. You have obviously hunted whitetail as you have characterized thier behavior quite accurately. They will, on many occassions, offer a second or third opportunity if they have not winded the shooter. I will take your word for it that elk don' t offer this type of 2nd chance often enough to be too patient or picky. Not to mention the terrain elk are found in often necessitate dropping them before they become un-retrievable.
And re: the issue of wasting/not wasting meat. I applaud your bringing up the point of using all of the game. If you' re going to worry about wasting meat, you should take every opportunity to utilize every scrap. You owe it to the animal and the sport to not be wasteful. If there are cuts you don' t prefer see that someone that wants it takes it. I don' t care for the ribs, but my buddy uses them (not before I steal the skirt meat off' em first).

And bravo to you to exhault the under-appreciated " medium speed" projectile. In this day of blistering speed and all the hype that goes with it, medium to slow moving bullets wil continue to bring home the bacon....intact.