I' ve shot 11 moose in Northern Ontario, and they aren' t all that hard to put down. I' ve taken all of them with a .308, and 180 grain bullets of various types. The only one that took more than one shot was an old bull, but I screwed up on the first shot and hit him too far back. One more in the shoulder, and one through the lungs put him down nicely though. I' ve never taken an Elk, but from what I' ve read, they are substantially harder to put down than moose.