I say if the man wants to hump a 14lb rifle up a mountain to set it up to shoot across a canyon at an elk so be it. As long as he can hit what he aim at he's got a good plan in my book for one way of doing it. Of course the guy in the tree's with a 30-30 might do it just as good. Apples and Oranges.
There's no rifle out there that will shoot clover leaf groups at 200yds without a shooter behind it. Now that's a fact. I've out shot bench rest guns with my hunting rifle at local shoots. Sure a nice rifle makes a good shooter even sweeter, but it does very little for a guy with bad shooting habits.
It's not so easy to just stick one in the boiler room at 700yds in hunting situations. Even 500-600yds has enough variables to make it a challenge without proper knowledge and decent equipment. You not likely to do this with a poor maintained rifle that has a horrible trigger pull. You have to know your rifle, your loads, and your conditions your up against to do it with effectiveness.
I commend the men that take the time learn their rifle so well. Cuz i'm that guy carrying that 26" 300win mag up that mountain, but mine is in a Ruger No1 and it is my sniper rifle. Cowboy up.