30-06 has plenty of power to make shots that 95% of the shooters have no business taking. I'm of the opinion that there is no reason for taking a shot at anything at over 400 yards. If you can't get closer than a quarter of a mile then you need to work on your stalking skills or learn to use terrain.

Now, there are a few shooters that have the skills and the eqpt to take the really long shots but they do so because they choose to and are not forced to. I grew up in elk country and I've always been able to get within 300 yards with 2 exceptions and both of those were within 400 yards. But it comes down to the experience of the guy/gal pulling the trigger and nothing else.