Nomercy,
"....but would anyone like to do a record search on how many buffalo were killed with a .30WCF (.30-30win)? Maybe I'll just line up their tongues and let you walk around the world on them about 15 times....
30-30 showed up in 1895, the great buffalo slaughter was essentially done by then, wrong cartridge I'm afraid.
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In answer to the thread title, "30-06 jack of all trades master of none?"
I would answer in the affirmative, yes, and a GREAT "jack of all trades" it is. That said, while it is one of the best (IMHO) first centerfire high power rifles one can start building a rack of rifles around..... the more rifles you get (especially if you spaced them out in terms of caliber) the LESS useful the 30-06 becomes as your rack of rifles increases and you now have speciality cartridges which are superior to the 30-06 for a given specialty, thus the "master of none".
However, a lot of folks find the 30-06 so satifactory that it becomes their mainstay, they find it sufficient and satisfactory for their hunting needs, the money goes somewhere else and then that is it. IMHO, nothing wrong with that, not the course all of us choose take however, and nothing wrong with taking that alternative (specialized) route either.
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BTW, if I was going into my piggy bank for a new, dedicated elk hammer it would be chambered for a "338RUM class" cartridge.