I've seen elk lost to calibers all across the board exclusively to poor shot placement and poor bullet choice. You shoot within the bullets capabilities and put it where it needs to be and the animal dies plain and simple. I shot a cow 20 years ago with a 7mm mag 175gr win power point at 150 yds. Three times I shot and three times I hit her in the boiler. She had a very hard time dying. When I finally got her and opened her up all three shots were within a fists' size placed perfectly behind her shoulder. Once the bullets got to her rib cage it looked like she had been shot with bird shot, the bullets had disintegrated, I learned a lot about bullets that day. Moral of the story is you need the right bullet too. I have used a .25 caliber for years and have taken 14 or 15 elk with it, I love the caliber. I use a handload 115gr tsx or sometimes a 120gr partition. If you do your part and practice and don't over extend your range the 25-06 is a great caliber.