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if you know your bullet drop, wind drift, and FTLBs, have a good idea of the range and can make a good determination of where that bullet needs to go then it is not unethical to move from a 200 yard max to a 500 yard max.
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The biggest problem with that statement is this:
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have a good idea of the range
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Let's take the OP's .308 WIN and the 180gr bullet several people have suggested, and we'll even assume it has a pretty good BC- we'll say .500:
The shooter sees his elk way out there in a flat (not even any vertical angle to figure, how convenient) and the wind is calm (so simple, right?) The shooter guesses 450 yards when the range is actually 480.... cause anybody could make a 30 yard estimation error at 1/4 mile away..... Our Hero lines up the perfect broadside shot, adds his ups and settles his crosshairs on the animal's heart, steadies his breathing, ..... squeezes the trigger on his 1.0 MOA rig which is resting on his rock solid backpack ....BOOM! ....... (.66 seconds elapses, in which by some miracle, the animal remained perfectly still)... the bullet will pass 11 inches below ( 30 yard range estimation error) POA, in a 5 inch-ish circle ( 1 MOA @ roughly 500)..... if the shooter is very lucky the bullet might hit in the very top of that 5" and he might still get his elk ..... it'd be twice as likely to hit in the half of that circle forward most on the animal ...... and hit it in the foreleg.....lost animal.
Oh, you hold to the shoulder? A 30 yard range estimation error the other way can result in a miss or a hit above the spine...... do you see the point?
And all this assumes that the shooter makes no error in position/hold, breathing, wind, up/dawn angle, knows his trajecory better than a ballistics program, etc. .... just a 30 yard oops on his "good idea of the range"...... and having never fired beyond 200 yards, 30 yards would be a very good guess.