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Originally Posted by JerryM
Considering the short hunting seasons, number of hunters in the field, availability of game, and the fact that elk are tough critters, why use a .243 by choice?
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That really depends on where you're hunting.
Elk season where I hunt means we'll see about 20 hunters over the course of opening day, but at least 15 of them will be on ATVs - just running up and down the main road. By Sunday (opening day is ALWAYS Saturday), half of those hunters have gone home (empty-handed, of course).
By Monday, we are usually the only people left in the "hunting zone", with the next camp about 6-8 miles away. We have all the time in the world, and hundreds (thousands?) of acres to ourselves. With no one else 'pushing' the Elk; when we find them, we're rousing the Elk from their beds.
How 'bout another perspective:
Most Elk hunters here are after cows, for the tasty meat. If you plan to neck/head shoot the animal, why use anything bigger than the .243 Win? It's just a waste of cartridge, if you're just blowing up a head, or shattering the spine. Going for the uber-magnum is likely to just cause flinching, and, in my opinion, is even more likely to result in a poor shot and a wounded animal.
I've seen the "lowly" .270 Winchester pull off the old "Texas Heart Shot", and the "Immobilizer":
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He talked ... of shooting for the base of the tail to break the spine and disable the animal until he could make a killing shot.
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I can tell you from experience, the .243 Win is perfectly capable of the same performance.
Know the animal's anatomy, and choose an appropriate bullet for the job.
Those two concepts apply to ANY cartridge, not just the "little guys".
Whether or not you find it ethical to "break the animal down" with multiple shots, is a completely different subject (since even the uber-magnum shooters often use the tactic). Trying to punch enough holes to immobilize the animal requires no real skill, regardless of the cartridge being used.