While I have never hunted Elk I may not be qualified to answer your question. At any rate I will provide my take on the subject.

First and foremost, regardless of caliber or cartridge the right bullet must be used, and that bullet must be put in the right place to be able to perform. I am not sure what the PERFECT bullet is, or even if it exists, but in my opinion the choosen bullet must expand fairly rapidly to create as much shock as possible, but yet have the integrety to hold together to penetrate.

There are many bullets that possess these qualities, and in my opinion the cartridge that propells the bullet to a desired velocity level only has a merit on the range on which the bullet will perform.

I have often read that the minumum inpact ENERGY for a Rifle Type Bullet to be effective on Elk Size Game is 1500 Foot Pounds. In the case of your 7mm-08 a 150gr. Nosler Partition would probably fill the bill. If you want to increase the range with that weight & type of bullet, go to a larger capacity cartridge to gain more velocity.

I am still researching the .284 Winchester in a Encore, and it in my opinion it may indeed be one of the better choices out there without going to a magnum class cartridge, but it will still have limitations.

LArry