I use the .35 Whelen cartridge for the bigger species for the past 18 years or so. Have taken about 10 elk, a moose , a big mountain caribou, and several whitetail deer. The main advantage to me is that with good stout 250 grain bullets it will shoot right through a big 400 kg. elk. I like that, seems like I get slightly quicker kills and certainly easier tracking jobs with an exit hole. Tracking has always been a short job. 50 meters max. except for one deer that I hit a bit too far back (in the liver) with a 250 grain Speer GS, launched at 2500 fps. That bullet kills the much bigger elk very well but hardly opened up on the 100 kg. deer, resulting in a long tracking job. With quicker opening bullets the .35 whelen is a very fast deer killer, but in my opinion is a bit big for the job. I shot my friends .338 win mag to compare recoil levels, to me the Whelen kicks noticeably less and field results on game at normal ranges seem identical to the bigger magnums.
I have used a Rem 700 classic mostly, also a Ruger #1, and currently own a Sako AV classic re-barreled to .35W with 1-12" twist.
packing out the antlers of my best elk that was taken with the Whelen, 250 hornady RN at about 100M, running shot thru the lungs, bullet exited, elk ran about 50 M.
a big bull caribou on a mountaintop in the Yukon, about 220M Speer GS, spine shot. bullet exited.
cow elk at about 150M
Federal 225 gr. TBBC factory load. lung shot, cow ran about 20M.
