Honestly, I see the poor ol stepchild 25-06 A's a "cross over" cartrige that just doesn't make sense.
It's a lil large for varmints, & my personal minimum hunting rifle is a 270, so I just don't see any practicality in the ol quarter bore. Thier bullets B.C. is low, & it just doesn't do anything exceptionally well, that the others can't do better.
To me, a varmint gun is a 222, 223, 22-250, or 243. An Elk rifle starts at 270 & goes up from there.
On a side note, All my hunting rifles pull double duty (Elk & ? -Deer, Bear, Antelope etc. but Elk is always a consideration of mine when making a "hunting rifle" purchase.
I know lots of Elk have been killed with a 25-06, & even a .243 for that matter, & I'm not sayin it can't or shouldn't be done. I just put a Personal minimum of 270Win. for Bullet weight, Speed, Energy, & B.C. & S.D. on my Elk cartriges. If the 270 "sets the bar" then the quarterbore falls short for ME on everything but Deer, & Antelope. Like I said, All my guns pull "Double Duty" & Elk are on my menu.
I guess if I lived down south, & whitetail was my largest quary it'd be an Awesome cartrige.
But I live & play in the northwest. Partly, it's how, & where I was raised, family tradition (a.k.a. "our love affairs with 270's & anything 30, or 338 caliber) Where you find Elk, you can also typically find wolf tracks, & big bear tracks, & cougar tracks. That's a far cry from sitting in a "motel on stilts" watching a pasture or "food plot" waiting for a deer to here the dinner bell feeder, & your biggest predator is a coyote that can't climb a ladder to join you..... So of course my family has long considered the 270 a's the minimum. What would you send your kid out in the woods with?
I think a lot of opinions, for or against certain cartriges, & thier capabilities are "geographically formed". I know with absolute certainty that the 25-06 blows the doors off of my .50 cal muzzle loader, & I wouldn't hesitate using my muzzle loader on Elk to 200 yds if conditions allowed. So go figure....? It's all in what your comfortable & confident with, how & what you were taught, & where, & what you hunt.