No offense, but this is one of the most ridiculous statements I may have ever read on a forum.
I'd guess that around 90% of trophy animals killed each year are within 100 yds. Many guides that I've talked to, especially when hunting for dangerous game, won't even let a hunter shoot past 100 yds. My family (on my mother's side) is from Zambia and Tanzania. They hunt more in a year than any of us here in the USA hunt in 10 years. They own 13,000 hectares. My cousin also guides part time on his land. He hunts EVERYTHING with a Model 70 Classic in .270. He's taken eland, lion, leopard, and just about every other horned species with it. Giraffe too. His longest shot on a trophy animal is less than 200 yds, on the plains. When he visited me last year, we spent an entire evening discussing hunting. He is astonished that people use magnums for any game in North America, other than the big bears. His exact words were "Why do so many American hunters feel the need to use such cannons?" Do you know what the most popular round is for deer sized game in his area? The .223 Remington.
There are many serious deer hunters in my family. The most popular round is the 30-06. Second is the .243. The only reason for that is because they wanted something more accurate that their old Marlin 336 rifles. In KY, you are allowed ONE buck each season. Last year, they took a 140, a 150, two that were over 160 and one monster that was 179 B&C. These are gross scores. Not ONE of those deer was killed past 100 yds, and not ONE of them was taken over a food plot, baited area, etc. Only two were taken with a rifle. The others were bow kills.
Energy doesn't kill. Animals die from tissue trauma and loss of blood pressure, nothing more, nothing less.
The only reason some states have minimum requirements on energy is that it's the ONLY quantitative measurement comparison between rounds that is readily available.
If energy was the key to killing, then bow hunters, boar hunters who use knives and spears, black powder hunters, and any other form of killing that isn't a based on a large cased centerfire round would never accomplish their task.
Whether you spout kinetic energy (muzzle energy), the Wooters Lethality Index, or the Taylor Knockout Formula, it all comes down to hitting a vital area on the animal.
Put a projectile of any kind through the lungs or heart, said animal will soon die. It doesn't care if the projectile has 5000lbs of energy or 500lbs of energy.
So, it doesn't matter what you hunt with as long as you can hit the right area on the animal.
On the Weatherby Vanguards.... I had the Vanguard Varmint Special in .223 and .308. Very nice, accurate rifles at a good price.