These rifle's have their limitations; no question about that.
I have no delusions of them being some magical game-dropper in itself. Of course shot placement will always be the primary factor. Part of airgunning is getting as close as you can to the game. It is a "hunters" method rather than a "shooters" method. Much more sense of accomplishment getting close.
NONYA it sounds like you are in some pretty open territory where 100-200+ yard shots are the norm. Point taken. I imagine a bow and arrow or a handgun would be equally worthless as well but that doesn't make it reasonable to assume they are only good for "penned animals", does it?
100 yard shots may be the norm where you live but in Willamette Valley Oregon (and much of the rest of the world) 50-75 yards is about as far as you will have to shoot for the most part. I certainly would not use an airgun on a big game animal past 100 yards with any airgun that did not have the proper trajectory for it (coyote on the other hand...time for the .308 airgun). You would be hard pressed to find an air rifle that would meet my personal trajectory criteria at that range for big game. The trajectory drop would be multiple inches every 5 yards at 100 yards in most bigbore airguns with sufficient power to take big game. That IMO would be a ridiculous trajectory to try to hit a big game animal with.
My own criteria for a big game air rifle is no more than two inches high of POA out to 50 yards and no more than four inches below POA. Four inches of drop is usually about 65-70 yards with most big-bore combinations when zeroed at around 50 yards. Better range than a bow and about the same as most handgun hunting. I am limiting myself to broadside boiler room shots (top of the heart) at around 50 yards so I know I'm under 60. I feel I can compensate 4 inches of drop at that range and still hit the heart with good energy.
NONYA SAID "Come on out and kill a free ranging antelope or elk with one and ill give you the benefit of the doubt."
If this is a genuine invitation and not a rhetorical statement, and it is legal to hunt antelope with an air rifle in your state, I would be more than happy to come out and hunt antelope with my .452 BigBore I am getting in December. It throws a 205 grainer at over 1000fps and has about 120 more FPE on impact at 100 yards than I hit that ram with. He wasn't in a pen, by the way, but that is neither here nor there as the pellet could not tell the difference, the ram could not tell the difference, and any deer or antelope would have met the same result with the same shot placement wherever he is (remember these guns are very accurate). The whole point of shooting the ram was to show that these airguns can do the job well. I will continue to travel wherever I can legally hunt big game with my big bore air rifle.
So if the accuracy is there (it will be) then it has the power for 100 yards kills on deer. Though it misses my personal trajectory requirement at that range by almost half an inch so you will have to settle for a 95 yard shot instead
For Elk you will have to wait until I get my .50 caliber and I have finished testing it to see if it meets my criteria. Elk are kinda big, you know