Not all that many people subsistence hunted even in that generation. Anyways, it was just to say that a lot of deer have died to caliber inferior to a 5.56 firing a premium 69 grain bullet.
The further north you go, the more common subsistence hunting becomes, and in many hamlets throughout Nunavut, the variety of available ammunition that's carried at the local co-op is somewhat limited. Arguably small barren land caribou are easier to kill than whitetail deer, so to say that because an Inuit hunter kills seals and caribou with his small bore rifle, therefore I can kill deer with one too, a claim that's been made on here from time to time, isn't fair to the game. For example an ethical sport hunter wouldn't consider breaking a game animal's leg with a .22 Hornet so it could be herded to a place where it could be more conveniently slaughtered and butchered. Even today that's unlikely to occur with Inuit hunters who have access to snowmobiles and power boats, although some still travel and hunt with dogs. Small bore rifles like the .22-250 remain very popular, and are most likely loaded with factory 55 gr PSPs. Can a high velocity small bore rifle kill a deer humanely? In the right hands sure, but it the expert's gun, not the novice's. If he knows a humane killing shot can be made within 100 yards, will the novice sport hunter have the self discipline not to shoot at 150? How about 125? Will he wait for that quartering deer to turn broadside? Yet these are chump shots for even a mediocre rifleman armed with a .270 or a .308.
At one time I envisioned a survival rifle based on a Thompson Contender with a folding stock chambered for the 6mm-TCU. Today I still consider the Contender a viable platform for a survival rifle, but would probably opt for the .223 rather than the 6mm. A loaded .223 round weights about the same as a single .30 caliber bullet, about 220 grs, so a couple of pounds of ammo yields 60-65 rounds. Loaded with 64 gr Nosler Bonded Performance bullets, the .223 could fill the same role without giving up anything in terms of trajectory or terminal performance, assuming you were in any shape to hunt after a light plane or helicopter mishap, or perhaps after putting your boat into the rocks, and avoid drowning. I'd envision that rifle being used for geese and maybe caribou, although finding caribou when you're afoot in the barrens is a daunting prospect, where even finding game can consume more energy than the meat from it would provide in return. Geese on the other hand are plentiful from May till September. The key is that being armed, even minimally, provides both the hope and confidence you need to survive in a desperate situation, where your state of mind has as much to do with survival, as what you have with you.
The point of all this is that subsistence hunting is a real thing even in the modern world, but subsistence hunting is not analogous with sport hunting. The sport hunter who goes home empty handed says, "Well, that's hunting," where the subsistence hunter makes no comment, having realized that another day without food is a day closer to death.