What calibers DO hunters use for deer - quasi-statistical answer

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galamb

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So the rifle/shotgun season just wrapped up for deer in most of Southern Ontario.

To answer a question about "what caliber for deer" I crunched all our sales numbers for ammo sold in the few weeks before and during deer season to see "what" guys/gals are shooting - or more correctly - "what are they buying ammo for".

Now, not scientific by any means - doesn't account for the handloaders or factor in that maybe "Bob" bought his box of shells two years ago and still had some left - just really a "snapshot" of a single deer hunting season in Eastern Ontario.

So here's some (raw) numbers:

54% of all ammunition sales were for rifle (all legal deer calibers, excluding varmint loads) and 46% for shotguns (slugs, sabot's and buckshot).

In shotgun loads 92% used 12 gauge and 8% used 20 gauge.

In centerfire calibers the top two, virtually tied (22.4% vs 21.7% of total sales) should be no surprise - 30.06 sprg and 308 win respectively, followed by:

30.30 Win - 16.0%

270 Win - 12.2%

243 Win - 9.9%

303 Brit - 7.2%

7mm Rem Mag - 3.0%

300 Win Short Mag - 2.7%

300 Win Mag - 1.9%

7.08 Rem - 1.1%

270 Win Short Mag - 0.8%

All others - 1.1% combined*

(300 Sav, 250 Sav, 45.70 Gov, 25-06 Rem, 257 Roberts, 280 Rem, 7-30 Waters, 260 Rem, 6.5 Creed, 6.5 Swede, 257 Wby, 300 Wby)


Points of note - the "highest ranking" MAGNUM caliber was the 7mm Rem Mag at 3% and all magnums combined come in under 10% (so less than 1 in 10 deer hunters is using a magnum).

As noted in the start, some of the less popular/main stream caliber numbers may be skewed because of hand loading - eg. I hand load all my 7.08 and 25.06 ammo - too expensive on the shelf and very limited variety if it's there at all.

So when the question comes up, the answer for the "average joe/jane hunter is" - if you choose a 30.06, 308, 30.30, 270 or 243 you will shooting with about 80% of the deer hunting population (at least in my piece of Ontario).
 
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing! I wonder how that list would change in Western Canada? I was quite surprised how many shotgun deer hunters you have there, shouldn't have been though. Makes perfect sense. I think it would be very difficult or impossible to do the same survey in Saskatchewan and apply it to deer hunting, a great many of our big game hunters also hunt elk, moose, and some pronghorn and bears and lots also shoot coyotes. I'd still be curious about ammunition sales on the Prairies, anybody have the numbers?
 
I thought the smaller cals would have been a higher percentage. Isn't parts of Ontario regulated to 270 and smaller? If so this may help explain the lower magnum numbers.
 
Things vary a bit in Southern Ontario.

There is wildlife "units" that allow rifles for deer and a great many that only allow shotgun (more populated areas, livestock farm areas etc).

The 270 restrictions is for "small game" (including coyote) and unless I'm mistaken, all the area's that have that restriction are Shotgun/Muzzle loader or Bow "ONLY" deer areas - no rifles at all.

Our moose season does extend into/past the deer season, but many moose hunters are done a week or two before the deer season, so I kinda/sorta filtered out the sales that were "most probably" for moose hunters (very early October).

And as suggested, I would suspect that "western calibers" might be somewhat different. There is a "perception" that out west you have to shoot long range, and even if you (personally) don't the caliber choice might be effected by "collective wisdom".

I was actually surprised that between the 30.30 and 303 they accounted for almost 25%.

You would be hard pressed to get either caliber as a recommendation if you walked into a gun shop and asked for a suggestion for a deer rifle.
 
Hazarding a guess; merely a guess of course, but mightent the fact that a gun store wouldn't recommend them be financally driven?
An average gun shop isn't going to make much $$$ off of a 30-30 or a 303 br; such rifles put ' Game on the ground ' cheaply and effeciently.(
 
Surprised to not even see a mention of 7.62x39 - With Hornady SST rounds, it's very effective, and moderately widely used around here.

Not surprised at all to see 30-30 and .303 near the top of the list. The old standards became standards for a reason. They work.
 
Working at a CT gun counter I sold a lot of: .243, .270, 30/30, .308 and 300 win mag ammo, and lots of guns in all but the 30/30.

Never worked there during anything but bear and goose season though. Lots of guys buying their single box of yearly ammo with their draws though.

I was always surprised by how much more popular the .270 seemed than the /06. Seemed the 30 cal guys liked the .308 or 160 grain 300 win mags.

.270 WSM was also "surpisingly" popular.

'06 and 7mm Rem Mag (7mm as bubba called it) were fairly popular but not as much as I would think from my social circle/ this sight.

We had a big stock of 7.62x39 privi I would use as my personal stash, but it was not a hit.

I feel like 7mm RM, 300 Win and now the WSM's may be more of a Western thing? Heard the desire for a "flat shooting" caliber a lot, but most of the time this just meant the guy wanted to be able to plug away at indeterminate range with a slightly better chance of hitting the target than with his perfectly flat shooting .270 or 30-06.
 
I reload but if and when I can hunt deer in center fire zones first on my list is 25/06. Hand loaded though. Next would be a sxs 45/70. Also hand loaded. Third would be either 300 savage or 458 wm. Probably the 458. I just love it

I use 50 Cal muzzleloaders as I hunt in a front stuffer only area
 
Yeah right.... if you went by most gun boards and half of what's said here it's not even possible to kill a deer with anything smaller than a .408 Cheytac. lol, lol, lol .....

Interesting data though. No surprise .308 and 30:06 are at the top.

Thanks for posting.
 
This only answers what factory was used I wonder what the results would be for all deer hunting cartridges including reloaded
I'll bet 30-06 would still be on top
 
bat119 said:
This only answers what factory was used I wonder what the results would be for all deer hunting cartridges including reloaded
I'll bet 30-06 would still be on top
Click to expand...

I bet .308 wouldn't change much in standing with reloading either.
 
Royzo said:
I thought the smaller cals would have been a higher percentage. Isn't parts of Ontario regulated to 270 and smaller? If so this may help explain the lower magnum numbers.
Click to expand...

galamb said:
There is wildlife "units" that allow rifles for deer and a great many that only allow shotgun (more populated areas, livestock farm areas etc).

The 270 restrictions is for "small game" (including coyote) and unless I'm mistaken, all the area's that have that restriction are Shotgun/Muzzle loader or Bow "ONLY" deer areas - no rifles at all.
Click to expand...

I have an uncle that lives in one of the calibre-restricted municipalities. While it's true he can't take it deer hunting where he lives, he wanted something that he could take north moose hunting, yet still be legal for groundhogs/coyotes at home. He chose a .270.
 
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