What is the smallest cartridge YOU would hunt whitetail deer with?

right

a while back I cleaned up a bunch of stupid threads about smallest / biggest caliber / cartridge and the longest / shortest shot, along with all the moral / ethical internet police threads that followed.

As I recall some people got enough infraction points to earn themselves a little time out

Let’s not repeat that little learning experience……


so check your regs to see what is legal and use your own good conscious to select whatever you like.
 
Last edited:
Depends whether you are in bush or not, mountains or not, take what you want to do to the gun shop and talk it over with several clerks.
 
My favourite is the 7x57. I used a .250 Savage for a time and had no problems with it, and I'd have no problems with using a .243. If you were pushing bush or running hounds I'd opt for a larger calibre.
 
.22 Eargesplitten Loudenboomer........just because I like the name ;) But it all seriousness I use a 30-30, .303 or .308 as that is what I have.
 
I have no 243 at present, but I have killed a lot of deer with it's first cousin, the 6mm Remington.

Most have been taken with the 100 Partition, some with the 95 Partition, and a couple with the 85 Partition.

Regards, Dave.
 
I have often wondered about trying my 22.250 with a 70 grain SP but am afraid of losing the animal. I saw a nice buck a fellow had taken a couple seasons ago with a 223 and I have to say I was shocked at the amount of damage it did and a 22-250 should outperform a 223 IMO but I still hesitate at the thought I may make a bad shot and not get a nice clean kill. I think personally a 30-30 inside of 100 yards would be my minimum choice.
Truth is I am far from being a veteran big game hunter. I could count on one hand the number of deer hunts I have participated in and have only taken one to date. I shot it with my grandfathers model 71 348 Win.
 
my 22 250 would never let me down ,because it hits were you aim ,and that is the most important part of putting a deer down ,you got to hit it were it counts ,and with a rifle like my 22 250 it is like a lazer beam out to 400 yards ,so if I put one in his ribs he is not going anywere ,I have shot a few with the 308 in front of running hounds and it will put a slug thru and thru a deer ,but most of are deer are taken with shotgun slugs in 12 and 20g ,,,Dutch
 
dutchhunter said:
my 22 250 would never let me down ,because it hits were you aim ,and that is the most important part of putting a deer down ,you got to hit it were it counts ,and with a rifle like my 22 250 it is like a lazer beam out to 400 yards ,so if I put one in his ribs he is not going anywere ,I have shot a few with the 308 in front of running hounds and it will put a slug thru and thru a deer ,but most of are deer are taken with shotgun slugs in 12 and 20g ,,,Dutch
Click to expand...

In my area you can't hunt deer with .223 bullets, they must be bigger ... so 22-250 may not be a good idea ... depending on where you live. I see no reason my 222-50 with a 70 grain wouldnt do it ... but I will never know ...unless it attaches my dogs ... and not likely.

A 270 is nice size ... and does the job.
 
the b.c. government says , with any centerfire cartridge ....

but I do recall there being a "ethics" section in the core program that was designed to counter the " any centerfire " part of the regs .

the short version of this was use the largest caliber round that your are comfortably able to use accurately and quickly the dispatch a animal .

a head shot to a 200 pound deer with a 22 hornet would do this .

a shot to the hind quarter on a 50 pound deer with a 300 magnum more than likely would not do this .

the rifle and what it is chambered in and the bullet used is only part of the equation .

the person using the rifle is more important in cleanly taking a animal than anything else .

and that said ....

------------
smallest round ,

45 colt , Winchester " cowboy load " , 250 grain , roughly 700 fps .
 
Last edited:
I routinely use my 204 Ruger to shoot 1000lb+ cows and steers in the head at 30-40yds when butchering them. Never had one get up yet. So just to stir the pot I would say that when I'm out calling coyotes during deer season and there is a legal deer standing looking at me under 50yds, said deer would be very dead if I chose to take it. Not that the 204 is my first choice for a deer cartridge but it is legal in MB so it would be the smallest caliber that under the right circumstances I would use. I have shot quite a few deer with the 22-250 and a few with a 222. I never got out during the rifle deer season last year but I have some 223 rounds loaded with 53gr TSXs that I'm sure will also work if I chose to use them. If I go out to sit in the deer blind I will chose between the 6mm, 25-06 or 300wsm if I know there is a good shooter deer pic on the trail cam. Most of my hunting time in Nov is spent on coyotes as I prefer to shoot my deer with a black powder rifle.
 
Smallest I've used on bear is .223, so I assume it would work on deer, too. Actually, I know it will work, as I've seen a .221 used on deer and it killed the deer cleanly. :)
 
.243 is smallest I would go, and .308 is what I use. My first was taken with a Savage 99 in 22 Hi-Power, and with a perfect shot it will do the job. That said, I prefer heavier bullets at higher velocities for when things don't go quite perfectly. I've recovered a few deer shot with the .308 that I'm sure would not have been found so easily or maybe at all had I been using a .223, .22-250 or the .22 Hi-Power.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom