Best Whitetail Cartridge

[Phaedrus/69]

A 250 lb whitetail would be huge; they're fairly small animals. I can't imagine using anything larger than an ought-six unless for some reason you can't get within 400 yards of the animal and need the extra range of a magnum. Dad swore by the .243, the .308, the .30-06 and the 7mm-08 although he had many other rifles. Personally I've taken the most deer with the 6.5 Swedish Mauser. Never had one take more than a step after being hit.

 

[Mr Woody]

It seems that the Cartridge used is pretty much unimportant. The list of Cartridges used so far is pretty large and far from a complete list of what would work. Marksmanship is the key to all of them. My favorites are 30.06, 6.8 rem and 45-70.

Deer in this country just aren't that big. I don't own one and have never hunted with one but for a new shooter and hunter I would suggest .243 and some range time. The short answer is buy what you want and practice.
Woody

 

[35 Whelen]

Cartridges don't kill deer.

 

[jaysouth]

It ain't the bow

It ain't the arrow

It ain't the quiver

The only thing that counts is the Injun.

Spend a lot of time learning about scrapes, rubs, scats and scent cones. Once you are a good 'hunter', any gun will do.

 

[entropy]

A 250 lb whitetail would be huge; they're fairly small animals. I can't imagine using anything larger than an ought-six unless for some reason you can't get within 400 yards of the animal and need the extra range of a magnum. Dad swore by the .243, the .308, the .30-06 and the 7mm-08 although he had many other rifles. Personally I've taken the most deer with the 6.5 Swedish Mauser. Never had one take more than a step after being hit.

Depends on where you are. I've shot two just shy of 250, and they don't get a 'that's a big deer' around here until upward of 275. Texas, OTOH, well, not everything is bigger in Texas. First deer I saw when I lived down there I mistook for coyote at first, it was so small. They grow nice big racks, though. One of my big deer up here was a 225# forkhorn.

 

[HOOfan_1]

40x311mm Bofors.

Drops 'em every time.

Take off and nuke em from orbit....it's the only way to be sure.

 

[d2wing]

We do get pretty big deer up here, I have shot a few in the 250 range, biggest I weighed was 285 dressed. My favorite used to be 30-06, now it is 7-08. But as someone else said just about any centerfire will do. I have shot deer with a .357 mag, .223, slugs, .35 Remington, 30-30, 7MM mag, and 7.62x39 and maybe more. Shot placement means more than anything. A good hit with a .357 is much better than a bad hit with a .300 Win Mag. Several species have been wiped out with black powder muzzle loaders .

 

[TIMC]

Best Whitetail Cartridge? Man that's like asking what is the prettiest color, you will never get a definite answer on that one.

For me it is in .30 caliber, specifically 7.62x51.

 

[Hardtarget]

I've only taken two deer. I used my .30-30 Win. with 170 gr Sierra Power Jacket bullets. These were my reloads at fifty feet and about sixty yards. Bullet placement is everything...one ran maybe 100 feet, the other didn't move his feet.

I hunt in "tight" areas. Can't see 100 yards in many areas. If I was hunting a bean field my deer rifle would be very different. We all know we must choose the right tool for the job.

It is fun to talk about it because deer season isn't far off.

Mark

 

[mshootnit]

I dont know about 250 lbs but we shot one that when field dressed took two men to even come close to lift off the ground, and when hanging, buckled and nearly broke an overhead door track.

 

[WestKentucky]

Short of firing a 1987 Chevy blazer out of a rather large cannon, I have to say my .270 has always satisfied me. The .256 winmag is suprisingly good as well, but requires more precise shot placement and shorter range. 30-30 has never failed me when I do the aiming portion properly...I'm good at missing with that rifle.

 

[Nature Boy]

If you asked an old Cajun fella I knew (long since departed) who lived in the swamp and hunted for subsistence, he'd tell you the best cartridge for deer is a .22lr....in conjunction with a spot light

If you ask me, I'd say the .358 win, only because it's what I've hunted with for 30+ years

 

[mshootnit]

7.5X55 Swiss game loads like the 165 gr. Hornady are terrific.

 

[FL-NC]

Mr. Woody- if the 243 is ideal for new shooters/hunters (I believe this) then would it cease being ideal for more experienced shooter/hunters? After all, the animal doesn't change based on the hunter's experience level.

 

[md7]

Lots of great whitetail cartridges out there.

Not sure it's the best, but I've had success with a .270 Winchester shooting 130 gr. Core lok. Cheap ammo, but it's worked well.

For the ranges I shoot, I'd be fine using any number of calibers.

My brother in law and his son kill more deer than most people I know. They do pretty well with .243. Not sure which bullet they use

 

[WestKentucky]

Depends on where you are. I've shot two just shy of 250, and they don't get a 'that's a big deer' around here until upward of 275. Texas, OTOH, well, not everything is bigger in Texas. First deer I saw when I lived down there I mistook for coyote at first, it was so small. They grow nice big racks, though. One of my big deer up here was a 225# forkhorn.

Absolutely right. I have put a 250+ pounder down and it had only a "meh" response. Big body, nice rack but nothing abnormally large. If you want to see big whitetail go north. I swear some of the deer I saw in western Ontario had serious potential as draft animals.

 

[hdwhit]

I've never had much luck hunting white tail deer, but my wife tells me her father would harvest two each year; one so they would have meat through the winter and the other to give away to someone who otherwise wouldn't have any. The only thing he shot was .308 Winshester.

 

[Steve Cover]

For local White Tail deer, I like the 257 Roberts with reloaded Nosler Partitions.

Of course, I also favor my grandfather's M-94 30-30 with 150 Gr. Speer reloads for brush hunting too.

Steve

 

[Corn-Picker]

The whitetail world record (for weight) dressed out at over 400 pounds, and was estimated to weigh over 500 live.

I don't own one, but I'd say the 7x57 is hard to beat. Shoots flat enough for most reasonable distances, has more than enough energy (even for a 500 pounder), moderate recoil, and over 120 years old. The 6.5x55 is similarly a great all around whitetail caliber.

I use a 308 the most, and I feel that's way more than I need. My dad thinks anyone with anything less than a 30-06 is under gunned, and anyone with anything more than a 30-06 is a blood thirsty maniac.

 

[csa77]

Im a huge fan of 243 for deer so Id go with the 6mm.

although I have more powerful deer rifles , m70 7mm mag and m700 30-06. All I ever take is my double set triggered Mauser 243 and a box of 80grain core lokt. drops them every time.

 

[FROGO207]

Around here there are semi thick woods with small clearings/fields mostly. Shooting through small branches without deflecting the bullet is a must. A 50 YD shot would be a long one to need to take, usually 20 YDS or less. Shot placement is the key as already established. My extended family (20 current hunters) have shot countless deer, most often with 12 GA 00 Buck and secondly a 30-30 with 170 grain Core Loct. I have also used my S&W 29 8 inch with heavy 44 MAG SWCGC loads and a Ruger 45 Colt Blackhawk with a 6 inch barrel and 250 grain LFNGC Ruger only loads. Next time (this year) I will use the 45-70 Handi Rifle /405 LRN and Holy Black to do the deed. FWIW around here a 200+ LB dressed deer would be above average sized.

 

[Panfisher]

Reach into my gun sage and pull out any centerfire rifle or ML I have in there, hand it to me and let me load ammo for it, and site it in and I will be fine. Note a couple of them require some serious self control and more hunting time, but have brought home venison with all of them. Favorites, .280 Rem 700 and Rem 7 in 7-08. But they sure are boring, bang and stuff falls down.

 

[zb338]

Shot a bunch of deer mostly Muley's with a .338 Winchester Magnum.
Used 210 grain Nosler partition. Had some that needed a second shot
but none of them ever went anywhere.

Zeke

 

[Phaedrus/69]

Alright, so whitetail can get a little bigger. Around here we have mostly mule deer which are around 50-100 lbs bigger that whitetails; they're still not a lot bigger than a good sized human male. I still maintain that they're not [generally] all that big or hard to kill so long as shot placement it good.

That said if you let a deer or any game animal get a head of steam under them they're hard to bring down. Once they get spooked and get that adrenaline dump they can be almost superhuman. I've seen muleys take three .30 cal bullets in the chest and not even flinch, and it's not uncommon for them to go a couple hundred yards with barely a scrap of their heart still intact. To anchor an animal 100% of the time you need a CNS shot or you need to do enough structural damage that they can no longer run (eg break both shoulders, etc). To do that a bigger bullet can be handy.

Personally I am not a big believer in blazing away at deer that are already running. If that is the case you blew it- wait for the next deer.

 

[jeepnik]

I've used two calibers. First was a "family" gun (we all used it to learn) .243. If the shooter did his, or now her, part, it worked reliably.

The other is 30-06. Again, do your part and it works just fine. The point is if you hit the animal correctly they work. Miss and anything less than a 105 is not going to do any damage.