Different "kinds" of deer and cartridge/bullet choice

[Captcurt]

If we are talking about whitetails and mulies I would pick 25-06, 6.5 whatever, 270-284. If we go for moose I'll take a 30-06 or my 300 WSM unless I can borrow my buddies 338 KImber.

 

[9x56MS]

As far as bullet choice if I am to hunt an area with both large and small sized deer the Nosler partition works well on all sizes. If it is small deer species I use my 250-3000. If larger or northern big deer I like any of my 35 caliber rifles. I think this may be more what you had in mind?

 

[horsey300]

My sniper punk kid would argue that, I worked up special loads for him, (62 gr swift scirocco 2@3200) we'll come back to that in a second, my folks' hired man has cleanly taken deer for 5 years with a .223 ever since his shoulder surgery, only needing one shot per tag, I load 50gr ttsx as hot as I can in .223, no deer yet but ballistics are promising. Back to my punk kid, this year, we spot a nice 200 ish lb muley, we had practiced round after round all summer and he's sub 5 inches at 300 yds, this kid gets down to 60 yds on this buck and knocks him over like a mack truck. I now give him a hard time because I wanted to really test this load on game and he put it right through the brain, will update after I have more useful data, but so far.... bullet construction and placement still rule the field, exit was just over an inch at the light switch, looking forward to the wife taking a pronghorn with the same load later..... Not knocking your view as I personally have chased too many wounded critters from shooters (read not hunters that know their gear) that were less than appropriately prepared for the day, same shooters used everything from .243-.30-06 and I will still recommend many of the choices in between i reckon......, for a newbie, I like enough terminal shock to end the show early for sure, but that can still be accomplished with a proper .22cf

Follow up on pronghorn with a .22-250 using a 62 gr scirocco 2:
65 ish yds, full penetration through both shoulders, on side ribs just under the shoulder had an entrance I could fit my hand inside, decimated the chest cavity, straight through the opposite side, no deflection or deviation, just shy of 1/2" exit, impact velocity was over 3000 fps, no shrapnel found, doe knocked over, could not regain vertical stance, dead in seconds.

 

[Hookeye]

.50 in MZ
.243win
.35 rem
.3006

Think my deer rifle bases covered

 

[KsSkaEnthusiast]

As many have said it depends on your situation and desire. When I am doe hunting for meat and sit in my stand where the furthest shot is 100 with a steady rest, I'm completely confident with a 223 and the right bullet. However... during buck season I Never carry such rifle because on the off chance that an absolute monster walks out there I want my .270 venture with the 130 grain federal fusion bonded bullets. Range, size of quarry and shot placement in large determine the rifle and caliber choice one is to make. In general for me the .270 and 30-06 with a bonded bullet are the smallest I want when I am after deer of dreams. I'll stick with having more is better than less when antlers are what you're after.

 

[horsey300]

As many have said it depends on your situation and desire. When I am doe hunting for meat and sit in my stand where the furthest shot is 100 with a steady rest, I'm completely confident with a 223 and the right bullet. However... during buck season I Never carry such rifle because on the off chance that an absolute monster walks out there I want my .270 venture with the 130 grain federal fusion bonded bullets. Range, size of quarry and shot placement in large determine the rifle and caliber choice one is to make. In general for me the .270 and 30-06 with a bonded bullet are the smallest I want when I am after deer of dreams. I'll stick with having more is better than less when antlers are what you're after.

Never yet found a rack that made me wish for more recoil than I started the day with.....
Eta then again, I've always aimed to miss the antlers so that may be a flaw in my style....

 

[Chuck R.]

Never yet found a rack that made me wish for more recoil than I started the day with.....
Eta then again, I've always aimed to miss the antlers so that may be a flaw in my style....

I get what he's saying and I've exposed the same thoughts. While "X" cartridge or rifle is adequate under "ideal" circumstances/conditions, when push comes to shove I'd rather be prepared for less than ideal, especially true for a once in a lifetime opportunity. Guys laugh about being "over-gunned" but at the end of the day there's only one degree of dead, so I'm pressed to see the harm.

IMHO tolerance for recoil (or lack thereof) is a very personal thing. I get trying to do things "efficiently", but at the same time I don't think the record books capture that B&C "X" was killed with a 17lb vs 8lb recoiling rifle. My guess is KSSka... finds the recoil of a .270 and 30-06 manageable under normal game hunting circumstances as do a lot of other folks apparently based on their popularity. In my case I've yet to take a shot at an animal when the thought of subsequent recoil even entered my mind.

 

[KsSkaEnthusiast]

I get what he's saying and I've exposed the same thoughts. While "X" cartridge or rifle is adequate under "ideal" circumstances/conditions, when push comes to shove I'd rather be prepared for less than ideal, especially true for a once in a lifetime opportunity. Guys laugh about being "over-gunned" but at the end of the day there's only one degree of dead, so I'm pressed to see the harm.

IMHO tolerance for recoil (or lack thereof) is a very personal thing. I get trying to do things "efficiently", but at the same time I don't think the record books capture that B&C "X" was killed with a 17lb vs 8lb recoiling rifle. My guess is KSSka... finds the recoil of a .270 and 30-06 manageable under normal game hunting circumstances as do a lot of other folks apparently based on their popularity. In my case I've yet to take a shot at an animal when the thought of subsequent recoil even entered my mind.

This captures it exactly. I have never focused on recoil when game is in front of me, there is a hyper focus that goes into holding steady, trigger control and the animal I am taking, but never for recoil.

 

[mcb]

I thought everyone knew that when there is hair in the scope the gun has no recoil.

 

[horsey300]

I get what he's saying and I've exposed the same thoughts. While "X" cartridge or rifle is adequate under "ideal" circumstances/conditions, when push comes to shove I'd rather be prepared for less than ideal, especially true for a once in a lifetime opportunity. Guys laugh about being "over-gunned" but at the end of the day there's only one degree of dead, so I'm pressed to see the harm.

IMHO tolerance for recoil (or lack thereof) is a very personal thing. I get trying to do things "efficiently", but at the same time I don't think the record books capture that B&C "X" was killed with a 17lb vs 8lb recoiling rifle. My guess is KSSka... finds the recoil of a .270 and 30-06 manageable under normal game hunting circumstances as do a lot of other folks apparently based on their popularity. In my case I've yet to take a shot at an animal when the thought of subsequent recoil even entered my mind.

When I go on a once in a lifetime hunt, I doubt I'll take the .223 with me so I reckon we're in agreement there. The recoil comes more into play when I start tallying up round counts on my rifles throughout the year, equalling more competency when it counts. I've run the big .300s, .338, 7stw, .270wsm, .270, and .30-06, to convince me they're needed we would have to expand past muleys and whitetail and start including african or alaskan game of a much larger scale. I saw an example of .243vs elk in a high fence hunt, with better bullets and the young hunter knowing how to break the animal down, the elk wouldn't have stayed vertical nearly as long, and for larger critters, smaller calibers definitely require more expertise; in the deer debate though, I'd bet any properly loaded cartridge with at LEAST as much horsepower as the .22-250 and practiced with as often as possible would not show deer any less dead than any 06/03 offspring. The 6 arc, 6.5 grendel, 6.8 spc being included in that category have already proven the point plenty. "Bringing enough gun" for that monster trophy really should be amended to "be a good enough hunter."

My buddy's a die-hard .270 guy that uses a couple of rounds a year, he's almost ready to pay my 11 to hunt for him (legalities are the only things stopping him) because the kid has hundreds of rounds down range and hits whatever he aims at at will. With modern bullets, he'll never be undergunned on deer to 300 yds.

If a person enjoys the larger chamberings there's nothing wrong with that, period. We just aren't in an era where they're necessary for deer camp anymore. I even heard of a feller here using a .243 for Caribou with success more than once, I'd bet they're good enough sized to back down any whitetail or muley we're likely to run across.

 

[marksman13]

I see it all the time, from discussion here to online forums to respectable magazines and advertising from major makers. XYZ ammo/cartridge/bullet is the best! We, as more savvy hunters know, that the whitetail deer has significant morphological differences across its range, and is found in widely varying terrain. Different choices will be needed in different scenarios. I cringe when match bullets or the 223 cartridge are recommended, but that is colored by my experience. Deer in Northern MN are large with heavy hair and fat and often hunted in close cover where quickly aiming and firing is the norm. Just wondering how these factors affect your choices for your deer.

You’ll really cringe when you hear that one of my favorite deer loads is a 69 grain Sierra Match King fired from a 16” AR-15. Never shot a deer with that combo that didn’t drop in it’s tracks. I rarely use that combo these days, but it’s not for a lack of confidence.

These days I prefer more “traditional” hunting rifles in classic cartridges, but it’s more about nostalgia than effectiveness. When hunting in situations where shots are likely to be close I prefer a 6.5x55 or 308. In areas where longer shots are possible, I prefer my 300 WM and 270 Win.