What is YOUR minimun caliber for deer?

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I live in Iowa and you can only shoot deer with a rifle during a late antler-less season in the bottom two tiers of counties.

My minimum caliber for whitetail deer would be the .243, my preferred is the 30-06.
 
for general app 243

for a really, really close shot( 50ft) a hot 357 out of a longer barreled hand gun.

Then again all the places I hunt, 200 yds is a close shot.
 
Oh, yeah .223 is my smallest caliber. .357 magnum or a hot .45 ACP out of my S&W (or .45 Super) would work nicely out in the woods.
 
my personal min is .243 win. Here in Texas people use a lot of calibers smaller than that.
 
I hunted for a lot of years with a .243 without any problem.I now hunt with a 30-06 because I want a black bear one of these years.I don't think there is any problem with the .223 as long as its got a decent bullit.Here in Maine the .22 magnum is legal for dear and a lot of people use it,they also use 410 shotguns here on the islands.On the islands a 100 foot shot is long distance and its also a shotgun only area.The deer are also smaller so 12ga,16ga and even 20ga are a little hard on the meat at that close of a range.
 
.223

West Texas whitetails aren't known to fill a freezer. Now, when mule deer season opens on our lease, I like to use something in the .270 - .300Win range (inclusive). We had one field dress at 275 a few years back. Antlers were OK, at 22" inside and 18" or so tall, but he was such a massive buck. It took three of us broke down old farts (I'm 34) to lift him into the jeep.
 
To much variation in the animal or conditions to give a lightest one size fits all caliber answer.
Black Tail can weigh less than 100 pounds. Very large Mulie bucks have topped 400. White tail can be on the heavy side to quite small in some area's of the country. Conditions can vary from close in heavy forested aeas to, over feeding deer shot from a stand, to wide open country where long distance shots can be the norm. If and I mean IF I had to choose one caliber and it was to be as small as I would use under all and or any conditions for deer, it would probably be in the 25 caliber class, Perhaps a 25-06 using projectiles made for the job at hand.
 
Minimun Handgun = .357 Mag. // Minimum Rifle, (theroretical, 243) That I Own, 30-30. But A Howitzer Works Very Well! Lol! You Dont Even Have To Clean It!
 
If all I had was my 22-250 I could make it work if I needed meat to eat. Since I have other calibers (7mm08, 30.06) I will leave the 22-250 to the serious varmit hunting.
 
243 for smaller deer such as the whitetails where I hunt in this state, 25-06 for mulies, 357 if using a wheelgun for either (preference is a 41 mag, however).
 
It is distance, weather, and situation conditional. Short distance, good weather, time to make a REALLY clean shot, .223. Change the variables and you change the answer!
 
.17hmr unamed friend has one and tried it deer season it dropped it in its tracks.
mine is a .22lr though I have personaly seen a deer dropped from about 50yds with a marlin 60 .22lr put a shot right between the eyes and they drop like a ton of bricks and they DON'T move at all.
 
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