Smallest caliber for deer?

[Splat]

Tracking lights? Those things are a joke unless if you know of something new on the market that I don't know about.

 

[fsevin]

I bought a .243 Browning BLR 32 years ago. I never really deer hunted but lent it to family regularly. It was the 'first deer' gun for several people, and no one ever lost a deer shot with it. I used it on two hunts to Texas and Mississippi this past season...and killed my first 3 deer with it. 2 of the 3 dropped where they stood (high shoulder shot) and the other ran 80 yards and piled up after a double lung shot. You CAN'T go wrong with a .243 or a 7mm-08, and i would put them ahead of the 30-30 or big handgun rounds, because can still take a deer with it from 200-300 yards, if the chance presents itself.

 

[Renegade]

and the latest BayouBucks issue(March) featured a guy(54 yrs old) who got in trouble for just that! (LOTS OF TROUBLE!)
b/c while he also killed the deer illegally with that caliber(.204), he also got charged with 4 counts of Contest Fraud for every contest he entered the Deer in!!!

Oh yeah, and the deer was a 15 point scoring 229 6/8" B&C !!!
(Deer taken in Catahoula Parish)

What an idiot! That guy's gotta be sick!!!

Less than 100 yards? Why not consider a handgun caliber like .44 Mag or .357 Mag? One of the Ruger carbines in .44 Mag or a lever gun in either caliber would be a great little gun.

+1 I've been really wanting a lever gun in .357!

 

[jmeng]

Some interesting responses to the questions. One thing to keep in mind is bullet construction. Barnes X bullets and other quality, controlled expansion bullets are game changers. Huge difference shooting a deer with a varment bullet or fmj compared to an TSX or or Partition. As the calibers get smaller, the need for quality bullets goes up. With the caviat that you are using the proper bullet, where you hit is way more important that what you hit them with. Deer aren't tough creatures. I'd much rather take out the front shoulders with a 62 grain X bullet out of a 22-250 than shoot one in the guts with a 300 Win Mag. Currently, the smallest I own is a .260. Pisses off all the guys at my camp when I drop deer in their tracks while they track them all over the place after putting bad shots on them with big magnums.

 

[BigNick73]

I've used 7.62x39 when I was in MS. Those winchester soft points were kinda hard to find but can say from experience they work fine within a hundred yards. Weren't any spots where you could end up shooting further than that on the places I hunted.

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[Barney88PDC]

Some interesting responses to the questions. One thing to keep in mind is bullet construction. Barnes X bullets and other quality, controlled expansion bullets are game changers. Huge difference shooting a deer with a varment bullet or fmj compared to an TSX or or Partition. As the calibers get smaller, the need for quality bullets goes up. With the caviat that you are using the proper bullet, where you hit is way more important that what you hit them with. Deer aren't tough creatures. I'd much rather take out the front shoulders with a 62 grain X bullet out of a 22-250 than shoot one in the guts with a 300 Win Mag. Currently, the smallest I own is a .260. Pisses off all the guys at my camp when I drop deer in their tracks while they track them all over the place after putting bad shots on them with big magnums.

Big +1