Hunting South Texas and Mule deer in CO, Dad used to always say, "You can ethically harvest any North American animal with .30-.06." That said, I've come to appreciate .25-.06 and 7mm-08 for North Texas whitetail hunting.

I have known quite a few old timers that put deer meat in the freezer with a .22 LR.

The smallest caliber I have personally killed a deer with was .243 Win. Truth be told, most of the deer I’ve shot could have been cleanly killed with a .223. Distances of less than 50 yards doesn’t require much. I’ll take a hunter that can accurately shoot a small caliber over the guy that shoots them in the @ss with a .30-378 Weatherby (I know that guy).

Grew up in KS and never hunted whitetail with anything other than .243. Been in TX 20+ years and we (my son and I) have not hunted whitetail with anything else. We've never had to track any (well that we shot) as they have always been within 30 yds.

Knock on wood as there is always a first time for everything.

We’ve killed piles w a .223

Always kept it under 100 yards and I don’t recal losing one

Most were 75 yard range

So I guess it depends

I’ve hunted deer in south Texas my entire life with a .270, 6mm, 5.56, 300 WM, 30/06, and 7-08. My favorite is definitely my 7-08. But that’s just me. Once I convince myself that something works, I become reluctant to change. When I believe in a certain fishing lure, I’ll stick with it sometimes too long, even when everyone is out fishing me with a different rig, so I think that’s what’s going on in my mind with the 7-08. I don’t want to change lures. Lol

I agree, a 6.5 does good on whitetail. I shot one last year right in the center of the shoulder and dropped him in his tracks. He weighed 197 pounds, a decent sized deer.

I did not know that. Learn something new every day!

I have killed a whole lot of deer with .223(triple digit numbers), a lot with 6mm, quite a few with .280 and 5 times as many deer as all of those added together with my .270. Most were killed with high/point of the shoulder or shoulder shot in the last 25 yrs and few were head/neck shots. I've owned a .243 that I never fired on round out of it.

I shoot a 7mm stw with 168 bergers had shots from 30yds to 780yds I mess up some meat from time to time but I don't need a tracking dog!
Got a new 7saum that is going on its maiden run it sure shoots great groups.
Son has a 6XC and has shot 13 bucks with it 105 bergers, all but one have gone down in less than 30 yds, had to track, one a great learning experience for him about 3/4 a mile due to a low shot.
Yes the 6xc has been good but watching the extra speed of the STW work is something to see. i think speed is where its at!
I've shot a few with a 300 Prc with 225 bergers it works but still not the impact of the STW.
We average shooting plates 2 days a week or more all year off the back porch from 350-to the fence at 892. Doesn't matter what you shoot its better to know your rifle and get lots of practice!

When I was a teenager growing up in San Antonio, I saved up all my lawn mowing money & went to Thompson's Liquor store on Fredericksburg rd & bought my first deer rifle. It was a Rem 700 BDL in .270 Win that cost $95. When I brought it home dad's first comment was "What happened, did they run out of .30-06's?"

As far as a minimum deer cartridge its the .250 Savage. I've shot a few with .223 & watched others use it too - I'm not a big fan.

But to each his own....

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I've probably killed more deer with 243 100gr bullet than all the other calibers I've shot in my life. And I've killed more deer than you can count on your fingers and toes combined with both 223 and 22-250 as well.
And for the record, I've lost 2 deer in my life where blood was drawn......one was with a 7mm mag 140gr bullet and the other with a 300WSM 165 gr bullet.

It is NOT about the size of the caliber. It's about the guy behind it and where the bullet is put! End of story

If this close. .22 hornet and up.

6.8 SPC & 6.5 Grendel are very mild deer killers.

If there is one thing you will learn from this tired topic that gets beaten to death here every year, it is ................................................................you are not changing anyone's mind here. LOL.

👍👍

Mild as in recoil or mild as in they barely kill deer?

My 6.8 puts everything down just fine. It’s my preferred rifle. It will take a deer and I have plenty of ammo if hogs or pack of coyotes pop out.

I'm with the you aren't going to change anyone's mind crowd!
I've killed deer with just about every caliber, and I hunt with a .243 now for several seasons.
I've also killed too many to keep count with a bow, so there is that!

They are very comparable to the older 257 Roberts factory ammo when it was at it's heyday as a deer killer after WW2.

These threads make about as much sense as the state reg's do. We all know that under the right conditions a well placed 22 rim fire will drop one as quick as 270 Win. The state says we can't use a rim fire but will allow all center fires meaning I can legally hunt with a 25 ACP should I choose. Instead of a caliber restriction I'd rather see a ft-lbs minimum. Just checked and it looks like we have 13 states and provinces (Including Canada) that have caliber restrictions of .23 or higher and we have 5 states that have a ft-lbs minimum.

Me personally I prefer a ft-lbs minimum and like around 1500 ft-lbs at the muzzle, more is always better but that would be my choice. The smaller the caliber the more restrictions you put on yourself as far as energy and placement. I've killed deer with a 222, 223 and a couple with a Hornet but with those you're limited to neck or heart shots (I didn't say heart lung). Even with a heart shot they can cover a lot of ground, not a big deal here in West TX but in thickets a deer that can make 75 yard can be hard to find if it's not leaving a good blood trail. For this very reason I like to try and always drop a deer in it's tracks and I'll try and always have a caliber capable of doing it. I've lost three deer in my life and all were absolutely my fault with a bad choice in caliber and bullets being used. The last one was with a 243 shooting 70 grain ballistic tips, made a string of bad decisions on that one. I'll also say that I took my biggest whitetail with that same load. Only thing I can say to defend myself is that in both case's I wasn't hunting deer, that was my Yote rifle. If I'm deer hunting I'm carrying a caliber/bullet combination capable of punching through a whitetail, I want them bleeding out both sides.

1500 ft-lbs would leave out something like a 44 magnum which is certainly a deer killer. We just need to use common sense and the reasoning skills the good LORD gave everyone.

Somes ask for too much.

Like I said, a 22 rim fire is a deer killer under the right conditions. At 100 yards a 44 mag with the 225 grain running 1870 fps from a 20 inch barrel has around 1000 ft-lbs, then it falls off like a poorly thrown rock after that. Nobody will argue that that will kill a deer but if I was to set a general limit to cover all situation in TX I would stick to the 1500 mark and the 44 wouldn't make it, neither would several other popular calibers that I personally enjoy.

How are you gonna start a minimum caliber for deer thread, exclude the .243, but still include .357? .243 is a pretty BA little cartridge.

Yeah and exclude most muzzle loaders too. A 44 mag with the right load will penetrate a whitetail from stem to stern.