Not so much in general but for deer I think there are a number of hunters that have for several reasons .
There are so many folks out there with AR type rifles that want to actually shoot them at something and lobbied until many of the minimum caliber laws have been repealed making it legal to use 22centerfires
It turned out that they worked fairly well and manufacturers began to notice and addressed some of the concerns by producing more robust bullets than the previous available varmint rounds
The ensuing results from the two elements above and the easy exchange of information via the internet have shown that it works and has convinced other to try.
The current preponderance of deer hunting opportunities have given hunters many more opportunities to collect many more deer in their lifetime than in past generations in much of the country. Hence they have more guns to try and with the multiple results it has become much more clear that we have in the past been using much more powerful weapons than really required to take deer.
