Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .223 Deer Question

I've killed quite a few deer with .22 CF's {.222, .223, .22-250} over the past 20 odd years and never used a premium bullet on any. Never lost a deer with one or had any problems recovering any either. Haven't shot a deer from a "shooting house" in my life and precious [bleep]' few from any kind of rest. Guys who say they ain't enough or that deer go too far after a good hit or that they require the use of premium bullets are full of schit.

Yep, Back in high school I killed plenty of mulies and antelope with my ol' .22-250 and standard wally world 55 grain bullets. They always took a few steps, if not less and tipped over.

No premiums needed IME.

I have no issue with the fact that the 223 will kill a deer especially the average deer I kill anyway. But there is something inside me that made me pretty happy last year when I shot my big bodied 10 pt that I was using my 308. I just have that extra grain of confidence a larger bullet gives me even if it is just for the few seconds after the shot when the deer bolts and does it death run.

I'm a member of a large hunting club where we put on large scale organized deer drives. As a club we take more than a few deer and a lot of our senior most members use 22 calibers of different flavors. None of em use what anyone would consider a controlled expansion bullet and find that their ability to take deer size game to be more than sufficient.

Ill bet on a old azz West Virginian hillbilly with a Sako in 223 over a arm chair Internet nerd with a 300 wiz bang.

Shot my first .22 CF deer with a Norma 55 grain factory load from my .222 back in 1967. Fortunately, we didn't have internet then where I live, so I didn't know any better. I have since moved up to a .223 and 65 grain SGK's over Varget.

That's a good looking little guy! I had one about the same size and shape when I was a kid, but he was black. Square-headed Sambo was one of the best terrier mixes I've had and he was somewhere around 17-18lbs grown.

On the .22cal subject, there are very few shots inside of 250yds that I'd not take on a whitetail if using a 62-70gr TSX/TTSX launched at a good speed. They will dig. I like good blood trails in some thick spots I hunt, which is why I often tote more gun, but I could generally make a .22cal work with the right bullet.

Hats off to all of you that hunt with a 22 cal. I will never hunt deer or bear with a 22 cal. I've been hunting close to 50 years and during that time I've shot hundreds of deer and bear. I've tailored my cal choice to the environment in which I hunt and I consider the 22's as not suitable.

Still have trouble wrapping my head around the fact somebody has had the chance to score 4-5 deer a year for 50 years....and I know those places exist...just not in NH.

thats why I dint hunt N.H.

I became a believer this year. One shot with a Savage Hog Hunter .223 with factory Winchester ammo and the result was....wait for it...wait for it......

"DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!" I ain't that good a shot....decent, but no trickster. I could piss a stream with more reach than than terrain traveled by the deer after taking one but good!

So lets review. Average to decent shooter.
Factory Ammo.
Iron sights.
VERY inexpensive Savage plastique rifle.
Hmmmmm....that's odd!

Point well taken and clearly understood sir!

A sampling of ONE? And you are convinced?

FJ I can legally shoot up to 7 deer per year( more actually..but logistics start getting in the way...) and I did so for decades. Nowadays I generally confine it to three freezer pleaser sized deer a season...they last Ingwewife and I a year...

7 deer a year is all???.......shoot come to Indiana (land of liberal deer quotas)
I can legally kill up to 430+ or - deer a year if I so desired.
Crazy I tell you.

Only 1 22CF kill for me. Doe at 175yds with a 220 Swift using 50gr factory Rem Corelock. She never took a step. Works about the same as any other well placed bullet in any caliber.

I usually end up with 5-7 tags a year here in NY. Two of those are bow/MZ tags though so only 3-5 for rifle depending on the draw{lottery}.