Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Recommended caliber for Saskatchewan deer.

I'm with you on this one. It always puzzles me how the guy who has hunted here once or twice, or even once every 5 or 10 years, seems to know what it takes to kill our deer (AB, SK, etc) better than the guy who lives here and kills 2-3+ deer here every year, some of them real whoppers.

A .30 Mag will certainly do the job on SK or AB deer, about like a .416 Mag will do the job on elk. But, having been on the guiding end of things, I always chuckle when a camp full of non-residents is absolutely convinced that anything less than a .300 Magnum, or even a .270, is asking for trouble, when I've seen so many of our deer pile up like a sack of hammers, often with full penetration and exits, to decent bullets from the .243, .25-06, etc. If you just want to bring your .300 Magnum because you like it, by all means it will do a bang up job, but don't try to tell me that it will kill deer any better than a .243 with 80gr TTSX or 100gr PT, assuming decent shot placement for both. I've seen good and bad situations arise from both classes of cartridge, mainly depending on bullet selection and placement, rather than chambering. Guys who have shot a decent number of deer with both a .300. Mag and .243 will tell you to pick a reliable bullet and put it where it needs to be, and for the most part, ignore the headstamp. Deer are just not that hard to kill.

Confidence in a familiar rifle will do you far more favours than buying a shiny new .300 Mag because you think your old .257 Bob is too small.

Jordan I agree with you and castn'blast.....but I don't think any one is trying to tell you guys what works, or feels that 243's and 25's don't kill them fine....but you have to consider the mindset of a lot of traveling hunters.

Mostly, they are generally not hand loaders, not rifle "nuts", use factory ammo, don't tinker with rifles much,and if they shoot 300-500 rounds a year, that's a lot. They are disinclined to use smaller cartridges with premium bullets, and "understand" cartridge power but the nuances of good bullets are sometimes a bit vague for a lot of them.

They have one or two "traveling" rifles because in addition to deer in your country in November, they were likely in Montana, Wyoming, or Colorado in October for mule deer and elk or somewhere else.

When it come to rifles, they are grand generalists, and right or wrong, believe that 7mm and 300 mags of some sort provide them with an "edge" for longer shots and bigger deer. Besides, they don't want to register or fly with a whole bunch of different rifles and tend to rely on a one or two proven combo's whenever they get on a plane to hunt. Generally, they don't want to deal with lot of different rifles and tend to bring something they can use on "everything"....whatever that is..

This gets reinforced in many camps up there, and by many outfitters....I have shot more Canadian deer with a 270 than anything else, and about every camp I show up in with one, it's the smallest caliber in use among all the paying hunters....one Manitoba bush rat(a good guy, and our outfitter)said he uses a 300 magnum as his only rifle because..."Hey it works on everything up here, eh?"

He and another from Saskatchewan both felt the 270 I used was on the small side. After I killed two Sask 10 point bucks with mine, I reminded him about his 270 crack......he just smiled and acknowledged it worked.....So much for ballistic discussions. They just don't occur very much.

Seems you bring a 270 to a Canadian deer camp, you get the same treatment you get on here when you admit you use one....

North of you, in Peace River, at the camp I go to, you NEVER see a hunter show up with a 270 or 30/06 (except me ) The majority of rifles among paying hunters are chambered for a 7mm or 300 magnum of some sort.

You guys lucky enough to live up there, who do not travel far to hunt, are used to seeing the game, know the country and what to expect,can have access to moose, bear, elk, whitetail and mule deer all within a days drive, and get to hunt multiple species every year without the income of a heroin dealer look at things differently than the poor slob who has to fight through the airports every year to go somewhere "good" to hunt and part with the mid 4 figures($) for the privilege of (hopefully)killing a Canadian giant.....he might shoot more deer at home than you guys do up there, but likely not as big, unless he lives in areas down here known for big bodied deer.(like in Maine...I have yet to kill a Central Canadian whitetail deer as big through the body as my biggest from Maine).

More often than not, our traveling guy is not going to kill what he came for.....but right or wrong he feels that some extra horse power is going to do him "good", and we may not agree but that's a conclusion we all come to only after a few years of killing those animals.

Personally I am not going to carry a 6mm or a 25 caliber to Canada simply because I have already killed enough animals with a Roberts and 25/06 to get a handle on their capabilities. I am not curious about them any more, and already know what they will do.

That wasn't directed at you, Bob. I understand what you're saying, and if a guy wants to use a .300 because that's what he already has and likes, more power to him. But the last thing he needs is to start feeling insecure about his .243 or .260 that he knows inside and out, and go and pull out a .300. Mag that he doesn't shoot as well because it kicks harder, simply because some guys on the internet that have hunted Canadian deer once or twice told him he needed it.

Jordan;
I trust that this finds you and yours doing well on this wet and cool fall morning sir.

As usual Jordan, you've made a lot of sense and conveyed your thoughts in an efficient manner - well done.

In my initial response here I noted something along the same lines as what I've quoted above, that is to use something you are familiar with - that always, always, ALWAYS works in all weather conditions and that you shoot well under pressure with.

While I've never guided, I know a bunch of locals who do and overwhelmingly the most consistent complaint about visiting hunters is that they take too long to shoot from field positions.

This situation can't help but be exacerbated by bringing a "new to the hunter" rifle that has more recoil than they are used to.

While I've admittedly not hunted prairie whitetails for decades now, so they may have slowed down some since then, out here I tell new hunters that a "typical whitetail encounter" will last until they can count to five.

Our eldest and I skipped out on church yesterday morning and ran across not one but two first rack whitetails and neither one stayed around for more time than it took me to count the fingers on one hand - which as it turned out was a smart move on their part as a determined young lady was doing her level best to insert a 130gr TSX from her 6.5 Swede at the same time.

Anyway Jordan as usual I appreciated what you had to add to the discussion and even more so how you did it.

All the best to you and yours this fall and good luck on your hunts too.

Dwayne

Dwayne, this may, or may not pertain, but the old football coach quote, about "Dancing with who broung us."

Agreed

Not just field positions, also off the bench as well. I've noticed on the first afternoon all the hunters usually shoot their targets off the outfitters bench to ensure their rifles are still on. Some of these guys create anxiety in me just watching. I start thinking is their safety on, do they not realize the waiting line behind them is getting longer, why the hell don't they shoot,etc.? Some of these guys take as long to fire at a target as the hunters on television waiting for an animal to stop browsing!

I don't know if there is one answer, but I suspect they came into hunting later in life as an adult who didn't shoot rabbits with a .22 when they were in their early teens, and who never shotgunned doves or ducks on the wing.

I also agree with what you said about a whitetail encounter being very brief, maybe until the count of 5, good stuff! Does and small bucks may stand around but the big trophy bucks we all want are almost always on the move in and out of brush or darting from doe to doe, or just disappearing.

I figure I'm gambling with the 308 and 130ttsx

Smart man I wouldn't use a 243 without a Barnes bullet! Grandson shot a nice 8pt running down hill 130 yds. (range finder) with a 243 dropped it with one shot. Quartering away took it in the hind quarters and the bullet was recovered just inside the heart, mushroomed perfectly!!! Love those Barnes bullets !!

Metal vs meat ; metal wins . I would just bring what you have , go kill deer and have fun.

BCJR...well said!!!!

I personally IMO would recommend 270 win,280 rem,308 win,30-06 etc with a good bullet and you'll be in great shape,a cannon isn't needed and on the other hand don't go too light if shot placement is off a bit you don't want a animal to suffer or be lost

Deer are not hard to kill, location does not matter, shot placement does.

Agree 100%

Its just a whitetail deer not hard to kill with a good shot...I have used a 270WSM and 30-06 in the past, soon it will be a 25-06 and I wont be under gunned...

I do not have and have never owned a .25-06, have shot only ONE rifle so chambered and have wanted one for about 50 years, since reading a "GUNS" magazine article in the early '60s about a superb little piece built in his prime on a G33/40 by the legendary Al Beisen.

I would LOVE to have that rifle, under a Zeiss, Leupy or Swaro in about 2-10ish power range, have all of these on fine,custom, working rifles and like them about the same. The lovely stock would not get mangled in stand hunting in easy country as they ALWAYS do here in BC and I deem the cartridge "ideal" for ANY deer that walks.

So, Rob's choice, IMHO, is perhaps the ideal one and I spent last evening researching buying a Montana Rifles sts rig in .25-06, almost certainly WILL, even with 30 fine rifles still on hand after a couple years "culling"my collection.

I have a good friend who lives in Grande Cache and uses his 25-06 pretty much exclusively now and he has a number of options to choose from in his cabinet. He has taken bighorn, black bear, moose, elk, mule deer and whitetail with it. He swears by that rifle...

I can't imagine paying $4000 to hunt a big mature deer and not taking at least a 7mm up shooting a 150gr bullet 2900-3100fps. Too many horror stories from s.Texas about deer not recovered w/small caliber and no dog available.powdr

As I sit here at the computer I can see 2 Saskatchewan deer along with 5 other whitetails from various locations. None of them were hard to kill. 1 was killed with a 7 STW, the others were killed with either a 270 or a 308.

By the way the 7 STW made one hunt and never went back! Take what you have and what you shoot well. As our most infamous poster here is found of saying "its all about boolits"

When only deer is on the menu, I would choose a Sako Finlight in either 260Rem or 6.5x55SM, Vortex 2.5x10x44 PST and a good range finder, best way of launching a 130 class bullet.

Pwdr, I have spent most of my life chasing Whitetails and the majority of those years were spent in the Golden Triangle of South Texas. I haver never seen a deer lost that was shot with a good bullet placed correctly.

Bad bullet, bad location, anything can happen.