My daughter shot her first deer with an old borrowed Husky in 243. She was shooting Federal Vital-Shok Nosler Partitions with a 100 grain bullet. Her shot was from about 25 yards, a text book double lung shot that was enabled by a very patient and accommodating doe. I recovered the bullet on the far side of the hide.
I have not hunted in Saskatchewan but have taken several deer in Alberta. From my visits to the prairies I'm thinking there is not much difference between the two provinces deer or terrain for that matter. My hunting is with friends who live there and is generally what I call spot and stalk. On one stalk I had to crawl along 800 yards of ditch to get my shot. On another I used the pickup hood as a rest because the deer was standing there and I was not going to shoo him into the bush so I could hunt him more. My deer were taken at 150, 265, and a touch past 500 yards.
Based on the penetration I saw this year I do not think I would take a shot with a 243 past 150 yards.
Maybe it's the people I hunt with but over the last 38 years I have not seen a relationship between size of cartridge and lost game. In our elk camp I see 6 to 9 animals hanging every year, they are shot with: 257 Roberts, 270, 270wsm, 280, 7mmrm, 308, 3006, 300wm and 338wm's. 3006 is probably the most common cartridge.
We have had to track 3 animals over the last few years, we lost one (because a grizzly found it first). The elk we had to track were shot with the 257, the 308, and the 300wm.
The worst bloodshot seems to come from the 7mmrm and the 300wm.
A marginal shot is a marginal shot regardless of what you are shooting.
My point here is shoot what you like but shoot it well.
