Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .223 for whitetail - yes or no?

You are simply afraid on a tiny parcel of land that they will get off the land. Thats understandable. And easily solved. More than caliber you simply place the shot to the CNS. Or dont' shoot at all. the 308 will fail you at some point. 5 acres is tiny. Doesn't take much of a run to get off 5 acres

177 inch book deer taken with 223... again its bullet choice and shot placement. We watched the shot. Lung shot and the deer took a couple steps and fell over.

One interesting thing I've noticed this season. Wife won a bolt gun 223. We started killing deer right away. I think we are at 7 or 8 so far. Every last one has run because they have been lung shot. Even the coyotes ran. Pigs too.

Anyway shot with a non suppressed 223 the deer run off to die in the woods. Out of sight. Suppressed I've not had a single one leave sight. And IMHO not a single one has known they have been shot. From about 90 yards out to just under 300 yards. Trot a way at the shot or simply look up. Around. Walk aways looking around. Then they realize something isn't right and its too late, they wobble and fall. I'm suspect that its the suppressed 223 is so quiet to them and the impact of the bullet is small like a wasp sting etc... they simply dont understand that they have been shot.

Its pretty cool actually.

Now plenty will say its showing how weak the round is. I disagree. Its the loud boom of the guns that mostly makes deer run to start with. 300/221 suppressed with subs gave about the same results. In a bolt gun. If they ran, it wasn't far, and then stood around looking at each other until the shot deer fell over.

The one deer with her bolt gun that ran hard was without a suppressor. And about 20 yards away. The bang was really loud, and it did what typical deer do. Ran like heck about 50 steps until it bled out, fell over, flopped a bit while it continued to die and that way it.

One thing that you do loose when they dont' run though, is the heart rate is not up, and they don't bleed out quite as quickly as one scared and running for its life so to speak.

of course I've said and still say, if 22LR was legal we'd use that often. Deer simply are not hard to kill.

I have the same mindset. It may partly be luck, but none of the deer I have shot, and none my two sons have shot, ever have gone more than five feet after being shot. It also is partly because we simply don't pull the trigger, unless the shot is close to perfect.

FWIW, my neighbors in all directions are super friendly and have no problem with me hunting or recovering deer on their lands.

I also hunt other places, including my friend's farm in Virginia that borders the national forest. I also would pick my .308 over the .223 every time for there too. There also are big black bears there as well. That's not the main reason, but I'd rather hunt, or defend against, a bear with the .308. I'm not criticizing the .223 or anyone who uses it on deer. I just prefer something bigger for myself. I shoot my .340 Wby and .375 Wby really well. So, the recoil of a semiauto .308 is nothing to me. And I don't shoot enough deer that the price difference per round could even be close to a rounding error in my budget. And (given that I can shoot along a clear electrical easement passing one corner of my property), I could have shots over 200 yards---also true on my friend's farm and the NF bordering it. I would much prefer the .308 or even bigger in that situation. I just can't think of a reason to pick up the .223 over the .308 or even my 6.5-300 Wby when heading out the door to hunt deer. Not that it won't work in most situations.

If the .223 had been legal in Virginia, where I lived until over a year ago (and we hunted on my friend's farm in VA), I likely would have bought my boys a youth model .223 for deer hunting, instead of the .243 I got them, for recoil reasons when they were very small. But, as a healthy 175-lb adult male, that's just not relevant to me.

yea where was he hit? that my friend is the key. i have saw deer hit to far back with a 30-06 that was never found, and bones all over the ground where the deer was standing. a deer with 2 collapse lungs and can't breathe, dies fast,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I always enjoy reading the comments " for kids it's ok" . So if inexperienced youngster can do it but a full grown man can not , what does that say about the man. 223 for deer are the same as .243 for elk. Well placed shots always work, smaller guns should translate to better shooting. Picking the time and place to shoot Is where no gun can make up the difference.

THIS ^^^^^^

IMHO, even with all of the stars aligned and in the hands of a SKILLED rifleman, it's an iffy proposition.

Funny how the people who regularly use a 223 to kill deer like them and report that they work well and continue using them. Those who do not use a 223 have most of the negative things to say.

Not for me personally.

IMHE, it's a decidedly good killer. You put the right bullet in the right place, deer die. That right place is largely caliber indifferent.

Same here. All heavier recoiling guns involved in search inducing bad shots. One of the goat ropes was my responsibility. A hurried, poorly placed shot from a 30-06. Never has happened with any 22, 24 or 25 caliber I have used.

How many deer have you killed with anything in the last 10 years or ever for that matter ?

I have posted more pictures of deer killed with my 223 than you have of any deer you have killed. Go fist yourself, you bitter old twat. Hugs and Merry Christmas.

So not many. Thought so.

I take great pleasure in building ammo for my deer killing granddaughter and grandson. Those little suckers stack 'em up with their 223 and 22-250. This is part of my Christmas gift to my granddaughter this year.

The deer that the.buzzards ate was hit well if using a 30-06 shot the same way it would have been found easily probably right where it was shot. Less than 100 yard shot. Have no idea what bullet. Someone elses girl. She's a good shot . Just shooting a weak rifle.

What does hit well mean? What part of the deer did it hit and at what angle. The bullets in the picture above can be counted on to destroy vitals at less than 100 yards from any angle other than perhaps up the ass or through a back leg. May work for those, but I don't know anyone who has tried.

Well this thread sure has gone to hell. As the OP, I'm disappointed in what it has degenerated into.
Some of y'all need some serious therapy.

I've thought about your comment along with comments from TheKid about deer size and TheBigSky about bullet technology advancing...Being honest I didn't even give a thought about deer from different regions in the US being different in size on average...but it's true. The doe weights you mention seems consistent with where I hunt in NC. Typical bucks may be closer to 160 than 190 here though.

There is no doubt that bullets have advanced too. Me and my son deer hunt with a .270 and a 7mm-08. Everything we've shot with these rounds has been either DRT or one hop and crash. The shots have all been just behind the shoulder and low. Looks like we wreak havoc on the heart. All have had exit wounds. I can understand why a stout .223 in the same spot would give similar results. However, I do feel more comfortable and confident with what we are using.

This is Paul’s therapy. He pays Rick

Well, bless his heart.