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

Jordan makes a good point.....sometimes enough is enough. I hunted with a Calgary outfitter that frowned on magnum cartridges due to the misses & loss of game.

Whatever mistakes you make upon firing/trigger pull on a magnum, it will amplify itself. Sorta like archery.... the more radical/recoil/faster the bow, the accuracy will worsen vs a more slower forgiven bow.

3 yrs ago in Africa we had 4 hunters at camp. Two PA hunters shot and wounded Kudu's with 300win mags. Our Kudu's were shot using a 308win with perfect kill results. I'll stick with the less recoil calibers to hunt with. .243win for deer and .308win for...... Well I'm not visiting Africa anytime soon so it'll sit in my safe.

This is about as profound a statement as one can make.
If a fella can accurately shoot a 300 , 338, or even a 375 ( know two guys that hunt deer with them) get right at it!
I used to be able to but through the years and damage shoulders
Those big boomers are a no-go so lighter cartridges are the way for me, I simply shoot them better!
Cat

Sako: First off, no I do not mean Alberta (where I have hunted several times and never killed a buck from the truck).We do use trucks to get from place to place because it beats walking 20-30 miles.

Second, I understand that people use 243's and 25's for a lot of hunting and I understand they kill stuff.Even some stuff out of their intended class.

What I meant is, there is not a thing in the world "wrong" with using a 300 magnum up there (if you want)because they are among the best category of cartridge for killing BG animals here and worldwide,including Canadian whitetails, if you want.

I have used mostly a 270 in Central Canada, but have also used 300's and 7 mags up there.Pointed correctly 300's are superb killers...Their only drawback (for some, not all folks)is that they recoil substantially. This does not mean they are not great cartridges and among the very best for killing BG animals, especially so at long range....use one enough and you will see this.

Pointed right, they dump big whitetails on their noses.

I don't know where the attitude comes from but there appears to be this "little cartridge" snob attitude among folks on here that they occupy some higher moral ground because they use cartridges burning no more than 50 grains of powder;and anyone using a 300 magnum or some such is automatically labeled a "spray and pray" type driven by some egotistical megalomania...which is utter nonsense. It just gets tiring reading this stuff from people who should know better

I don't know why you would want to avoid an outfitter who has farm fields in the northern zone...the line( at least where I hunted in the eastern part of the province), has lots of farm fields to the north of the line. I know this because I have hunted them and killed bucks on them.One , in particular was right on the boundary and the field I hunted was "legal" while the one behind me and across a dirt road, was not.

And not all hunting is done over bait...at least not the fields I hunted were baited...they were grain fields but not "baited".I hunted lots of them. If I were not allowed to do so, the wardens who saw me doing it would have locked me up!

Invariably though,stands set back in the bush are baited.

Unless the laws have changed dramatically since I was there,if you are under the misconception that a non resident alien cannot hunt a farm field, someone has given you the wrong information.(Usually the outfitters) You can hunt anything north of the line,farm field or bush.

As I posted earlier I did not get pass through on a 1/4 away buck at 40 yards this year with my 7mm RM + 168gr LRAB. My friend just called me today and he got his buck too - ~100 yards sharp 1/4-to shot and his 200gr Accubond out of his .300 WM stayed in the buck.

Sometimes it's just funny the way it works.

"Nonresident aliens (outside Canada) may hunt deer only in the northern forest zones
Southern Saskatchewan has limits on hunting whitetail by non-residents. Non-residents are restricted to more densely wooded areas further north."


what part of "forest zones" and "densely wooded areas" am i missing? does that include non-baited grain fields that were planted with grain seed by humans? Maybe there are some fields in these zones but I would guess it's a minuscule percentage.


Read more: http://www.ehow.com/facts_6771319_trophy-whitetail-hunting-saskatchewan_-canada.html#ixzz2mK0TQ6dj


i agree is distance is a factor shoot a magnum if you want but dont say a magnum kills a deer better at 150 yards than a 308

Non-Residents can hunt the southern farmland if you can wake the drunk Native/Indian outta bed early enough to take you.

No snobbery here, Bob

The same can be said for proponents of big magnums who often have equally tiresome self-righteous attitudes when proclaiming that they use the "right" tool for the job, not some pipsqueak marginal cartridge.

For me and my hunting, I just know what the smaller cartridges can do to critters, so I choose not to use a 7 lbs sledge hammer to drive a finishing nail, when a 16 oz finishing hammer will do the job nicely I honestly just prefer not to deal with the recoil, powder consumption, and muzzle blast associated with the larger chamberings when I can accomplish the same end result without all the unpleasantry. Different strokes for different folks, and as long as you can reliably kill cleanly, there are no wrong answers!

Sako, what you are missing is that there is a boundary line.

North of the boundary line a NRA can hunt;south of the boundary line he cannot.

Not all the country north of the line is solid bush...at least in the eastern portion of the province, where I hunted not far from the Manitoba border.

So, our hunting area consisted of mixture of bush,crown pasture land of mixed cover,and some farming areas containing big grain fields and agricultural crops,all of which was harvested by hunting season.

We hunted it all and sometimes stands were in the bush, or the pasture lands, and farm fields at the edge of bush as well.

Trust me if the outfitter were doing something illegal the whole camp would have ended up in Court in Regina.Wardens know where outfitters operate and where stands are located, etc...

I have killed bucks in the bush,and in the farming country as well.

In other words, not all of the Northern Forest Zone, is "forest".

I am not saying a 300 magnum kills a deer better than a 308 at 150 yards....I am saying that there is not a thing wrong with using a magnum if you want to.

IIRC this was your first hunt in Saskatchewan? Did you kill a good buck?

This comment is uncalled for and ignorant.

Learn to shoot....

Learn when to shoot...

Practice....as much as possible.

Know your equipment and your own abilities.

Eveything else is academic....

I used a 6.5x55 Swede to kill mine this year. The deer hated the 140g Partition. The shot was approx 115y. It was a large bodied 10pt buck (or as they referred to it a 5x5) and I got complete pentratration with it, a large exit wound, lots of blood, and a dead deer within 40-45y. I couldn't ask for anything more than what I got.

Our guides both used .243 Winchesters. The've killed a pile of huge bodied Canadian bruisers and cut racks off 160" deer and throw them in a pile in the garage. He's got multiple 200" + non-typicals and a 180" typical in the house that was killed with a .243 win. I think it's actually the biggest rifle that either of them own and they're both born and raised in Sask. He also killed a 360" bull elk at over 200y with that little .243 Win and a 85g TSX. Apparently it was a bam flop from another hunter who called it in for him. I can't see a reason to bring my .243 Win instead of my 6.5x55 or .308 Win, but those guys were fully confident with it and who am I to argue with their success.

I just wish the guys around home would learn to shoot. It's amazing to me to watch guys blow the front leg off a deer with a .308 Win or .30-06 and somehow or another convince themselves that it would have turned out differently had they been using a bigger gun.

Yes first trip
Yes nice big bodied mature buck (5x5 with an additional little kicker off left G2)
130 yards
130 grain TTSX through the lungs from a 308
Ran 40 yards and dropped

I have not encountered any outfitters advertising or boasting of "grain land within their allotted provincial forest land"
Would you say your hunting situation was closer to the exception or the rule for all aliens hunting in all parts of the province?

I took your post as outfitters lie to us and make aliens hunt the woods when we don't have to

Jordan I understand all that. I have always hunted with a blend of cartridges myself,and still do although I have not used a 300 magnum in quite a few years now.

None of this means that they are not excellent cartridges and cut a pretty big swath for a lot for BG hunting,and I see no reason a guy should not use one if he wants to.

Lots of people do not want to own and use lots of different cartridges and rifles for a lot of hunting,and for them a 300 covers a lot of ground.

Percentages don't lie. I've been hunting SK 8 straight years and heard the horror story's from hunters...and my personal experience with them. Maybe a few good Native outfitters, but not many.

Butch and Barry Carriere in Cumberland House are a piece of dog [bleep]. Repeat for google searches...BEWARE of Barry Carriere outfitters in Cumberland house SK.

Red Creek outfitters in Red Earth Sucks also.

It's common knowledge to never book a hunting trip with Native outfitters.

THAT, sums all of this up perfectly and the issue of "practice" is THE most crucial one, IMHO.

I would never hesitate to carry and use of of my two remaining .308Win. rifles for ANY hunting or even solo wilderness working/living here in Canada. I have worked in various aspects of harvesting and managing our natural resources in Canada's northern territories, Ontario, Alberta and, all over BC.

I have one particular, custom, light, sub-7 lb. all up, STS, CRF .308 that is as close to "perfect" for daily use as I can imagine, after 50 years and owning about 150 rifles. I have a Browning Mod. 7500 combo, O/U in .308/12 and have used it for 24 years in the above regions. With my favoured load of 180 NP, 42.5-RE-15, these are both accurate and I never feel the recoil and they DO kill, no question.

I could, should I ever be so inclined, kill ANY deer that walks in Canada, with my .220 Swift and a NP, with LUNG shots and I have known old timers who shot a LOT of game with the Swift, back when the "Fabulous Flathead" and upper Columbia Valleys teemed with hooved game. These things CAN be done and so the choice really IS about a decent bullet and what a given hunter feels most comfortable shooting.

That said, I just feel better hunting deer with my .270s, 7x57s, 7/08, and, especially, my favourite, .280 Rem. But, the one deer I lost, back in 2006, was with a 7x57 and this CAN happen with even a .378 Bee, so, there is NO "perfect" solution here, IMHO.

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.

14 pages on what caliber to use on deer, and your name is 270man?

That's sig line worthy.

[quote=SAKO75]in sask most shots for non-resident aliens are 150 yards or less so a magnum is for ego IMO [/quote

So is a .308 at that distance.. Why not use a 30-30 or better yet a 25-35?