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

Good question, although, for much western Canadian deer hunting, all BS aside, it is hard to imagine a "better" cartridge than the lowly .308Win.

I much prefer it to the .30-06 and I have owned/used at least a dozen fine .06s, but, my carefully customized P-64-70-fwt.-.30-06, must weigh almost a full pound more than the custom .308 I mention above.

The .308 gives good accuracy with 180s at, usually, 2675, the .30-06 drives them to 100 fps. more and for the 100 fps. difference, the .308 is nicer to carry all day, especially in BC's mountains at my age.

I also have a light, CRF .308Norma, about 8.25 lbs. all up and this is my choice as THE .308" bored cartridge of all. It weighs about a half pound more than my .30-06 and drives the 180s to just at 3000.....so, WHERE does one "draw the line"????

I can, when in practice, shoot all of these well, ( for an old guy ) and for general BC uses, where Moose, especially bull Elk and the frequent Grizzly encounters we experience, I feel that the Norma round IS more capable than the smaller cased ones....but, in five years, in my then early 70s, well, who knows?

I hope to hunt Sask. and would LOVE to hunt a Pronghorn in AB. this year or next and this kind of discussion is both informative and really enjoyable, for me, anyway!

[quote=BWalker][quote=SAKO75]

because i happen t oown a 308 and only a 308 but im not professing you have to have a 308 or a 300mag like some would believe

btw, youre the 1st person ive ever heard mention using a 308 can be used for ego

Preface Statement: I've never been nor will I most likely ever be able to "comfortably" afford the honors of hunting in Canada.

That said, let me say this towards this post;

As someone who is not a Canadian resident, who would have to travel 2,000 miles and who would have to put a very sizable amount of funds together in order to go, I have a very skewed view on this subject.

I have hunted deer for 30 years. Have killed them with everything from 22 cal to 50 cal, bows to buckshot. I own a variety of deer hunting rifles that range from flat, fast rounds to bulky, lumps of lead.

Should one day I be blessed enough to go, you all can rest assured I'm taking a rifle in which I'm extremely familiar with and "ONE THAT CAN PENETRATE FAR ENOUGH TO GET THE JOB DONE EVEN WHEN THE MOST IMPERFECT SHOT ANGLE IS ALL I'M ABLE TO TAKE."

That's not to say I will take a "Texas Heart Shot" (I'm not taking any none lethal attempt) but an extremely harsh qtr'ing shot on what might be the most expensive trip I'll ever take in my life, on what would most likely be the largest deer I'd ever have the chance of killing - I want to know I'm putting enough lead on target with enough energy to get the job done with as minimal of a failure rate as possible.

Does that mean that if I were there, handed a 243 with basic rounds that I thought I couldn't make it work with getting a good shot off? No. I have no issues with my shooting ability or the ability to poke a vent hole through a game animal to bring it down.

But this is a $5 to $8k trip for me, 2000 miles from home, once in a lifetime sorta thing; that said - give me a very familiar rifle, one I'm able to shoot accurately in the field, with a proven load ample enough to penetrate despite what conditions I'm afforded. Sometimes, good enough isn't good enough when 16% of your annual income is on the line for a deer.

If that particular rifle is a 308 Win, then that's exactly what you should load up. If it happens to be a 338 Win Mag, then congrats on having more medicine capable of doing the job when everything isn't seeming to add up. It's all about putting your bullet on target in the right place, but sometimes that means it has to travel through a whole lot of meat and bone to get to said "vitals."

Just saying "USE ENOUGH GUN" isn't really my take... If I can't shoot it accurately then it's useless. But to think that I'd take one of my smaller calibers even though I'm 100% familiar with it and trust it is absurd when I have larger, better penetrating rounds that I shoot every bit as proficient.

So I cant be accused of having ego issues I am going to hang up the 300 ultra and take up chucking spears....
All kidding aside, I own a Win model 100 and a model 88 that I almost never use. Mostly because they are family heirloons and frankly I have a nice 280, 26-06, and 300 win and ultra mags that will do anything a 308 will do and in most cases much better, even at 50 yard MI woods ranges.

Bob, I am going to play the anti-hero here and snub anyone not touching off 100 grains of powder, which my ultra bests by a grain...
In all seriousness most any rifle cartridge works on deer, including the .223 which I have used. I happen to use mostly 300 mags for deer hunting because my favorite guns are chambered in them. I also find that all things being equal as it pertains to placement and bullet quality a 300 mag anchors them with more authority and this can be important, especially given the property situation here in MI. I hunt one property that only 7 acres and another thats a real narrow and long 80.

That's good to hear, seen as I live in BC and don't want to travel to Saskabush, I'll just shoot from here.

furprick that's a far piece.

Hey I am in favor of guys shooting what they want and like,even if it ain't my own first choice. After all it's their hunt!

I took my 30-06 to Saskatchewan this year because it is stainless steel, not because it kicks less than my 300 WSM, because it doesn't kick a lot less, and with all of the layers of clothing recoil is not a very large part of the decision.

Just read this post end to end ,some came close to a good reply, some , well, enough said . however ,Royce hit the nail on the head. well said guy .i'ts nice to see some (uncommon ) common sense.