I have shot far more deer with a Ruger 44 carbine than anything else. I usually hunt thick woods and most shots are 50 yards or less. As far as the most versatile cartridge for deer i would vote for the 7mm Rem Mag.

My first deer was killed with my pops 500A mossberg, shooting buckshot, rifle wise I've got 3, 30/30, 44 mag and 7.62x54r nagant.

In what state was the 22 legal for deer? Just curious.

Gosh. I enjoy so many different rifles and cartridges. I have a 3030 henry with irons for my brush hunting. I use a scoped savage 99 featherweight in 308 with see through ring mounts for if im going between fields and forests mix. If I'm hunting longer fields or just want the confidence I use my tikka in 243. I can stack dimes with that thing. Took a spike today with a 50. cal muzzleloader.

And for Rob I do plan on bowhunting early season at some point. I actually got into hand carving my own self bow (I think it's called a self bow?, there was a specific design it was made after, I can always find out) out of white ash. My draw weight was too low so just fun to shoot. Made entirely with hand tools no power tools. I enjoy hand tool woodworking. eventually i'll make and fletch my own arrows too. But for now I just thump game with a boomstick !

Do you happen to have a picture of the bow? Sounds cool. I was looking at potential staves in the woods today.

The best cartridge for deer is the one you shoot the most accurate !

.22 was not legal. When I was a kid and was told 22 would not kill a deer I called bs and backed it up.

I in No way try to claim I have never broken game laws in my life. Infact I have probably broken almost all of them i can think of . As a kid I saw them as challenges and it didn't help my hunting influences were some habitual game law breakers. Luckily I out grew them as I got older. Today i follow most laws but still have no problem ignoring some laws. Like leting the boys hunt youth deer on their own. Not all laws are good laws. I even exceed the speed limit very often by 5 tob10 mph on the interstate.

25-06……nice for this type of country here in Kansas…

Started out with a 20 gauge single shot shooting slugs, moved up to a Savage 30-30 pump, then a 270, and recently a 6.5 creedmoor. Have shot a couple with 243, and 308, all have done their part when I did mine. Eric

Of all the cartridges I own, my go to is the .308. Shot Whitetails with 204,223,243,270,6.5 PRC, 3006, 300 wsm 300 win mag , I’m probably missing a few. That 308 flat out shoots great and is a great fit for Whitetails.

The savage ml2 is also a deadly, smokeless ml. ( but not a cartridge)

I wish I could use my .22-250 here. I would without a doubt, if it were legal. We're limited to straight wall ammo .350 and larger. The only rifle we kill deer with these days is a Henry .44 mag lever action carbine. It does the job. The rest are shot with an 11-87 .20ga. and slugs. I have shot a lot of deer with shotgun slugs, 12, 16, and 20ga.

Nobody's mentioned the 22 Mag yet.

Me too! My first one was with a slug. I didn’t have a rifle but I wanted to try

If you run across a 350 legand you like i would recommend it for your situation. They boys have shot 11 of the deer they have shot in the last 2 years with theirs and I have been very pleased with it. Will give it as big improvement over 357 and 44mag and shotguns. More range with less drop hits hard and less recoil and cheaper to shoot than shotguns with sabot.

When though the boys can now use the real rifles like the 7mm-08 and others they still take their 350s happy with the performance and dont feel under guned.

Well those work guess I left. that out.

The 5mm was popular with poachers at one time too. lol

I've always wanted one to try out, but never found one I could afford. Figured would make a good general purpose pickup gun. I've got a little ammo laying around for it.

We use lighter calibers out West with the right bullet they do just fine.

Was legal here a long time ago. Id say up until end of 60s maybe early 70s.

But I recall it talked about in combo with the Qbeam as common for the night poachers