I get asked a lot about what caliber is the best to use for white tail deer, or what’s best for mule deer. Sometimes they ask about specific calibers based on different areas of the country. Well determining what gun and or caliber to use is very simple.





When deciding on what gun to use, there is a wide variety of choices when it come to calibers. There are so many choices that it can become extremely overwhelming to new hunters.


There is really a very siple way to understand gun calibers if you follow these simple trains of thought: The bigger the caliber, the more power it has to stop whatever it hits. However, the bigger the caliber, the harder it is to also control. So basically, the larger the animal that you want to hunt, the larger the caliber that you will need. Keep in mind though that this also means a much higher recoil, or kick, that you will receive when firing this gun.


So, what we need to do is match the correct amount of power for the animal you want to hunt, with the amount of recoil you can handle.


For instance, lets say you are interested in hunting smaller animals such as rabbits, squirrels, foxes, and so on. The best choice of caliber would be the .22. This caliber has enough power to humainly take out the animal that you intend to hunt, but will have next to no kick at all.


If you are more intrested in hunting larger animals such as white tails, mule deer, and elk, you will want to move up to a larger caliber.These can range from .243 to 300 mags. You still need to follow the same rules however. FOr the larger animals, use the larger gun. For instance, a .243 may work fine on small to medium sized deer, but if you are going after elk, you should always have at the minimum a gun that will shoot a .270.


Well that pretty much sums it up in the short version. Now if you want some really in depth information, grab a chair and take a look at this.

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