.223 for Deer in Colorado
- Thread starter CWeeks
- Start date
KillerHiller
New member
.223 would probably take a fawn down up here but I would have many reservations about a shoulder shot on anything else. 180# FD is a 2.5 or 3.5 year old in MN. I doubt .223 would have enough energy for a clean kill, there's a lot of tissue mass. But I don't believe you need an 7mm STW to take one either.
Sounds like a North/South pissing match.....My deer is bigger than your deer
From my own experience Muzzleloading this year a head shot might seem like a good choice but I had a shot at a huge doe and she stepped away just as I shot. I ended up clobbering a fawn in the face, removing most of its lower jaw. I trailed the deer for a mile. Until I lost the blood, but found out that 2 guys I was with saw a deer with a huge clot or something hanging from its face eating in a corn field half mile from were the blood stopped. If a 285 grain shot to the face at 50 yards doesn't at least drop the deer momentarily, the slightest misplacement of a 68-70 grain bullet would yield similar results.
Yes, I did finally take the fawn the next weekend. Still had spectactular backstraps!!
I say just go with the laws because at least HALF OF THE TIME, they are in place for a GOOD reason!!
KH
Sounds like a North/South pissing match.....My deer is bigger than your deer
From my own experience Muzzleloading this year a head shot might seem like a good choice but I had a shot at a huge doe and she stepped away just as I shot. I ended up clobbering a fawn in the face, removing most of its lower jaw. I trailed the deer for a mile. Until I lost the blood, but found out that 2 guys I was with saw a deer with a huge clot or something hanging from its face eating in a corn field half mile from were the blood stopped. If a 285 grain shot to the face at 50 yards doesn't at least drop the deer momentarily, the slightest misplacement of a 68-70 grain bullet would yield similar results.
Yes, I did finally take the fawn the next weekend. Still had spectactular backstraps!!
I say just go with the laws because at least HALF OF THE TIME, they are in place for a GOOD reason!!
KH
Last edited:
I understand the bigger is better idea but I have an experiance to share with you!! 6 years ago I set up to take a whitetail buck {4x4} 175# at about 200 yards. just when I thought everything was a go he turned a 1/4 turn . It was a bad deal my mind was in shoot and I couldn't stop the shot, the 115 gr. partition at 3050 fps took him right in the back of the hip and angled forward to the neck when I skinned him that night the bullet laid under the skin in the front of the neck !! After 40 plus deer that have fell to my 26" barreled 25.06 that is the first slug I have found. I am pretty sure anyone would call that enough gun. Mark
CWeeks
New member
Yes but a face shot is not a vital hit, you hit the heart and lungs the deer will go down. I killed a stray dog once with a wlamart special pellet gun. Hit him right in the bread basket and we found him the next day 300 yards from where I shot him. this wasn't a small dog either a german sheperd mix. It is all about placement, the face is not good placement, the brain maybe face not good. If you had read my earlier post I watched my grandfather kill a nice buck with a .22 round through the eye of the buck, great placement. The deer dropped like a ton of bricks.
Wa_Coyote_Hunter
New member
I have seen videos where most coyotes drop in there tracks with a 22-250.
But at least 30% or more run off with a 223 hit. So on the bigger the animal the less kill power it has.
Yes it does have alot to do with shot placement. But I have seen to many guys at the range put up a target at 100 yards and just hit the paper and think that is good enough.
Well if it doesn't put down a dog cleanly it sure isn't going to put a deer down that often. It will kill it yes but how many have got away to die days later. To only feed the coyotes.
Sometimes we humans have to have some respect for the animals we hunt. A 22 LR will kill an elk but is it a good choice >>>>>>NO
But at least 30% or more run off with a 223 hit. So on the bigger the animal the less kill power it has.
Yes it does have alot to do with shot placement. But I have seen to many guys at the range put up a target at 100 yards and just hit the paper and think that is good enough.
Well if it doesn't put down a dog cleanly it sure isn't going to put a deer down that often. It will kill it yes but how many have got away to die days later. To only feed the coyotes.
Sometimes we humans have to have some respect for the animals we hunt. A 22 LR will kill an elk but is it a good choice >>>>>>NO
CWeeks
New member
Well if dogs have run off it is shooter error not the rifle, or what caliber it is. Plain old bad shooting I have never had a dog run off with the .223. Every dog I have shot has dropped in it's tracks. I am not saying I would hunt with a .223 for deer I was simply asking what the laws were. I have bigger guns I have always used for deer. In Utah it is legal to shoot a deer with a .223 and I have always used my .308. But with all of us "true hunters" here you should know that shot placement is EVERYTHING, even with your .243,.270,30-06 if you don't have a well placed shot the deer will run off. I have seen more elk run off wounded by a .270 than any other caliber and it is not the gun, because a .270 is plenty capable to take an Elk it is the moron pulling the trigger that is the problem. You hit a deer in the heart with anything he is done.
Longcruise
New member
Keep in mind that your CO deer may go 300# or more. Not common, but you need to equip for all possibilities. In the last three years, I and my camp have not killed a mulie doe less than 200# on the hoof.