My cousin used a 223 for a while as his first deer rifle. He did kill deer with it but he lost some too. We took to calling it the rat gun. The deer he shot often rana long ways and left very little blood to follow. Maybe that's not a problem if you are hunting in Kansas but, speaking as someone who often helped him trail his wounded deer, here in the dense pine thickets of Alabama it sucked pretty hard.

We were all glad when hemoved up to a bigger caliber eventually.

Will it kill deer? Sure, but so will a 22 shortplaced in the right spot. I would not recommend either as a deer round however. Unless you are in a position of just absolutely having no other option, I say move up to at least a 243. I have 8 year old cousins who can comfortable shoot a 243 so I really don't see why anyone would need to use a less powerful round.