RE: .223 ok 4 deer?
I hunt mostly in Maine and if I am not mistaken it is illegal to use a .223 for deer - I think the bullet has to be larger than .22, but I could be mistaken.
And, even if it were legal, I wouldn't use one. a .223 is such a nice killing round for people (hence the 5.56/.223 caliber of the M16/M4) because it makes a mess of whatever it hits. The whole point is that it is light, travels along bone and just makes a general mess. That's good for incapacitating humans, but not so good for killing a deer quickly and cleanly. All but the very best shots would ruin meat and let the deer run away to die someplace else.