Funny I feel the same way whenever a guy shows up to hunt with us carrying a 338 magnum. If you can' t consistently kill deer with a 243 then you can' t shoot. If you can' t shoot then you won' t be any better off with a bazooka. A miss or a poor hit is rarely compensated for by a larger caliber or more powerful gun. The average shot distance for hunters here in Alabama is less than 100 yards and if you can' t get within 150 yards of a deer here then at the risk of sounding mean spirited....YOU SUCK! I always get a good inner smile when I encounter someone here that has just purchased themselves a brand new Magnum with a barrel that looks like the tail pipe on a 57 chevy and a bullet that is only a few inches shorter than a Mark 14 torpedo. Its all I can do to keep a straight face while they rattle on about ballistics and how little it drops at 400 yards. Its funny because 99 percent of the guys that carry these Howitzers don' t kill many deer and never hit anything at 400 yards. I know thats not the guns fault but there seems to be a certain mindset or personallity that is drawn to having the biggest baddest gun in the woods. Not because its needed, just because its the biggest and baddest. The simple truth is that for deer here in Alabama there is no need for anything bigger or more powerful than a 270. In fact a 7mm-08 or a 260 remington are probably neck and neck for the ideal Alabama deer calibers. Now if you want one gun to hunt deer, moose, elk and Grizzly bears then yes by all means go with a magnum. For whitetails on the other hand a mega-magnum is like driving roofing tacks in with a sledgehammer, it will work but I' d rather use a tool more suited to the job at hand.
I have never lost a deer I shot with a 243. I' m no master marksman but I can easily put a bullet tight behind a deers shoulder out to 200 yards. Thats not a great feat of marksmanship folks. If you can' t shoot at least that well then stay home or at least restrict yourself to a range that you can easily do it. Most hunters are far more limited by their own shooting abilities than they are by the gun they are holding. A 243 will kill a deer cleanly as far as most hunters can accurately shoot anyway. For most guys buying a big magnum will only encourage them to take a shot they will probably be darn lucky to make anyway. In the hands of a competent shooter with 100 grain corelocks out to 250 yards a .243 will kill the biggest whitetail in America dead..Dead...DEAD!