Wow, “you guys”…. Is that kind of like “you people”…..

“One can knock over deer with a stick” figuratively speaking, but you do need a reasonably sound “stick”, if you are going to try to use a darned “twig” (read 22’s) to do the job then you better have a lot of time and/or a lot of talent. IMHO, what enrages a lot of folks on this subject is when someone endorses a “22’s for deer” without qualifying the assumptions that are imbedded in their endorsement (time, talent, practice, OUTSTANDING marksmanship, long time experience)…... These are the elements you WOULD find in a suburban contract game hunter, or a country boy on the dole, with no job, and nothing to do but hunt every day for a month.... but NO, .....

along comes Johnny Six Pack (or BeaverJacks PAMB’s) reads the post, whips into Walmart, picks up a 710 in .223, puts 5 for 5 in a pie plate and is out to get “ma self uh deer”. Ouch! Deceptive advertising, the poor boy didn’t know better, just doing what he read was okay.
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On a related note:

Personally, since I've adopted my latest "too-large" (whatever that means) caliber elk rifle, I've fired 3 rounds in hunting situations at 150 to 210 yards, put down 3 nice sized animals and had NO tracking to do and NO finishing shots.... just walk straight to them where they dropped, take the pix, and start field dressing. IMHO, that should qualify as ethical.

I am not sure how I am going to be able to improve on that. I am a fair shot, but I don't live my life at the range, don’t shoot a 1,000 rounds per year, don’t do two dozen tournaments, nor spend a month in the woods hunting for just a couple animals. With few exceptions, I go plenty heavy for the game in play, act aggressively on my hunting opportunities, and get down to business. I am simply at loss at how that approach versus someone who prefers (apparently) to wait for the perfect "underbore set up" should be a mandate for my not being allowed to hunt.

EKM