Top 5 Rifle Cartridges For Hunting Mule Deer

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Anytime anyone makes the claim that this is the best, the greatest, the top, you invite challenge, criticism and opinions. All that is fine, and as with most things, there is subjectivity by the author based on his or her experience and knowledge. Some of us are absolute gun nuts and others, like me, look at a rifle as a beautiful tool to take to the task at hand.

I personally shot my first mule deer in 1982 with a Remington model 700 ADL in a .30/06 topped with a Tasco scope. It was an entry-level rifle that I bought with money earned from cutting firewood as a teenager. The effort and toil it took to earn the money added to the degree I coveted and admired this gun. I remember racking the bolt endlessly, and to this day, I still love the sound of the 700 action as it cycles. A solid, deeper metallic clack that I could recognize blindfolded.

Fondness of Muleys

My first deer was shot twice by me two days in a row. My hunting partner, Mike Messier and I had climbed up on a rolling oak tree-covered mountain on the outskirts of Tehachapi, California and we jumped a small spike by fork buck that thumped off 50 yards and turned to look back in typical fashion of a naive young buck. I fired offhand and the buck disappeared unscathed into the fog.

The next day we went back to the same spot and found the same buck and the results were different. The buck staggered at my shot and dropped in his tracks when my buddy unleashed his .270 pump-action Remington. Walking up on the deer, we inspected him, and I put my hands on my first big game animal. What I noticed quickly was a clean, fresh hole in one of his ears, representing my “miss” from the day before. Lessons were learned and applied moving forward.

Since then, I have hunted mule deer with a passion and success and was so driven and enamored with mule deer hunting that at the age of 21, I picked up and struck out on my own, moving to Colorado. A bold move in retrospect, but I was chasing dreams even as a young man.

I have owned and hunted with a few different rifles and calibers. Not all were ideal for mule deer but still efficient and got the job done. My rifle purchases were limited due to the reality of being a father with small kids and bills to pay. Discretionary income was limited in those years. I did develop quite a bit of experience and success hunting mule deer during the modern-day golden era of mule deer hunting in Colorado in the early 2000s, and my opinions are simply based on experiences that I had.

The Legend: .30-06 Springfield

Although the roots of this round date back nearly 120 years, the .30/06 has staying power. There is a great deal of history and nostalgia associated with this cartridge, and it is interesting to say the least. Even Wikipedia has literally thousands of words devoted to the lore and history of this venerable round because it did help win wars and keep us all from speaking German. It’s versatile with bullet weights spanning the range between 110 and 220 grains.

It’s hard to argue if it has killed more deer in North America than any other round but it’s probably 1st or 2nd. It’s not the fastest, most powerful or lightest recoiling, but its versatility and ubiquitous availability make it a solid choice. My personal hunting mentor, the late Gordon Wonacott used a pre-64 Winchester model 70 .30-06 topped with a Weaver 4X his whole adult life, taking tremendous bucks on the Arizona Strip and Utah’s San Juan Elk Ridge back in the 60s, 70s and 80’s.

He was an excellent marksman and knew exactly how the rifle performed. His results speak for themselves. Buying an accurate .30/06 is never a mistake.

I am currently on a nostalgic journey to accurize and rebuild my original .30/06 into a more accurate rifle to use once again to hunt deer. I hope to kill a buck with the gun while wearing Levi's 501s and a flannel shirt just because I can. If the .30/06 was going away, it’s not happening anytime soon.

.30 Cal Thumper: 300 Winchester Magnum

Affectionately called the “Lord’s Caliber” on social media these days, the .300 Win Mag is an absolute hammer on mule deer.

Maybe a bit of overkill but with a .300 Win Mag you literally have a North American “one and done” caliber. I’ve shot Alaskan Moose, bighorn sheep, a 500-pound grizzly and mule deer with the gun, all of which died quick enough that there weren’t any issues. Now, many will say it’s a tad light for big brown bears and grizzly to which I would agree, but it will still work.

For mule deer, it’s a high-end tool for the job. The energy and performance exceed the optimal but the versatility of the cartridge in North America and on the international stage makes this a chambering have tremendous appeal. It has some stout recoil with about 50% more felt recoil than the .30-06, so recoil-sensitive shooters are well advised to invest in a brake or suppressor to shoot it accurately and responsibly.

International hunters favor the .300 Win Mag because it has greater appeal and ammo availability worldwide, especially in Africa.

Flat-Shooting Classic: 7mm Remington Magnum

It’s hard to make an argument against the 7mm Mag. Originally developed in 1962 as a cartridge that bridges the gap between the hard-hitting .300 Win Mag and smaller western big game cartridges, the “7 Mag” became very popular with hunters in the 70s and 80s and to this day still stands tall amongst the other 7s. It has had many challengers like the .280 Ackley Improved, the 7mm Express, the 7 SAUM and most recently the 7 PRC. These cartridges all have pros and cons to weigh out with the 7mm Remington Magnum, but none will outright replace it.

7mm cartridges seem to hit a sweet spot with bullets and high ballistic coefficients and are a very popular option for performance at higher-than-average ranges when hunting mule deer. There’s no question the 7mm Rem Mag is a hard hitter and the expense of that is your shoulder, although it does jump softer than the .300 Win Mag.

The 7mm Remington Magnum could be considered a perfect North American game caliber other than for the big bears and for obvious reasons, but if I was on a caribou hunt and was charged by a grizzly, I would feel fine with a 7mm Mag because, at the very least, that bear is going to be hit hard enough to stop or alter that forward momentum with reasonable bullet placement in the center of the chest.

If I were picking the perfect mule deer round, I’d be hard pressed to argue against the 7mm Remington Magnum. It’s a cartridge that is proven, widely available and isn’t going anywhere.

Enigmatic Efficiency: 6.5 Creedmoor

No cartridge receives more disrespect on the internet and online forums these days than the 6.5 Creedmoor. Much of it is based on the rise in popularity of long-range shooting and irresponsible hunters shooting elk and deer beyond the effective range of the 6.5 Creedmoor.

This so-called “popular wisdom” on the lack of lethality is truly unfair. In my opinion, the 6.5 Creedmoor is the perfect round for younger hunters and those who are recoil sensitive yet still is very hard-hitting at moderate ranges. The 243 has less recoil even than the 6.5 Creedmoor, but the smaller bullets and decreased performance don’t make me want to recommend the 243.

Many will disagree, but I always felt like my 243 was a coyote gun and not a true deer rifle.

The obvious long-range pitfalls of the 6.5 Creedmoor compared to larger calibers should not dissuade anyone from this chambering. Responsible hunters know and respect the limitations. Again, the popularity of this cartridge makes factory ammo widely available and in many selections. This was especially evident in the Covid era ammo shortage, where the .308 Win., .30-06 and 6.5 Creedmoor ammo were the most widely available for hunters in every store I went to.

Mule Deer Perfection: 6.5 PRC

I currently use and praise the 6.5 PRC and honestly consider it the perfect mule deer cartridge. Developed as a proprietary cartridge by Hornady engineers, the 6.5 delivers exceptional performance downrange on deer and sheep-sized animals. Lighter felt recoil than some of its competition in the 264-magnum category, it has exceptional out-of-the-box, and repeatable accuracy, and is a pleasure to shoot.

I started my 6.5 journey with a custom Remington 700 action rechambered and re-barreled to a 6.5x284. When the 6.5 PRC came on the scene, I switched to it with the availability of ammo being the deciding factor and never looked back. I’ve personally taken 6 elk, 2 Shiras moose, a bighorn, a Dall ram, 3 mule deer, over 40 Texas whitetails (culling operation), and many species of African antelope including Sable, Kudu and iron-tough Blue Wildebeest and never felt under gunned.

The 6.5 PRC is an absolute performer in the field and is one of the most popular calibers people choose in custom-built long-range rifles. It is available in guns from every big manufacturer at this point and its popularity is justified by its field performance. If there was a perfect mule deer cartridge to be named, in my opinion, it is the 6.5 PRC. I trust it completely.

Accuracy and shot placement are ultimately the catalysts for downing mule deer ethically, regardless of cartridge, caliber or bullet choice. The rifle you have supreme confidence in and can consistently place a bullet exactly where you want it should be your top choice.

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