In your opinion what 3-5 rifle cartridges are best for Mule Deer?

[cobrad]

I’m pretty fond of the old 270 for deer or elk. For deer I have 6 creedmore, 6.5 PRC or a couple different 300’s but this year I’m hunting deer with my old Knight 50 cal muzzle loader

 

[tkhuntsman]

I'll play I've killed as many mule deer as anybody but my favorites are
243 win
6.5 cm
308 win
7mm rm
300 wm
No I don't shoot suppressed I'm as accurate as anybody and as unpopular as my picks might be their mine and my own opinion and experience. After 35 years of experience I can say almost any centerfire will knock a mule deer dead. Shoot what you like or what you have there is literally no wrong answer.

 

[wkmartin]

Every deer I’ve ever killed was with a .233 with 55 grain hollow points and never had one run more than 70 yards.

 

[HuntingAddict]

For me it's in this order
300 wsm 180 gr - Accubond
7mm rem mag 160 gr Accubond
30-06 win 165gr Accubond

With that 300 wsm they drop like rocks lol. Plus , all 3 are great for elk

 

[JakeShmevans]

Big fan of the 7 cartridge over here, so I'd say 7 PRC/Rem Mag, then ole reliable with the .270 and lastly 6 Creed for the small cartridge fan boys

 

[TheGDog]

Depends on what kinda situation the Habitat types presents you with.

No sense in creating buncha bloodshot meat if your shots are all going to be close, like if you're taking an ambush sit in concealment gear, where... let's say shot opportunities are no more than 45yds.

On your own sometime... compare/contrast the difference in bloodshot meat when shooting 2 similar-ish sized Muleys, from the same general area, both in that 25-40yds range.

1 being shot with .308 Win 168gr Barnes TTSX

1 being shot with .30-30 Win 150gr Federal Premium Trophy Copper.

You'll see how the idea of employing a cartridge of lesser force starts making sense in that situation when one of them... has like a 6"-8" Diameter ring of bloodshot meat around the bullet entry hole, that ya gotta throw away. And.. Hrmmph.. look at that!... The other one? "Not so much!" with the bloodshot.

So.. if you know it's gonna only be close-quarters stuff, no sense in creating buncha bloodshot meat ya gotta throw away anyway.

Conversely, if you know the terrain type (Such as High Desert Hills ridges) will present you with potentially a longish ridge-to-ridge shot opportunity scenario, then by all means it behooves you to seek-out and figure-out what is the highest level of tolerable recoil you can still tolerate well for multiple repeated shots, if need be, and still maintain the good/needed accuracy for the distances involved.

EDIT: That's available in a light enough rifle for your needs. Depending on what kinda steepness and elevation gain needs you're going be encountering where you're going. The steeper and steeper the climb gets? The more and more you're like "bump This! I need an 'UltraLite' rifle, just to trim down the pack-in weight."