My 2 cents worth.
I like my Winchester lever action 30-30 for about anything, but I'm comfortable with it and it will knock down what I want to shoot. I had a bull put me on the fence and wasn't going to let me down. I told him I was going to shoot him and eat him and I did. With my 30-30. In the head. He is delisious(sp)!
I have to put a horse down for a friend and I will use a 38 or 357, up close, so as to not wound or take a chance on a bad shot.
Most "hunters" I've been around carry a large caliber rifle and they don't shoot it often enough to be comfortable with it and they take too long of shots and they cripple animals and I find those cripples and have to put them out of their misery.
I've seen deer with blown off jaws from head shots and deer with blown off legs from body shots and even deer running with their guts hanging out from bad placed, too long of shots.
This macho, "I'm a long distance shooter", bs just makes me mad. As does shooting at too far of a distance or hurried snap shots, that maim instead of kill. If you can't make the shot, be man enough to admit it, at least to yourself.
Not withstanding that things go wrong and anyone can make a bad shot. But you can sure eliminate them, or at least cut the odds of that happening, with some forsight and dedication to getting comfortable with a gun and knowing how to use it and not making impossible shots.
All that being said, I will probably shoot at about anything I want to kill on this place. Deer, fox, coyotes, skunks, mice, stray dogs and intruders, with this new 223. But they won't be overly long shots and they won't be where the bullet can be deflected. It is replacing my Winchester lever action 22 mag that has put an end to suffering on many a cripple. And it ain't caused any, either.
It's not the size of the bullet, but where it's placed that makes the difference.