Reindeer are basically domesticated caribou, right?
Is my 308 a good choice?
Shots should be within 50 yd.
Thanks for any resposes.
(I need to know FAST, please!!!!)

They're hard to bring down while flying. Something in a quad 40mm Bofor's mount from WW2 will do the trick

Though closly related to caribou reindeer are different,smaller and more easily domesticated. Don't be so quick to shoot them , they do work well for pulling sleds.

Yes, the .308 will be fine if you use a 165 grain or larger bullet. Just don't use a .270. I have seen numerous raindeer shot with a .270 fly off not leaving a blood trail. Oh God! Here we go again.

Gentlemen

Reindeers are shot with pea shooters like, 243, 6,5X55, 6,5-284 Norma, 270 or 7mm in this part of the world.

Place the bullet were it supposed to be and hope that the reindeer has read his part of the script

Reading some of the replies, some of you guys must have twisted the bottle a bit to hard

/ JOHAN

For the flying ones under 50 yards away, a 3 in. 12 gauge load with 000 buckshot should work well. Remember, you have to lead them about a reindeer length. Go for the first one with the red nose. If you hit it, the rest will fall down in confusion. If you miss it or don't lead it enough, you may get the second or third one in the string.

Since Reindeer are native to Scandinavia I'd suggest the most appropriate cartridge would be the 6.5x55... you have a "freak" with a red nose that needs culling?

Well, thanks for the replies, guys.
Actually fell asleep on the lawn. Too much rye whiskey in the eggnog, I guess.
Always next year.

Don't worry about next year.

Bwana, a Reindeer is the very same thing as a Caribou. The difference lies in the global situation of the animals bearing the different names. A Reindeer does not have to be domesticated even though Mr. Claus and the Sami have aquired their service for some time.



Here in Iceland the minimal caliber is 6mm (.240). The most common calibers being from the 243Win thru various 7mm calibers to .30 calibers like 30-06 and .300Win.



The 308Win should be absolutely ok for ranges up to say 250 meters with a bullet of 150-165gr.



Regards

Mickey, you realize that's only 3 of 8 (or 9, if you believe the Rudolf myth), so I'm damn sure getting another tag for next year.
Thanks everyone for their unbelievably helpful response.
I think the shotgun is likely the best choice for such close range. According to the tracks, I could've easily had a 20yd shot.
Is this common?

My boys are working on a variation of the beanfield rifle - their variant is the snowfield rifle. They are putting together a 300 Savage firing 150 grain corelocks @ 1400 fps. Sighted in 2 inches high at 25 feet, should drop about 1/2 inch at the end of our roof, still giving them point blank range of about 7 houses.

Since baiting is legal in Saskatchewan, they plan on setting out a bushel of barley chop before setting up behind the chimney. This summer they intend to plant a food plot over the garage so as to attract the reindeer year round to our property.

The boys have not yet found any decoys, so if any of you know of a good supplier please send us some information.

TOO late for Rudolph,
got this one on our last trip North, first week of Dec.

This may be too late!! I pray not!! For the love of Pete, DONT USE MATCH KINGS!!!!! LOL They simply dont work!!.sakofan..

Shot placement is key here. Any of the medium capacity cartridges already mentioned here should work fine with good bullets unless you need to penetrate bells and harnesses, in which case I'd recommend a magnum. With a flying target, that is a distinct possibility.

Years ago I often traveled in Norway. At one frequent stop on my travels I befriended the hotel owner who was an avid hunter. He and I spent a number of evenings discussing hunting and guns. On what turned out to be my last visit to his inn, he invited me to accompany him on a Reindeer hunt and took me into his office to take a look at his favorite rifle for shooting Reindeer; a French-made semi-automatic .22LR. He explained that this rifle had taken several dozen Reindeer, always head shots at distances no greater than 80 yards. Apparently his family had some sort of dispute over some land occupied by native Laps who had burned his families cabin and took retribution on them by poaching a few of their Reindeer each year. I respectively declined his offer to "hunt" reindeer with him.

Farner- I'm from Texas. The road poachers here use 22LR from their vehicles to poach whitetails. They're quiet and these guy can pop one in the head and unzip the deer and have it in the back of the vehicle in less than 5 minutes. It makes it hard on the game wardens. It's especially bad in east Texas.
..used to be Sgt.Krohn- Americal-QueSonValley south of DaNang..