My dad has killed about a dozen whitetails with his .222 Rem and they all went down just as good as with his 7 mm Rem Mag. Most were shot through the lungs and initially gave no reaction to being hit. They just kept walking, or feeding, etc., until they laid down and died. It would be easy to loose one if it was spooked and ran.
I'll stick with my .25-06, thank you.
------------------
Politically correct isn't!
What evidence do you have that a hit in the intestines (which does happen) from a small bullet like a .223 produce a greater effect than from a much larger caliber?
As my evidence I used to use the 30/06 Springfield on woodchucks. As you may imagine a shot at a long distance on a chuck may result in at hit in the guts. My standard is that the chuck not make it into it's hole after being hit. If one does that is a lost animal. It's a very bad thing.
The larger calibers like the 30/06 blow the guts all over the place. They have far more effect than the best bullets in any .22 CF!.
Thus my analogy to the 140 Nosler Partition in the 7mm Rem mag.
My favorite story about a uniformed "hunter" is the one I told about the porkupine in the apple tree. As I aimed at it with my .358 Winchester loaded with the 200 gr Silvertips at 2460 fps the old target shooter said "it will go right thru it!"
I await your evidence before I repeat the punch line.