My hunting partner Ron killed 6 Whitetail deer this season with his Remington 700 in 243 and he never had to track one more than 25 yards so yes they will kill a whitetail deer. Now we do live in Arkansas and our deer run much smaller than the Midwest and Western whitetail deer so in those areas a larger caliber like 25-06 or 270 might work better. I lived in Colorado for 21 years and the 25-06 and 270 definitely work on mule deer and Antelope.

My choice of bullet in the 243 was a 100 grain Sierra game king BTSP.