Yes, anything from .223 on up will kill them. I've killed a pile with a .22 LR in my less discriminating days. But I do prefer stuff on the bigger side. Recoil should not be an issue for anything 300 mag on down, for a grown man. Any common deer hunting caliber will be lower recoil than a 12 gauge shotgun. We can go shoot clays or doves and no-one bitches about recoil. Hand them a deer rifle and folks act like they will lose their shoulder. I like to have a little room for error. It is true that nothing trumps bullet placement, but, lets face it bullet placement is not always perfect. I shot a buck at about 210 yards running in December with 30-06. I did not lead enough and hit it in the gut. It ran 30 yards and piled up. Try that with any of these " Big enough" rifles and get ready to call a dog.