bust out the good ol .300 mag lol, knock the dear on their asses

just buy the 50 cal BMG, that way you will never be undergunned by your buds! And if the deer is say 2 miles away? just aim for the center and cut it in half. Its easier to drag and NO gutting, the bullet does it all for you. If the deer is close? Aim for the center and blow it to smithereens and you don't have to use up your tag, NO DEER? NO TAG, but you still had the fun of blowing the shit out of it! It's a win win situation in my opinion. When you tote that 16 pound, 5 ft. long gun around in public hunting ground, No one in their right mind will crowd you! You will always be left all alone for quality time hunting.
So as you can see, this is definatly the best choice caliber for hunting deer, good luck !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ummmm, the last Barrett 50 cal I handled weighed a lot more than 15 lbs.
It seems like everyone around my area has 300 Win mag fever lately though.

The 300 winchester I think has way to much power for deer huntin.

Ill stick with my ol' 270 for the fields, and the really old .35 remington for the woods

I have used my Good ol 30:06 for everything from deer to antelop.

Seams like F7 and myself are the oldest ones answering so we have gotten our share I would think. This is almost as bad as the oil question. My 2 cents, 270 or 30-06 for midwest. Out west 7mm or 300 mag will do what's needed. IMHO

Some time spent at the range might save on ammo in the long run.

.30-06 Springfield,will kill any game animal in North America.and will do so efficiently.ammo is always cheap and available,with a wide variety of bullet weights.

I too have hunted Whitetail successfully for many years.. I am also an avid Bow Hunter and small gamer.. Having spent a lifetime as an outdoorsman has taught me something, NEVER under estimate the opportunities that life will hand you - you may think you will never bear hunt in Alaska BUT trust me - it can/does happen.. That said, you are best off to prepare for it NOW by purchasing a really good all around weapon!
If I had it to do all over again and was limited to buy one gun it would be the 7mm Mag.. YOu can buy a brand new savage 110 in a "kit" form with Scope, sling brand new for 300 bucks.. Wanna spend a little more grab a Remington 700 or spend more yet and get a Sako or Weatherbeee.
I use 150 grain softpoints in mine for EVERYTHING from LONG RANGE woodchucking to Bear to Whitetail to Mule Deer.. Its an AWESOME round that shoots very flat yet has unreal knockdown - like hitting them with a sledgehammer! Something really sweet about using one gun for everything is you have a chance to get used to it..
Something I do for smaller big game like whitetail or Coyote though is I carry a wood drillbit in my gun case and hollowpoint my cartridges.. It is amazing the difference this makes in flesh damage - on a full grown whitetail the round will go in at 7mm diameter and exit the size of your fist -- cuts way down on losing wounded animals!!!

RIPPER I'll tell ya, you know what you're talking about.

.308 Model 7400 semi-auto...sighted in with REM 150grain solids...got my 8 pointed last year with.. he turned broadside at around 140 ft, I hit it so hard the deer left his stance and landed in a heap...crazy sight for me, still cant believe it...

i us a 6.5x55 Swedish mouser.its a really nice shooting gun ive used it all the time it is one of the most straightest shooting small cal.rifle out there.i took it to the range with my 30-06 at 250 yards my 6.5x55 shoots more straight then the 30-06.both guns are sighted in 150 yards and at 250 yards the -06 dropped 1"at 250yards and the 6.5x55 dropped very little just on the bottom ring of the bulls eye.ive used it for about 10 years and its never failed me yet

300 Remington Ultra mag, anything closer than 300 yards and it guts it for you or cuts it in half, way easier to drag. LOL shot many deer out to 550 yards and it just kills them dead, watch the bullet hit them and smack! down for the count.
I wish I had a bigger gun yet, then I could gut them at 600 yards, wouldn't even get my hands cirty. LOL



p.s. little guns are nice and easy to carry LOL

They say guys that shoot a LITTLE gun is because their vaginas hurt when shooting a big one! Go big or go home!

Marlin 30/30 for in the woods, and scoped remington 7400 .30-06 for shootin in fields. Except when around my house as we are in a controlled area and have to use 12 gauge.

.35 remington

Sounds like you have done your research. All of the major hunting magazines have done an article on this very subject at some point. They all come down to a toss up between the 30/06 and .270. The reasons for these two calibers being the best all around deer rifle are numerous.
These same mag. articles will tell you that anything under a .243 or 6mm is too small(I agree), even though a lot of places allow smaller .22 caliber centerfire rifles to be used.
On the other hand bigger is not always better. Shot placement is key, and a lot of guys carrying around the big .30 caliber and up magnums can't shoot them well enough because of recoil induced flinch.
So now the window ranges from .25 to .30 caliber. Throw out a bunch of the less common cal.'s and a few of the slower shooting ones and take your pick. Anything that falls into this category will do a fine job.
Oh yeah, my vote for best deer gun.....270. My personal favorite.....Rem. mod.700, 25/06, barnes 100gr. TSX boattail, h4831 sc @3100 fps. sub MOA (clover leaf) @ 100 yds.