The only deer around were I live are white tail,so about any center fire would do.My major requirement is a dependable scope..In the past few years I've used a250-3000 in a 99,and found it to be a pretty sencible whitetail cartridge for my style of hunting,which is open fields.If I were more of a thick woods hunter,I would probably want something a little heavier,not because I think heavy bullets wade brush,but because they provide a little better margin of error