I started hunting deer in my mid 30s and all I had in the closet were shotguns. So I picked up a SKS for $125 thinking it ideal for timber hunting with a semi auto option in a .308 caliber. I took a guest, a dedicated deer hunter, on a hunt and he rolled his eyes and loaned me a Ruger #1 in a .270 with which I took my first whitetail. He told me to get a real rifle, and so I wound up settling on a Winchester Ranger synthetic in 30-06 with a blind mag, scoped it with a Leupold vari-x-II. That turned out to be a very solid deer rifle. Trigger was a tad heavy by today's standard but quite crisp.
