I have what is for me about the perfect whitetail deer rifle in my Model 7 stainless in 7-08. Short, relatively light but not overly so, low recoil and plenty of options for bullet weights and designs.
Mine is similar, a Kimber Montana. Shoots lights out with 120 NBTs. And for anything bigger than deer, like you said, plenty of bigger bullets, it shoots 140 NPTs really well too.
But if you're talking about the average deer hunter, I'd say the 7-08 was already a little obscure, and the Creedmoor hasn't helped. It's the man-bun of cartridges.
