Back when I was old enough to buy my first deer rifle, I knew that it just had to be a .30-06 because that is what everybody else that I knew was using. Then as I got older and smarter I realized that a .308 had about 20% less recoil in the same weight rifle and honestly the deer that I shot with either one acted pretty much the same way. I've graduated into using other cartridges and a current favorite is the 7mm-08, but when my son bought a bolt action .308, I couldn't really fault that for a one size fits all.
