I've shot smaller deer like fallow and chital with cartridges from the .257 Roberts up to the 9.3x62. The ones shot with the .25 and .26 cals died as easily as those shot with 7mm, .30, .311, .35 and 9.3 cartridges. So I'd pick a mild 6.5mm like the Swede, Mauser or Creedmoor with a 120-130gn bullet at 2800/2850 fps. Low recoil and pleasant to shoot. I find as I get older (50) I'm hunting a lot with 25 and 26 calibre rounds as they do what I want (deer and pigs) and are easy to shoot.
