Beyond that the sky is the limit and what works for you is what works for you.
I don't put much faith in others choices. They aren't me. I"m not them.
Use what makes you happy.
Up close low power optics with large eye box and field of view. That way you can shoot optics like irons basically yet you have a bit of X to thread a bullet, see stuff that irons and eyes don't allow you to see and so on.
There is no brush busting caliber. The ONLY way you get DRT 100% of the time is with CNS shots. So that tosses out caliber issues of this or that is better.
We have always preferred exit wounds. So we will pick the right projectile. We prefer least amount of meat damage, same thing there, the right projectile.
How you deliver it is totally up to you.
Frankly if I was talking 30 yards and in I'd find almost no reason to ever carry anything other than one of the Glock 20s in the pile. And with RMR those are good with us on deer to 75 pretty easy. That doesn't mean its for anyone else, it simply would be the easy choice for us. Around the house the go to for 300 yards and in has been for many years the AR15. light. Accurate. Totally reliable. Plenty big in 223. quick follow up shots on pigs or coyotes or 2 legged if need be.
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
