The .30 Carbine got a really bad reputation in the 50's and 60's due to being misused. Surplus carbines were cheap and readily available and carried like a dream.
The unfortunate part was that the only readily available ammo at the time was military ball...not a great choice for deer hunting. Couple this with the fact that most shooters were fairly gun/ballistic ignorant at the time and you had a reputation for disaster.
The .30 caliber bore size made many think this would be a great deer rifle (after all the .30-06 worked and the carbine was the same bore size). Never mind that it came in a marginal velocity round.
Combining non-expanding bullets with an underpowered cartridge meant a lot of lost game. The fact that the little carbines were quick handling and had a large capacity magazine just made things worse. I remember a close relative who put a full magazine (15 rounds) into a big buck crossing a field and didn't find it until two days later (nearly a half-mile away).
This wasn't so much a failure of the .30 Carbine (although at best it is marginal) but more a failure of the full-patch bullets he was shooting.
With proper soft-point bullets and a limited range (maybe 75 yards) the .30 Carbine can be very effective on deer size game. Larger hogs are probably pushing things, but 125 pound deer (and hogs) are well within the capability of the Carbine.....hell, I've taken deer with the .32-20 from a revolver and the carbine is at least as good.
When the Ruger .44 Carbine was discovered (by me at least) the reason for the .30 Carbine disappeared. It was as easy to carry and was MUCH more effective as a deer/hog round.
With that said, the .30 Carbine (particularly in the very accurate Marlin 62) can be an effective deer rifle. Keep ranges reasonable and place your shots carefully and there is no reason it can't work. To me, it would be a GREAT trap line gun. Small game or to dispatch a trapped animal it would be great and in a pinch (with proper care) could even take the occasional deer or hog that happens along.
