Sorta depends on where you're hunting. If you're hunting in the woods, I'd get a larger caliber and shoot round nosed, heavy bullets. If you're hunting a bean field, I'd get something like a 25-06. I own a 7 mag and have not been a fan. Killed a pile of deer with it, but have lost several with it. Some were just bad shots but some weren't.

I've killed a bunch of deer with everything from 22-30 calibers. Bows, shotguns and muzzleloaders. I'm about burned out on deer hunting but my weapon of choice these days if I'm going is a 7mm-08.

Light rifle, light recoil, short action. Nice compact gun for treestand or stalking.

Overall, if I just had one rifle, it's hard to beat a 30-06. You could probably find ammo in a hardware store in any state in the Union if you just had to have some.