Seek,
IMHO, your gunsmith offers excellent advice from top to bottom on rifle, cartridge and scope.... IF you didn't already have a 30-06.

To keep good cartridge spacing in your rack of rifles (and to avoid "duplication") I'd recommend going "down" to a hot 7mm or "up" to a 338WinMag(or better)or simply doing neither and just staying with the 30-06 (especially since the big bears are "off" the list).

Being scared of rifle recoil is very much in vogue on this site so I think you have to know/learn the answer to that question for yourselfas it appears to vary wildly (either mentally or in fact) from individual to individual.

Good luck,
EKM