The 7mm Rem mag is avery versatile round, I so go for it. Down the road you can use it with a good 160+ gr bullet for elk or moose, and any 140-150gr bullet for deer. It will work great out to 200 yards, just becaues the trajectory is really flat doesn't mean you can't use it for closer shooting too. I've shot several deer with the 7mm a couple at longer ranges than I probably should have been shooting, worked though. Never lost a deer with it. Recoil isn't really that much worse than a 30.06.