RE: Suggestions for a "Deer Only" rifle?
Without a doubt, I'd recommend the 7MM-08!
I don't own one, YET! I have shot the 7MM-08 in rifles and Contender handguns and have seen what it will do on deer. You could not draw up a better cartridge than this. What a marriage, the case of a .308 Winchester and the ballistics of a 7MM bullet!
It has all the power you would need for ANY Whitetail, flat shooting for any range that you could shoot deer at, and all this without punishing recoil!