RE: 30-30 buck, broken antlers
I sometimes use a marlin 30-30 also. Sweet rig, I agree, but I have some concerns with its effectiveness. I shot a spike buck with it a few years back, quartering slightly toward me, 20 yards, hit it right through the ribcage. It bolted off about 100 yards, stopped, and went down after I shot it twice more in the butt. It never bled a drop on its 100 yard dash, and probably would've went down and died even if I hadn't shot again. Point being, I wasn't overly impressed with the results of that shot. I use remington 170 grain.
The following year, I shot a nice 9 point, 135 lbs field dressed. I shot this deer broadside at about 20 yards, and had no exit wound. It bounded down a slope through my best field of fire, and fire I did, hitting this one in the butt unnecesarrily also.
I haven'towned the 30-30 all that long, previously used a .35 rem, which would put a hole in them no matter what. I like my marlin a lot, but I'm still adjusting to shooting deer with it, where to place the shot, what to expect after.