What canyou shoot? At age 14, my son started out deer huinting with a 7X57mm Ruger Model 77 with a 140-grain bullet at over 2900 FPS. The next year, he had no trouble at all coping with an 11-pound .375 H&H Magnum. Everyone is different--some beginners are quite capable of handling recoil, yet I know men over 250 pounds who are beat to death with a.30/'06!

I suggest you see if you can find someone who will let you try out his/her .30/'06. If you can shoot it, get yourself one. Then you won't need to buy anything else for any hunting in North America. If you cannot shoot it, try a 7mm/'08 (or better yet, a 7X57mm if you can find one); or a .260 Rem or6.5X55. ANY of these last four will kill the biggest deer (and black bear too) that ever lived in North America with one shot. But you might want to move up in caliber a little for elk,grizzly, and Alaskan brownbear. Like a .338 Win. Mag. later on.....