I asked myself the same question this year before deer season. I wasplanning on hunting in a treestand in northern Minnesota where shots were between 20 and 100 yards. I debated on bringing my Rem 870 with rifled barrel and 2-7x 32mm Nikon scope, or my new purchased Rem 700 XCR .30-06 with Sightron 3-12x 42mm scope. I decided on the .30-06 and I'm glad I did. I ended up shooting a 260 pound eight pointer that had a 21" spread at a distance of about 70 yards. The buck dropped righton the spot, which to my good luck happened to be in the middle of a logging road.I was hunting alone that weekend and was able to drive my truck down the logging road and pick up my deer. If he would have ran off into the heavy woods after being shot, I don't know how I could have retrieved him alone. When I had it weighed at the local registration station, I was told it was the largest deer brought in this year. I was hunting on the last weekend of rifle season.

Last year while hunting the same area I shot a buck weighing about 200 pounds right in the vitals with a Hornady SST 12 ga. slug. The deer ran over 100 yards in heavy woods. It was a heck of a work-out for my brother-in-law and I to pull it out.

I will definitaly use the .30-06 for all future whitetail hunts if possible.

See attached photos

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff75/huntingthenorth/DSCN3862.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff75/huntingthenorth/DSCN3878.jpg
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff75/huntingthenorth/DSCN3891.jpg