I'd also have to lean toward a .243...Assuming you are hunting GA deer, within 300 yards it's all you need...

Now...On our farms here in NC, between, brothers/cousins/nieces, etc...We have used just about every cartridge listed...
We kill between 40-50 deer a year on these farms, so I've seen the damage each of these do and have tracked deer from
each...On lung shot deer you will not see a difference on how far the deer travel...

They all work...Some have sure gotten mighty expensive to buy ammo for...
The past few years I have bought a few boxes of 100gr CoreLokts from WalMart for $11.88-$15.24 a box...

You can spend more if you want, but the .243 will do all that needs doing to a whitetail...
I'd spend more on a scope....And a bigger freezer...

I've converted four 30-06 users to .243s in the past 5 years, sounds like you might have enough experience to graduate to one as well...

You can thank me later...