I don't live in a State that allows rifle hunting for deer, but I needed to pick up a rifle for a hog hunt I was going on. I was debating between several different rifles. I ended up with a 30.06 because the range different ammo for it allows me to hunt just about anything I would ever want. If I ever make it out West for an elk hunt I can load up with 180 or 225 grain, or scale back to 125 grain for a pronghorn or hog hunt. Like I said, not allowed to use a rifle here, so buying one rifle that I could do anything with was very attractive to me.