There used to be a ton of surplus .308/7.62x51mm ammo out there. If you didn't reload, you could save a ton of money with surplus machine gun ammo. Now, that has mostly dried up.
If I were picking, for just deer at common local distances....308 and handload. More than enough for mule deer, overkill for whitetail. If I had any inkling of hunting elk, I'd pick .30-06. Anything bigger than that, I'd consider something with more powder.