Personally, as a hunting rifle, if ONLY the 6.5-284 and the .308win were on the table, I'd probably choose the .308win.

I LOVE my 6.5-284 benchrest rigs, but personally, I don't want to spend money replacing barrels on a hunting rifle that often. No, a hunting rifle barrel won't get shot nearly as often as a competition rifle, but it doesn't take me long to run 1500rnds through ANY rifle in my stable, which in my experience, is about when a 6.5-284 needs to be rebarreled. Plus, brass for the 6.5-284 is OCCASIONALLY hard to come by, and has been having some weird phases of oddly specified lots (Not a problem if you stick with Norma brass).

My wife's deer rifle is currently a 6.5-284, but luckily it's a Savage, so after this barrel, we'll be swapping out to something with a little longer barrel life, probably going with a straight .284rem, or a .284 "Shehane".

At 800+/- yrds, a deer isn't going to notice the difference between the two. A good rangefinder, a well profiled load, and a steady hand and either will do the job. Yes, the 6.5-284 is definitely better at reaching downtown, but unless you're talking WAY DOWNTOWN, the difference won't be worth much.