You don't say where in the Gulf Coast of FL you're going to hunt. I was stationed in P/Cola for 4 years and did quite a bit of hunting there. It can be good or bad depending on how hard you want to work at it. A lot of the cover there is really thick and the shots can be very fast and very short.

Where I hunted there were a lot of old logging roads that were closed to vehicles. I found that it I moved along them really slow and kept a watchful eye on the cover I did well. Also sitting and overlooking the roads could be productive (Note, these roads were totally closed so this was legal. If a road is being used for travel by auto do not hunt them in this manner!) but I personally don't have the patience to sit and wait for hours so I mostly walked my game up. One thing, the state has gone to different regs for antler size in much of the Gulf Coast. When I hunted there if a buck had a visible antler he was legal. Now you have to check him out and count points so my old method would be more difficult now.

As to a feeder, I'm not too crazy about the idea of baiting deer so I never did it. It's legal and if it is your thing, go for it but I can't give any advice but unless the rules have changed, feeders are only legal on private land. Don't use one on public land.

FL deer are small. A 243 would be about perfect and so would a 30-30 since the ranges will be short. My favorite was a 6.5x54MS but unless you handload it isn't a round to go out and buy.