I killed my first deer when I was in college, hunting in northwest Colorado with one of my roommates and I borrowed a Win 94 chambered in 32 Win Spl.
The next year I hunted with him in that same area again and I had both a deer and an elk tag in my pocket. That year I carried a sporterized .30-40 Krag. I killed a 5 pt bull elk.
The following year I bought my first centerfire rifle, a .30-06 Herter's Model U-9 barreled action that I put into a Herter's semi-inleted stock. I used that rifle for about 8 years, then had it rechambered to .30 Gibbs and it became my elk rifle, and I built a .257 AI on a Mauser Mark X barreled action that I put into a Fajen stock. Now after almost 40 years later, that is still my primary deer rifle.